Anniek was transferred to Sick Kids the next day.Since I had a caesarean I could not go with her.My dad went to Toronto so Anniek would not be alone.Although I was grateful that my dad would be with Anniek, it was terrifying to have my baby leave without me and to know I might never see my darling baby girl again.I do not cry easily, but the tears rolled down my cheeks.I felt that my heart had broken into a thousand pieces.
After I got out of the hospital, still recovering from my sugary I went to Toronto to be with my daughter. In Toronto I got given a lot of information about the heart condition that Anniek’s heart condition. It turns out that Tetralogy of Fallot is a cardiac anomaly that refers to a combination of four related heart defects that commonly occur together. The four defects include: Pulmonary Stenosis (narrowing of the pulmonary valve and outflow tract or area below the valve, that creates an obstruction of the blood flow from the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery), Ventricular Septal Defect (a hole between the heart’s two lower chambers) , Overriding Aorta (the aortic valve is enlarged and appears to raise from both the left and right ventricles instead of the left ventricle as occurs in normal hearts), and Right Ventricular Hypertrophy (thickening of the muscular walls of the right ventricle, which occurs because the right ventricle is pumping at high pressure.On top of the Tetralogy of Fallot Anniek also has Left Pulmonary Artery Hypoplasia.
In Toronto I was told that Anniek would need open heart surgery, but it would be better to wait until she was about 6 months old when she would be bigger and stronger if possible and that they wanted to do a Cardiac Cath to try to postpone the surgery.
I am the Mommy of a special little girl (Anniek)...she was born with a Congenital Heart Defect (Tetralogy of Fallot), has a communication based learning disability and is on a feeding tube (g-tube). She lights up my world and means everything to me. I also had a son in 2001 that was born 16 weeks too early and passed away when he was 3 weeks old due to being born so premature.
Tetralogy of Fallotis a congenital heart defect (a problem with the heart's structure that's present at birth). Congenital heart defects change the normal flow of blood through the heart. This is a rare and complex heart defect. Tetralogy of Fallot is made up of four different heart defects that are:
Ventricular Septal Defect
The heart has a wall that separates the chambers on its left side from those on its right side. This wall is called a septum. The septum prevents blood from mixing between the two sides of the heart. A VSD is a hole in the part of the septum that separates the ventricles—the lower chambers of the heart. The hole allows oxygen‑rich blood to flow from the left ventricle into the right ventricle instead of flowing into the aorta, the main artery leading out to the body.
Pulmonary Stenosis
This is a narrowing of the pulmonary valve and the passageway through which blood flows from the right ventricle to the pulmonary arteries. Normally, oxygen-poor blood from the right ventricle flows through the pulmonary valve into the pulmonary arteries and out to the lungs to pick up oxygen. In pulmonary stenosis, the heart has to work harder than normal to pump blood, and not enough blood can get to the lungs.
Right Ventricular Hypertrophy
This is when the right ventricle thickens because the heart has to pump harder than it should to move blood through the narrowed pulmonary valve.
Overriding Aorta
This is a defect in the location of the aorta. In a healthy heart, the aorta is attached to the left ventricle, allowing only oxygen-rich blood to go to the body. In tetralogy of Fallot, the aorta is between the left and right ventricles, directly over the VSD. As a result, oxygen‑poor blood from the right ventricle can flow directly into the aorta instead of into the pulmonary artery to the lungs.
An Extra Heart Condition That Anniek Has Is Left Pulmonary Artery Stenosis
Pulmonary Artery Stenosis
Pulmonary artery stenosis is a narrowing that occurs in the pulmonary artery, a large artery that sends oxygen-poor blood into the lungs to be enriched with oxygen. The narrowing may occur in the main pulmonary artery and/or in the left or right pulmonary artery branches. This narrowing makes it difficult for blood to reach the lungs to pick up oxygen. Without enough oxygen, the heart and body cannot function as they should. In an effort to overcome the narrowing, the pressure in the right ventricle (the chamber that pumps blood into the pulmonary arteries) rises to levels that can be damaging to the heart muscle.
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