After 9 weeks in the NICU at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands we had her transferred to Children's Memorial Hermann Downtown for a second opinion before having a G-tube put in for her lack of eating. We just couldn't go through with that procedure without trying to figure out why she wouldn't eat!
Chloe is all strapped in and ready for her ambulance ride downtown!
She was very excited to be going outside for the first time!
She liked the ride so much she passed out!
After an exciting ride downtown and the new doctors evaluated her, we were all in agreement that something was going on with her and they were determined to find out what it was. After a week of evaluations and tests doctors found that she had a coarctation of the aorta. This basically means that she was born with a narrowing of the aorta and the blood was not able to flow correctly. She was having high blood pressure in her upper body and low blood pressure in her lower body which was the first sign. We are very thankful for one nurse in particular who noticed the difference in blood pressure and kept bringing it to the doctor's attention. This lead to her having an ecocardiogram which confirmed the coarctation. They found it on a monday and she was scheduled for surgery on wednesday. Cole and I didn't get any sleep the night before the surgery. The actual procedure only took about 10 minutes but the entire surgery with prep and recovery was about 4 hours. It was the longest 4 hours of my life. I couldn't help but think of all the things that could go wrong and couldn't imagine my life without Chloe. When the doctor came to talk to us and let us know the surgery went well I was so relieved!
This is a diagram of what they did.
After surgery she went to the PICU (pediatric ICU) for 3 days. This section of the hospital is the saddest place I have seen. So many very sick children in there. It was very scary seeing Chloe after surgery since she was hooked up to so many machines. She had a breathing tube, catheter, drains, and over 15 IVs for fluids and meds. They kept her sedated until they removed the breathing tube. Once that was removed and she was able to breath on her own she looked a little better and much more comfortable.
This is a couple of days after surgery and she looks so much better!
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