My (Our) Sweet Valentine

TMan has a lot happening over the next couple of months. See, he was born with a heart defect, a hole in his heart, more specifically called TRETALOGY OF FALLOT. The link will take you to WebMD to get more information about the defect. It's complicated, but as you've seen from pictures (and some of you have seen him in person), you'd never know he's got this problem.

He had open heart surgery before he was even 2 MONTHS old. A patch was placed over the hole in his heart to impede the leakage of blood. Little boys grow (thankfully), but the patches do not. So, he's nearly 4 years old now and it's time to make another repair. To prepare for this, he is going to have a cardiac MRI done on Monday, March 2 at Children's Hospital. While it's not a risky procedure, he will be sedated during the procedure and that is supposed to take 2-3 hours. They will be looking at his arteries and aortas to see if they are large enough now to insert tubes. If I understand the whole thing correctly, this would mean that this will be the last invasive surgery he'll have to have for this defect. If they are able to insert the tube all future procedures will be able to be done through a scope, like angioplasties and things of that nature. If his arteries are not big enough they will have to put on a new patch. That will mean that later on down the road (maybe when he's about 10 years old) he'll have to have another surgery. We are truly hopeful that they will be able to go the tube route so that no more open heart surgeries will be required after this one.

The actual surgery (for which ever procedure is going to be done) is scheduled for April 10. I would like to ask each of you to include him in your prayers. I know I'm a little prejudice, but he is such a special and unique little boy. He deserves to grow up and have a wonderful, happy and healthy life.