Team Travis: Five Things Friday

Friday, February 5, 2010

Five Things Friday

I've decided I love the idea of "Five Things Friday" stolen from a blog I follow. So, here goes.

1. Travis had his first professional photography shoot this week. He did so well. Here is one of the pictures!

2. Sadly, we have put our house on the market. We found out that Riverside County EMT will not cross county line to take a patient to Children's. Instead, they would take Travis to Rancho Springs which is ill-prepared to handle a cardiac case like Travis'. Therefore, we need to move over the border. It wouldn't hurt to get a lower mortgage also.

3. Next week is Congenital Heart Defect Awareness week. Join me in helping spread awareness for CHD. 1 in 100 babies is born with a CHD. Travis is one of them! Hug your kids a little tighter this week and pray for those who are fighting this battle.

4. Several weeks ago I decided to try to take a bath in the big tub with Travis. He was unsure at first...but, after he realized he was safe....he LOVED it! Last night we had a bath together and he was so funny. He kicks and kicks and flails his arms around. All along making noise that approximate a laugh, with a big grin on his face. I think he may be a swimmer!

5. We had a reality check last night in the form of a facebook post from one of the other families who were in the hospital at the same time as us. Their son, Riley, has HLHS also. He had his Norwood 1 month before Travis did. Riley has not been well enough to leave the hospital. The post said he actually coded three times last Thursday. Roger read this to me as Travis and I were in the bath. I looked at him gleefully enjoying his bath and I said a quick prayer right then that God would grant us MANY, MANY more baths and loving moments. It is easy to take Travis' health for granted. It is easy to forget everything we have been through. It's easy to look at his beautiful face a forget he has 1/2 a heart. It's easy to forget just what a blessing he is....what a gift God has given us. The facebook post was a reminder to us to not forget what a miracle Travis is and to continue to pray for all of our heart baby friends and families!!!!

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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.....