All About Andrew’s Journey

Welcome! This site has been created to keep our friends and family updated about Andrew’s life with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. We continually update the journal and photos. Andrew’s family, John, Carrie, Aly and Cady, thank you for all of your prayers and support.

Andrew Jonathan Aranda was born on Wed., June 6, 2007 at 10:19am, weighing 2lbs, 9oz and 16 3/4 inches. Andrew’s story, however, began long before his birthday. At 20 weeks, we discovered that Andrew has a congenital heart defect, Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. This heart condition means that the left side of Andrew’s heart did not develop normally. While it did not pose a threat during pregnancy, it would be fatal at birth if there was no intervention. Andrew would be given medications to keep his heart functioning as it did during pregnancy and he would require 3 open heart surgeries during his first five years of life. The first surgery was planned to take place within his first week after birth.

However, everything changed when Carrie was admitted at 29 weeks with severe pre-eclampsia. This put her in the hospital on bedrest for the remainder of her pregnancy. The whole goal was to try and get the pregnancy as far along as possible so that Andrew would have the best chance of being big enough and strong enough for surgery and survival. However, this goal had to be balanced with Carrie’s health. After 3 weeks and 3 days in the hospital, it was decided that the best option for both Carrie and Andrew was for delivery. So, at 32 weeks and 3 days, Andrew was born via C-Section at Banner Good Samaritan Hospital and immediately admitted into the Phoenix Children’s Hospital NeoNatal Intesive Care Unit (NICU).

It was decided that the best course of treatment was to keep him on medications that would allow his heart and body to maintain circulation while they tried to get him to grow. During this time, the NICU at Phoenix Children’s Hospital was our new home. During this time we had our first major battle, an MRSA staph infection.

Finally on July 2, it was determined that he needed to go into surgery. Even though he was recovering from MRSA and was fairly stable, he was also still very small, only 1.5 kg (3lbs, 5 oz). With not the greatest odds, he made it through surgery and after several weeks (getting off of the ventilator was a battle!) he was finally sent home on August 22, 2007.

Our time at home was short lived. On September 7, 2007, Andrew was rushed to the ER in respiratory failure. It was determined that his shunt had developed a clot and he was diagnosed with endocarditis (MRSA was back). Andrew underwent an emergency surgery to replace the shunt. After several steps forward and back and a discussion of staying in the hospital until his Glenn, he was once again home on October 30, 2007 just in time to be a pumpkin on Halloween.

Andrew did very well at home. He gained weight and started to do regular “baby” things. During the cath lab visit to prepare for his Glenn, it was discovered that his left pulmonary artery was blocked. So on February 18, 2008, Andrew had his third open heart surgery to repair his pulmonary artery and place a bigger shunt to allow him ample time to recover before his Glenn. This time we had a relatively “bump” free stay and were discharged on day 8.

Andrew finally had his Glenn on May 12, 2008. While surgery and recovery is never easy, Andrew had his easiest stay yet. We were discharged on day 7.

Currently Andrew is learning to be a toddler. He is sitting, crawling, eating and trying to figure out how to walk. We are under strict orders to keep him healthy and pack some weight on him. At this time it looks like his Fontan, the third and final stage of surgeries, will be sometime in 2010, when he is three. Until then, we are enjoying every minute, even the toddler moments!