Desislava Dimitrova: My child survived after an 8-hour heart surgery

Table of contents:

Desislava Dimitrova: My child survived after an 8-hour heart surgery
Desislava Dimitrova: My child survived after an 8-hour heart surgery
Anonim

Vladi Alexandrov is only 5 years old, but his child's heart has been through hard trials. Every year in Bulgaria, about 500 babies are born with heart malformations. In order to survive, a third of them undergo surgery in the first year after birth, and 25% of them - in the first month. What Vladi experienced is told by his mother Desislava Dimitrova. She is also a member of the Children's Heart Association, which appealed to the institutions this month with a request to fully cover the costs of treatment for children with congenital heart malformations. Under the current system, liabilities are assumed by the National Cardiology Hospital in Sofia, which is the only one that cares for small patients.

Mrs. Dimitrova, when did your son Vladi's problems start?

- With birth. I was in the "Sheynovo" hospital under observation because of a small fetus. Vladi was born by section for medical reasons at the beginning of the ninth month. It weighed only 1800 grams. The next day, he was transferred to the National Cardiology Hospital, where he was given the grave diagnosis of total anomalous pulmonary vein inflow. They gave him three months to live if he didn't have surgery.

Did they operate on him right away?

- No, because he only weighed 1800 grams. The anesthesiologist cannot anesthetize a child under 2500 grams. They postponed the operation, and my son, who was only 7 days old at the time, was transferred to the First City Hospital to be fed until he reached the required 2.5 kg. During that time he had two pneumonias.

After 40 days, he was returned to pediatric cardiology. They accepted me too. But they found bacteria in his urine the day he was prepped for surgery. They brought him back from the operating room. We were discharged for treatment at home. Instead of disappearing, this bacteria increased. He was admitted to the hospital again and there he was cured. But two days before the scheduled surgery, he worsened and I took him to pediatric cardiology a little early. He didn't eat, he slept constantly, he didn't know whether it was day or night. He got up to play at 1 o'clock in the morning. For him it was morning because he had spent four months in hospitals and had not seen natural light. He was in an incubator or an oxygen tent.

How did you take all this as a parent?

- For four months we didn't know if we had a baby or not. People didn't greet us, they passed us by, they didn't know where to turn their eyes. No one knew what was going on, and didn't dare to ask - I was pregnant, and then there was no baby, no belly. A neighbor gave birth after me, she was discharged alive, stronger. She has a baby and I don't. At that time we were not given any hope that this child would survive. Both in "Sheynovo" and in First Gradska they told me: "Mother, write it off." You have another child, be happy about it." But we didn't give up for a minute.

We went to visit the children's cardiology clinic every day, they even made me breastfeed him, express myself, collect breast milk.

After the operation, he was left with an open chest for 24 hours, so that it can be observed. All the teams gathered and started cheering for him because it was the first time they had operated on such a smiling child. They explained to me that they always cry because they are hungry.

His surgery was very difficult. It lasted nearly 8 hours. When they brought Vladi into the operating room, my husband and my older son and I went to light a candle for the baby. Dr. Stoyan Lazarov and Dr. Plamen Mitev operated on him, because it is very complicated and happens rarely - 1-2 times every 4 years. The child had a very large hemorrhage. Dr. Lazarov came out and hugged me: "Mother, first sit down - be seated and calm. I will explain to you what we did with the child". The lung-heart machine works during the operation instead of these organs. Once it's connected to the lung, the heart just has to work. Vladi's heart failed twice. At the 20th second on the second attempt, it started. There was also a lot of bleeding. The drugs they had to use to stop the bleeding are very expensive.

Did you give money?

- Our first reaction was: “How much money should we give? You have them now!” But we were told that nothing is paid, that everything is at the expense of the hospital. The whole treatment didn't cost us a penny. In the afternoon the bleeding had already subsided. The next day his chest was closed. I lay in the intensive care unit for five or six days, and on the third day he was taken out of anesthesia and removed from the breathing apparatus. He couldn't cope with breathing on his own right away, and I was on a ventilator for another day. After all, he was only 3.2 kg, never mind that he was born four months ago. On the 14th day we were successfully discharged and I dressed him in the set of clothes I had bought him for his discharge from the maternity hospital. When they showed me that he was eating 120 ml of milk, I couldn't believe my eyes. Before the operation, he ate 10 ml every three hours and did not gain weight. We came home after 4 and a half months of suffering.

How did all this affect you?

- I turned white, my teeth fell out from nerves. Everything is reflected. It is a huge shock to have a child with heart malformations. It was very difficult, but we fought through it.

Is Vladi okay now?

- He still has a problem - bradycardia (low heart rate), and is being monitored every few months. I take him to a sanatorium in Tryavna - every year for 15 days in the fresh air. We also go to the sea, it has a good effect on him.

Vladi plays sports - practices football in kindergarten, rollers, rides a bike. He hopes to become a great footballer. If the child has a low heart rate, he should be encouraged to do sports. He rages at home all the time. We do not reprimand him, on the contrary - we encourage him to be more active. In the summer we do well, his heart rate is higher because he is constantly on the move. In the winter, we make up for it with other sports.

Indeed, Vladi is sicker than the other children. If others get better from the flu with one syrup, we get better from going to the hospital. All doctors know it in pediatric cardiology. Last November he developed pneumonia, he couldn't do it. We immediately brought him to the ward. He was under observation in the intensive care unit for three days, with a holter. The care for him was great.

Does he have a problem attending kindergarten?

- No, no problem. When we put the h alters on for a day, we have full understanding from the teachers and the children. Well, at first they were very curious and they were touching the h alter, pulling the cables. But they got used to it. The device prints the number of times the marker has been pressed. The first time - two years ago - the holter was touched two hundred times in a day, and now - two or three times.

Now Vladi is much better. But a broken and glued vase is always more fragile than a he althy one. His heart is running on a protective frequency. We are in a waiting period. Doctors are ready to insert a pacemaker if the heart fails. The size of his heart is monitored because the slower the pulse, the slower blood is pumped out and blood is retained in the heart. In this way, its dimensions increase. The fight continues. We don't give up.

Which doctors would you like to thank?

- To everyone in pediatric cardiology, to the two surgeons Dr. Lazarov and Dr. Mitev, to everyone in intensive care who took care of my child for a whole week. In the first hours, an operated child is not left alone. There is absolutely always someone by his side. I am also grateful to the doctors and nurses in the intensive care unit, in the children's cardiology unit. Every doctor who sees me in the hallway knows me. They say to me: "Mother, bring the child. We don't ask for a referral, just knock on the door and we'll take a look. He is our child." And really the doctors here are like second parents to him…

Recommended: