|
May 2010 |
Arden had her three year follow-up in Boston in May of
2010. The doctors can't believed how well she is doing. Her
stress test score showed that she preformed at 110% of the
normal population! Her heart has adjusted well to her growing
into a young adult. The long term prognosis looks very
bright for her. |
|
May 2009 |
Arden had her two year follow-up in Boston. The doctor
says that her heart continues to shrink in size and she has
minimal leakage in her valve. All good news. |
|
December 9, 2008 |
Arden had a follow-up visit with her local cardiologist
in Allentown, PA. Her echocardiogram continues to show that her
surgical repair has had excellent postoperative results.
|
|
May 22, 2008 |
Well we can't believe it has been a
year since Arden's surgery! She is doing very well and just had
her 1 year follow up appointment in Boston last week. She went
through a whole day of testing while there including chest
x-rays, CT scans, Echocardiograms an exercise stress test and
Cardiologist and Electrophysiologist visits. Arden did well on
all aspects of the testing and managed to more than double her
ability on her pre surgery stress test score. We are now in the
midst of planning Arden's fundraiser event, "Bringing Sunshine
to Hearts" dinner on June 19th. Please read more about this
event on this web site. |
|
February 2008 |
Arden has been doing
well not only with her recovery from surgery but is a High Honor
Roll student at Moravian Academy. Her follow-up appointment in
November in Boston showed she continues to recover well and she
says she feels like normal again! She has enjoyed skiing all
winter and she is looking forward to playing softball this
spring.
SEE PICTURES |
|
Nov. 8, 2008 |
Arden had her sixth month follow-up for
her surgery in Boston. The doctors think she is doing great and
her repair has continued to perform well. |
|
July 4, 2007 8:00 am
 |
Arden has been doing great
over the last week. It has been great for her to have friends around
that have helped her forget about the tough times she has gone
through. The medicine seems to be working well. She has had a couple
episodes of a rapid heart rate but they are not as severe and seem
to be diminishing. We have loved seeing her run around again and it
has been even more exciting to see that she does not get out of
breath like she did before the operation. We are headed home from
the beach on the 7th and hope to enjoy an uneventful summer. |
|
June 27, 2007 1:30 pm |
 Arden
got her wish and we are at the beach. Arden and I left the
Hospital in Boston at 11 am and were on the beach at 1:30 pm.
SEE PICTURES |
|
June 27, 2007 9:00 am |
Arden did
great overnight and everyone has signed off for her to leave
this morning. We should be out of here by 11 am. We will post a
picture of her on the beach tonight. Thanks again for all
the support! |
|
June 26, 2007 6:00 pm |
Arden has
been going for long walks, went to a magic show and even had the
hospital dog visit her today. Her body is responding well to the
beta blockers and it has now been two full days since she has
felt any rapid heart beats. We should be out of the
hospital by 12 noon tomorrow and headed right to the beach as
promised. Sarina left today and will round up the kids and meet
us down there. Arden will have follow-up visits over the next
couple of weeks and hopefully we continue to move in the right
direction. |
|
June 26, 2007 8:30 am |
Arden is
feeling a lot better this morning. They want to monitor her on
this new medicine and if all goes well, she will be out
tomorrow. Sarina might fly home today because Elise and Wade are
really missing their mom and dad. Since Arden is here, they
would also like to perform an Echo study of her heart because
with this being such a new type of surgery, they can really
monitor the great results. |
|
June 25, 2007 6:30 pm |
Arden is back
in her room and dealing with some discomfort in her legs from
where the catheters were placed in her legs. The good news
is that the catheterization shows Arden's heart is performing
way better than they expected. All the pressures in the chambers
of the heart are normal which is terrific for such a large
repair. The unfortunate part of the procedure is that they were
not able to reproduce her rapid heart rate and thus not able to
pinpoint where the tachycardia was coming from. Taking beta
blockers for 3 to 6 months was always the backup plan and with
some luck this will resolve on it's own as her heart continues
to heal. They may decide to try this procedure again in 3 to 6
months time, we'll just have to see how she does on the
medication. They told us they want to monitor Arden until
Wednesday so we will be able to come home on Wed. afternoon. |
|
June 25, 2007 1:55 pm |
SEE PICTURES
- Arden's procedure is underway. It should take between 4 and 5
hours and we should see her again in the recovery room after
6pm. The reason it takes so long is that when they put the
catheter up into the heart, they will try to induce her
tachycardia (rapid heart rate) and then map out how and where
the electricity moves around her heart. This all can take
a long time to figure out. They hopefully will pinpoint
the location that is causing the problem and then use heat to
actually burn away a very small amount of tissue where the
problem exists. The doctors say they'll know pretty much right
away if they fixed the problem. Something could still show
up later that they weren't able to see today but we hope that
they can identify the spot or spots and take care of them today.
