Bittersweet Homecoming

After spending a month in the postpartum center, little Hannah Piper has finally come home! As the title of the post states, it’s been a bittersweet homecoming. Sweet because our family unit is now a whole, but bitter because Hannah has been diagnosed with pulmonary valve stenosis and will require surgery next Wednesday.

Pulmonary valve stenosis is a congenital heart defect that mostly occurs by chance and develops during the first 8 weeks of pregnancy. A heart murmur is the most common sign that there’s a problem. In a normal heart, the pulmonary valve allows for blood flow from the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery and then onto the lungs. With pulmonary valve stenosis, the valve is usually thickened which makes blood flow difficult. This can result in heavy breathing, shortness of breath, fainting, and chest pain.

A mild case of pulmonary valve stenosis usually doesn’t cause any complications or require surgery, but moderate to severe cases do because the condition can worsen over time and eventually lead to heart failure. In these cases, there are two types of procedures that are performed: a balloon valvuloplasty for most moderate cases and open-heart surgery for the severe ones.

A balloon valvuloplasty involves inserting a catheter tube with a deflated balloon on the tip through a blood vessel in the leg and guiding it to the heart. From there, the tube is placed in the valve and the balloon is inflated to widen the opening of the valve and increase blood flow. The balloon is then removed.

As far as Hannah is concerned, she has a moderate case of pulmonary valve stenosis, and the doctor has recommended a balloon valvuloplasty as soon as possible because her valve has thickened considerably since her birth. She'll check-in to the hospital next Tuesday, have the surgery on Wednesday, spend the night on Thursday, and be back home by Friday.

And while there are always risks to any operation or surgery, balloon valvuloplasty is quite safe and effective. Most children will grow up to lead healthy lives with no restrictions or complications and will only require regular check-ups with the cardiologist. But try telling that to the wife.

As you might imagine, this has caused countless number of tears to flow from her eyes, not to mention the guilt she feels. And who can blame her. No parent wishes this upon their child. But at the same time, these things just happen. It has nothing to do with whether you’ve been a good person in the past or not. This is not karma coming to bite you in the butt. We can only hope for the best and put our faith in the doctor. So please, keep little Hannah Piper in your thoughts and prayers!