Team Travis: 1/3/2009 Update

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

1/3/2009 Update

The news of the day is that Travis' infection will need at least 5 more days of antibiotics. What that means for his surgery and everything else is that we wait. We have to wait for the drugs to work and get rid of the infection. This unfortunately is the way it goes and there is nothing we can do about it. They seem like they are not worried about it and I guess we should not be either. The P.A. Band procedure that they performed on him last week buys them as much time as they need to perform the Norwood. In the meantime, Travis is learning how to eat from a bottle and do things non-hospitalized babies do. He is also getting a little bigger weighing in today at 6 pounds 11 ounces. Nicole gave him his first bath today and also got to feed him. I got the chance to feed him tonight, but he was so comfy that he slept through it. One of the other nurses had to come over and wake him up and force him to eat. I am definitely too scared to be jostling him around like she did. He has so a lot of tubes still in him that scare me a lot. As far now we are just waiting for Travis to fight off the infection and get stronger so he can get to the next step in his journey.

Take care,

Roger and Nicole

3 comments:

Grandma SueNovember 3, 2009 at 10:52 PM
He's growing & learning to drink from a bottle, that's wonderful. Now to beat that nasty infection. Tell him Grdma wants the name of that nurse....
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Diane FurtakNovember 4, 2009 at 9:13 AM
Roger, Nicole and Travis:

Thanks for the frequent updates. I think of you all everyday. Travis looks strong and content. You have a fighter. Can't wait to see you all.
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Tara HuntNovember 4, 2009 at 11:20 AM
Sounds like he is doing well. Isn't amazing how rough the nurses can be with babies?? I would be nervous if I was you too. Yesterday my 10-month old had climbed up on a box with an old cable box in it that needed to be sent back to Cox. The top was only about 5 inches off the ground and he was just having fun banging on it. My mom told me I should take him off because he might fall. I said that if he would fall he wouldn't get hurt and he would learn something. I never thought I would be a laid back mom. He didn't fall... he got off the box just fine on his own... but grandma was ready to take him home with her so crazy mommy wouldn't let Dean fall off the box!!!

Some day your little man will be strong and climbing boxes and stairs... Well for now I guess we should just let him fight his bad bugs and get ready for the next surgery. Babies are much stronger than we think.

Have a good week.
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Travis Gary DiCarlo

Travis Gary DiCarlo, first son of Roger and Nicole DiCarlo, was born at San Diego Kaiser Hospital, October 23, 2009 with a Congenital Heart Defect known as Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, or HLHS. The short explanation is that Travis was born with only half of a heart. In order for him to live, a series of three operations were planned.

Due to an infection, Travis had to have an additional open heart surgery to insert pulmonary artery bands on October 29, 2009. He had his Norwood Surgery on November 21, 2009. He was sent home on December 14, 2009 from Rady's Children Hospital of San Diego after spending his first 52 nights of life in the hospital.

After being home for several months, Travis was due to for his next surgery in the plan, the Glenn procedure. But the life of a cardiac kid can change in an instant and life doesn't always go as planned. Due to the anatomy of his heart and some rhythm issues, Travis had what the surgeons called Norwood part 2. They replaced his Sano Shunt with a bigger one, enlarged his pulmonary arteries and installed a pacemaker. This surgery was performed on May 3, 2010. Travis went home on May 17th, 2010.

Around Travis' first birthday in October his cardiologist detected some narrowing in his pulmonary artery and ordered a heart cath. The heart cath showed extensive narrowing in his aorta and his pulmonary artery. On February 17, 2011 Travis had his 4th open heart surgery. He was doing well with recovery until he suddenly went into cardiac arrest on Friday (2/18). After two hours of CPR Travis was placed on ECMO (a heart/lung bypass). Although his heart did begin to beat again on its own, his brain was damaged during the whole ordeal and he lost all brain function. We had to say goodbye to our beautiful boy on Saturday, February 19th. We miss our boy terribly.....