Our Sweet "Heart": Recovering

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Recovering

Maddox is doing well. So far his recovery has been uneventful and we'd like it to stay that way. It is possible that they will close his chest tomorrow if they can get the swelling down enough. Hopefully through the night his diuretic will really kick in and he can get some of the fluid off. Today his urine out-put hasn't been quite what they wanted, but the doctors/nurses have also said that sometimes it can take a while for things to get moving again after surgery. His heart rate, blood pressure, labs, and blood gases have all been great so far. We are praying that he continues to stay calm and recover well.

Here's a video of Maddox from today if you aren't squeemish, but it's probably not for kids.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYf7ev4qKaw

We'll keep praying that the miracles continue and that Maddox makes it home for Christmas!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

4 comments:

thepainterfamilyNovember 12, 2009 at 2:38 PM
Soooo awesome Alissa! LOVE the video, he is such a sweet and beautiful little babe! He is working so hard, and so are you!!

go go go Maddox!
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Sherwood familyNovember 12, 2009 at 4:24 PM
We're glad to hear that Maddox is doing well. Every time she prays, Kathleen asks Heavenly Father to 'bless baby Maddox that his heart will heal.' And now her teddy bear gets surgery daily to fix his heart.
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Latter-day GuyNovember 13, 2009 at 12:22 PM
Hope you guys are doing well today. Thoughts and prayers, as always.
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Erin SNovember 13, 2009 at 12:58 PM
I'm glad recovery is going good for him. He is just so sweet and precious!
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Maddox Revere Dixon

Welcome to our story of modern day miracles. We have seen first hand the wonders of our Heavenly Father and have been joined with people all over in earnest prayer for a baby boy... our Miracle Maddox.

Maddox was diagnosed prenatally with Aortic Stenosis and Mitral Regurgitation. We found out at 27 weeks gestational age that he had a congenital heart defect. By 29 weeks he was in heart failure and had developed hydrops(fluid under the skin, in his abdomen, and around his heart). The plan was to deliver him at 30 weeks via c-section and after birth attempt to get him stable enough to try to open up his aortic valve. We were also given the option of doing nothing and delivering vaginally once he had passed away, which they thought would be soon. The doctors gave him a less than 1% chance of survival if we tried to intervene. We started planning his funeral. The week we were scheduled to have the c-section we were given the option of flying out to Boston to do a fetal intervention where they would essentially operate on Maddox in the womb. The doctors in Boston weren't even sure that Maddox would be alive once we got off the plane. Two days later we had the fetal intervention where they ballooned open the aortic valve, put a stent in the atrial septum as well as a hole above the stent, and removed some of the fluid in Maddox's belly. Maddox was the 9th baby with his unique heart condition to have undergone this type of intervention. It was successful, and Maddox was delivered at 37 weeks in Boston, where he underwent open heart surgery at 3 weeks of age. At two months of age Maddox came home to Texas. We are now trying to adjust to the new normal: multiple weekly doctors' visits, g-tube feeds, medications administered throughout the day, insurance claims, and including our three other children in the care of their amazing little brother. What an adventure. More surgery is in the Mad-man's future, but he has a future, and for that we will be forever grateful.