Daniel's Health





CARE

Daniel acts and looks like a normal boy so it is difficult sometimes to remember that we need to take special care of him due to his complex health condition. The main thing we have asked Daniel to do is to wash his hands often and to stay away from sick people especially when they are coughing or with cold type illnesses because it makes his heart condition worse. Daniel's lungs do not receive all the blood flow they require and also his oxygen level in the blood is lower than normal people so any type of respiratory problem can become really serious for him because his oxygen drops even lower. We also try to avoid taking Daniel to crowded places where he could find sick people. By doing this, we decrease the chances of exposure to certain types of bacterial infections his body cannot fight like strep throat.

BACKGROUND

Daniel was born with Heterotaxy syndrome . We found out about his condition right after birth. He was also born with complex congenital heart defects:


Infradiaphragmatic Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return
d-Transposition of the Great Arteries
Complete Atrioventricular Canal Defect
Pulmonary Atresia
Left-sided Inferior Vena Cava

In addition to his heart defects, he was also born with asplenia , a large transverse symmetrical liver, intestinal malrotation , hiatal hernia, two right lungs, and a stomach half the size of a normal newborn and located in the right side of the abdomen.



Hospitalizations/Surgeries

April 1, 2002: Repair of the TAPVR and a B-T Shunt to send blood to his lungs.
May 15, 2002: Ladd's Procedure to repair intestinal malrotation and a Nissen Fundoplication to fix his reflux problem and repair hiatal hernia.
July 2002: Replaced B-T Shunt with bi-directional Glenn Shunt
March 2005: Redo Fundoplication because he had developed another hietal hernia
July 2005: Hospitalized due to pneumonia
August 2005: Repair bowel obstruction (Emergency surgery)
December 2005: Heart catheterization
June 2006: Cancelled Fontan surgery due to concern with his pulmonary veins and decided it was best for him to wait
October 2007: Heart catheterization
December 2007: Scheduled for Fontan procedure