I was born September 9th, 2010. They said I had a small heart murmur, but shouldn't be anything serious. I was able to leave the hospital 2 nights after being born. The only problem they said I had at the time was my jaundice, which they treated with a biliblanket for about 1 1/2 weeks. On September 22nd my mom and grandma noticed I was breathing funny, my breaths were fast paced, and deep. They decided to bring me to the emergency sometime between 12-1 am on the 23rd. When I got there they looked me over and tried giving me an IV, but failed 6 times before giving up. They eventually gave me an x-ray showing a possible enlargement of my heart. From there they decided they needed to send me to a better hospital with more experience in this field. Me and my mom were then transported to Marquette General Hospital in an ambulance. We arrived there around 12:30 in the afternoon September 23rd. They picked up where the first hospital left off, taking blood samples and x-rays and giving a successful IV. After a while they did an ultrasound of my heart and then sent us back up to my room. After a long wait the doctor called my room with results from the ultrasound. He told my mom that my heart was sick.. he proceeds to tell her that either an infection caused by a virus or a misplaced artery was causing my left ventricle to struggle with pumping blood and circulating it throughout my body, which caused that side of my heart to get enlarged. After the news they transferred me to the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) to wait on my next hospital transfer. They were trying to get a plane to fly me over the Milwaukee's Children's Hospital, but the weather was terrible and they were unable to get one. After hours of waiting they decided on sending me in an ambulance to Green Bay where I would meet up with another Ambulance that would bring me to Milwaukee. Mom was sad because she was unable to take this trip with me and had to take a separate vehicle. Mom got the call saying I got to the hospital at around 4:30 in the morning September 24th and didn't get there until around 6 a.m. They still don't know exactly what is causing my heart problem, but my left ventricle is very large. They have ran many tests on my urine and blood. They test for all kinds of viruses, they even have genetic researchers checking me out. So far they haven't figured out a cause but are trying very hard at figuring it out and have been keeping me stable. I was put into isolation the night of September 25th and will be until the lab results come back.
Milwaukee was finally able to give me the correct diagnosis of Dilated Cardiomyopathy. They first tried treating it with medication and rest. After a few weeks of getting pumped with medication and other therapies they decided I needed to be placed on the transplant waiting list as status 1-A, which is the top priority status. After about 2 weeks on the list I got my brand new heart November 8, 2010. I was smiling the next day and improving greatly. I was able to go home December 13, 2010 just in time for Christmas :)
Milwaukee was finally able to give me the correct diagnosis of Dilated Cardiomyopathy. They first tried treating it with medication and rest. After a few weeks of getting pumped with medication and other therapies they decided I needed to be placed on the transplant waiting list as status 1-A, which is the top priority status. After about 2 weeks on the list I got my brand new heart November 8, 2010. I was smiling the next day and improving greatly. I was able to go home December 13, 2010 just in time for Christmas :)