He had the surgery in September, beginning of September.
Right. And what was it like, having all of that done?
Traumatic, beyond belief. I mean, you know, probably, I don't know if I'm denial, but probably if I look back it was not as bad as I though it would be. Although in some respects it was much, much worse than you could imagine. Because it's not the natural thing to do, to hand your baby over to somebody to, you know, open up their chest, and do something which ultimately would be lifesaving but actually at the time was life-threatening.
Because they said he, if they didn't actually operate he would live until probably 40, and lead a reasonably good life. So certainly for the next few years he would have been absolutely fine. He might have been small, slow to put on weight, but, you know, effectively, this surgery was, you know, extremely life threatening.
I mean, it is risky. And you almost, or we almost felt like we were putting him through something that maybe he didn't need to go through. Although, ultimately, he would have needed to have gone through it, and it's much better to do it when they're a baby.
But it was, you know, very harrowing. But still, you just need to look around you to realise there are people in much worse situations than yourself. And to them it was a very routine operation, and although the surgeon did come out of the operation and say, “The hole was very big”, really, you know, it was very straightforward for them, the surgery itself, and it was a success.
And they now feel that that's it, do they?
Yes, it is. He won't need any further surgery, touch wood. I mean, they're pretty certain that that's it. He's had his follow-up appointment. He's been given the all clear, so there's no reason why he would ever need anything else. He will need to have antibiotics if he has any surgery or any dental treatment, just to prevent endocarditis, I think it is, and he'll have to have check-ups for the rest of his life, but that's not a bad thing.
He should start to, he's small for his age, but he should start to pick up. There's nothing, there's certainly nothing in the anatomy of the heart that makes them think that he won't, you know, continue to grow and be the size that he should be ordinarily. |
