Wednesday, November 19, 2008

"Simple" TGA ???

I never knew there were several kinds of TGA. I had never even heard of TGA until 6 1/2 months ago when Maddy was born. There is "Simple" TGA, "Complex" TGA and "Congenitally Corrected" TGA. Who knows, there maybe more kinds that I am not aware of.

Maddy was born with "Simple" TGA, meaning TGA was the only heart defect. Although it may seem illogical, babies born with "Complex" TGA have a better chance of survival. This is because with they have other defects such as a ASD, VSD (holes in the heart) which allow for mixing of the blood. Maddy did not have this advantage, she had no mixing of the blood and her PDA was very small. Therefore she needed an emergency stent (hole) put in her heart, just to survive long enough to have the surgery to correct her TGA. She was about 10 hrs old when she had the stent put in, by this time she had already coded twice and we almost lost her. Luckily they didn't inform us of this until she was stabilized, or we would have been basket cases (like we weren't already)!

Most of the info on TGA I have learned after the fact, by talking to her doctors and reading online, it's been 6 months now and I am still learning about TGA, and I think the doctors are too. They still can't say what the long term affects will be, the procedure she had is still relatively new, it was 1st performed in1975, so the first patients are only hitting there late twenties - early thirties

I am not complaining though, we have come along way. Up until the 1950's most parents were simply told that nothing could be done & to take their infant home and let nature take it's course. The 1st successful surgery was performed in 1958, but through the 1960's the mortality rate was very high simply because of lack of technology. I am so happy to live in this day and age, because now the doctors can tell me she has a 90% chance of reaching age 30 & that's as far as they can predict. I Pray that this age just keeps increasing with Gods Blessing.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

There really is hope! Just wanted to tell you that in 1959 I had one of the 1st open heart surgeries for pulmonary stenosis. I was nearly 10 years old and my parents were told when I was 6 weeks old that I would not live to be an adult unless someone could correct the problem surgically. Next week I will celebrate my 59th birthday. I would not win any Olympic trials but still manage to lead a normal life. Good luck to you and your baby!

DID YOU KNOW?

1 in every 125 babies is born with a heart defect?
What if that one was yours?


1 in every 166 children is diagnosed with some form of Autism? Help us put the puzzle back together!