BabyDrew: Day 2 Me and My friend Echmo

My Story

Hello, my name is Andrew Wade Jackson. My friends call me Drew. When my mommy was 17 weeks pregnant they found out that I have a severe heart defect called an unbalanced atrioventricular septal defect. This means I have holes in the septal wall of my heart and that only 1 of my 2 ventricles is working properly. This heart defect was caused by trisomy 21 often known as Downs Syndrome.
I was born in Kalispell on July 10th and 3 hours after birth took my first plane ride to Seattle. I was there for 10 days as they monitored my heart. Then I went home to Kalispell to be with my family.
On September 10th I was set to have a pulmonary band surgery which is normally a low risk surgery. However, they were not able to do this surgery and had to begin the "Norwood" series of surgeries. My first surgery was Sept. 11th. Early in the morning I went into surgery spending 4 hours on the heart and lung by-pass machine. When it was time to come off they could not get my heart and lungs started again. I went on a life support machine called ECMO which takes the blood from the body, gives it oxygen and sends it back. This machine would be my best friend for the next 12 days and ultimately saved my life. After many days on life support, many more in the CICU, and a while on the floor I was able to return home. At home I was on oxygen full time, had a feeding tube, and many medications. On April 28th, 2009 I had my second open heart surgery, the Glenn. This surgery was not near as eventful as the first and we were able to return home after only 15 days away. At home things have gone well. I am now without oxygen and without my feeding tube. Currently my Cardiologist is watching me closly as we wait for my next open heart surgery, the Fontan. This will take place between the ages of three and five. My mommy and daddy are nervous as this surgery is more major than the last. Given the complexity of my heart, my past history of issues, and my trisomy 21 make my surgerys more difficult. However, my mommy and daddy trust in the Lord and the Power of Prayer.

August of 2011 we decided to move to Seattle to be closer to Childrens and are adjusting to life in the big city. On Tuesday July 31st I will have my next major open heart surgery. Please remember to say a prayer for me.

Thank you for visiting my site.

Here are a few statistics about my life from July 10, 2008 to July 24,2012:

Days lived at Childrens: 55
Days in ICU: 33
Days on Life Support: 17
2 Open Heart Surgery(Complete with Heart and Lung By-Pass machine)
1 Heart Surgery
3 Heart Cauterization
1 Life Flight(Kalispell to Seattle)
1 Ambulance Ride(Kalispell Hospital to Airport)
3 Trips to Seattle
1 Cardiac Arrest(Complete with CPR and Epinephrine-This saved my life)
To many Echocardiograms to count
To many trips to Cardiologist to count
To many blood transfusions to count

Please say a prayer for me.

Love, Baby Drew and Family

Friday, September 12, 2008

Day 2 Me and My friend Echmo

Yesterday was my big heart surgery. Currently I am in stable condition and they are keeping me comfortable. My lungs were not ready to work after my surgery so they had to put me on a machine called an Echmo. This machine does the work of my heart and lungs, it pumps the bad blood out of the body-oxidizes it-then sends it back. I am also on a ventilator to help my lungs. As you can see from my picture I am still a little swollen from Surgery, but hopefully that will not last long.

Right now we are waiting to give my lungs a trial run. Hopefully we will be able to do this tomorrow.

Thank you for visiting and please remember to say a prayer for me.

Love, Drew and Family

3 comments:

canracer2 said...: Guys, I am praying for you and if you need anything please don't hesitate to ask. Praying for you, Kacey; September 13, 2008 at 6:53 AM
Andrea said...: Hello Baby Drew~
We haven't met yet, but we are friends of your mom and dad. We've heard so much about you and cannot believe what a strong, amazing little boy you are! We are praying for you everyday to feel better and come home soon!
Love,
Gary & Andrea; September 13, 2008 at 9:32 AM
taylor28 said...: I am 18 years old and was born 4/8/91 after the nurses noticed i would not eat they took me away from my mom and long story short i had 5% chance to live and i was also put on ECHMO, ive never met any one on it because it is so rare for people to be on it now a days. At the time i was bron it was just experimental and was not guarenteed to work.
u may e mail me any time at soccrtay28@hotmail.com; October 13, 2009 at 6:30 PM