A Broken Heart

It has taken me 24 hours, since the news of Mason's Heart Cath, to pull myself together enough and to pick up a few of the pieces from my shattered heart to be able to post about my sweet Miracle Mason. Thanks to Shauntelle (Kaidence's Mommy and dear heart friend) who fortunately happened to be there for a cardiology appointment yesterday, was there for me to cry with and hug when I was told Mason was not going to be a candidate for a new heart. Mark was coming up to be there when they were supposed to finish the cath, but they called me to the cath lab an hour early. Thank you to everyone who has sent comments and e-mails in response to Shauntelle's post yesterday.



So what were the results? Mason has pulmonary vein stenosis. Which I am still learning about myself. But, basically there are two pulmonary veins on each side of the heart going to each lung which bring back oxygen rich blood from the lungs. Stenosis is when there is partial or total obstruction in the vein. Both of Mason's pulmonary veins going from the left side of his heart to his left lung are totally obstructed. Thus he can not have a transplant without at least one of those flowing from heart to lung. You need at least 3 of the 4 (his two on the right side are fine) veins open and working to receive a new heart. This also means he has a very sick left lung along with the high pressures in his heart causing the low function.



What can be done? They only other option presented to us is a heart-lung transplant. But that would have to be somewhere else like Boston or Stanford.....and he may not even be a candidate because of how progressed the stenosis is.... and usually the risks out weigh any positive outcome of this type of transplant. We have not yet decided on getting a second opinion or not, because we do feel the cardiac team at Primary's his highly qualified. We are praying for guidance.



Although I had expected to hear from his cath that "yes" his pressures are high and he does for sure need a transplant I am taking these results with faith that our Heavenly Father does have a plan for Mason. Definitely a different plan than we had hoped for with a new heart bringing him a higher quality of life, but we can still pray for miracles along the rest of our journey with our sweet baby.



At this time, we plan to optimize Mason's quality of life the best we can with his heart meds and oxygen (as well as still avoiding sickie germs) keeping the broken heart he was born with. He will continue to see cardiology every 4 weeks, or more often as needed, for check ups and to up his meds as he gains weight. We will enjoy our Miracle Mason as long as we are blessed to do so.


Thank you for all your sincere concern and prayers. We will be doing a special prayer and fast on Sunday for Mason and our family. We would love any or all of you who follow our story to join us as well.