If all goes well and she is feeling fine, we could possibly head
home late tomorrow. |
|
June 24, 2007 7 pm |
Today was
very boring. Arden watched three movies and wants to get this
over with. We met with Dr. Triedman, who will perform her
catheterization. He said they will do
everything they can to fit her in tomorrow afternoon. After
reviewing, her EKG's , he feels she has what is called "Ectopic
Atrial Tachycardia". He said there is an 80% chance they can fix
this when the catheter is in the heart and they can treat the
area that is sending the wrong electrical signals. Otherwise
they would have to use medication for a period of months to
control the arrhythmia's and then try again later. They
key is that they are able to induce the tachycardia during the
procedure otherwise they will not be able to pinpoint the
location in the heart that is causing the problem. Arden
is feeling fine and just wishes she could be home to bug her
brother and sister. We should know by late morning on Monday if
she will have it done tomorrow. |
|
June 23, 2007 8 pm |
SEE PICTURES
- Arden is back in the hospital and not happy about it. We were
supposed to be sitting on the beach at Long Beach Island on the
Jersey shore for two weeks starting today but instead we have to
help Arden get through this new hurdle. We checked into the
Children's Hospital in Boston around 1 pm. She felt pretty good
all morning but later this afternoon she started to experience
some episodes of a rapid heart rate. This is more scary to Arden
than dangerous to her. She is currently scheduled for her
catheterization procedure on Wednesday to investigate the cause
of these abnormal rhythms. We hope we can be moved up to early
in the week so we can get some real answers to decide the best
remedy. |
|
June 22, 2007 6 pm |
Arden has been experiencing was
is called rapid
atrial tachycardia. This is when the hearts electrical system is
a little out of sorts and causes the heart to go a lot faster.
It causes Arden to
feel dizzy and out of sorts. This can happen after a major
surgery when the heart is healing and trying to get used to it's
new anatomy. This condition can sometimes take care of itself
over time or may need to be treated by Cardiac Catheterization.
Unfortunately Arden will need this procedure that will take
place next week. As a precaution
we will travel to Boston this weekend so they can admit her and
monitor her until this procedure can be completed. This involves
a catheter inserted in an artery in her leg that will travel to
her heart to investigate the cause of the tachycardia. If
pinpointed, they can treat the issue at the same time. We will
keep you updated on her progress. |
| June 13,
2007 7:30 am |
SEE PICTURES Yesterday we had a visit with
Arden's local cardiologist. It was one day early because
Arden experienced some dizziness in the morning. After her
check-up, everything looked great and the dizziness was
attributed to dehydration. We are planning to take the
family to the beach for a couple weeks so Arden can continue
to relax and recover. |
| June 10,
2007 8:00 am |
Arden continues to recovery. She
still has severe headaches but they should get better as she
comes off some of her medicines this week. When people come
to visit, no one can even tell she had such a major
operation. |
| June 8,
2007 11:00 am |
Arden has had a great couple days
at home. She has been taking long walks and a lot of naps.
She is well on the way to recovery. |
| June 6,
2007 12:30 pm |
SEE PICTURES - Arden
arrived safely home at 12 noon. Her Brother, Sister and
Grandfather flew up in the plane that picked us up. She was
welcomed with beautiful decorations outside the house and a
great lunch made by her Grandmothers. She is now in the
perfect setting to continue her recovery and to have a great
summer. Sarina and I want to thank everyone for all your
support. Working on the web site for me has been a great
stress reliever knowing that it brought much joy to Arden.
We all look forward to seeing everyone over the summer.
Thanks again. |
| June 5,
2007 10:30 am |
 GETTING
OUT:
After meeting
with Arden's doctor this morning, he said she is doing so
well they are letting her out this afternoon. We are going
to spend the night at our hotel and be home by lunch
tomorrow. |
| June 5,
2007 7:25 am |
Message from Arden
 Hi guys,
its Arden! I feel A LOT better now than I did a few days
ago. I can’t wait to see all of you guys at home. I’m so
lucky to have family and friends like you guys. Everybody
has been cheering me up and helping me out. I want to thank
my parents also for choosing Boston and taking care of me
while I am in the hospital and out of it.
When I looked at the message board last, there were well
over 300 messages. I couldn’t believe it! I felt so
lucky to be loved like that. I’m so thankful to be that
person being loved and cared for.
I
love and miss you guys, but I’ll see ya real
soon!!!!!!!!!!! |
| June 4,
2007 8:00 pm |
SEE
PICTURES - Arden had a great day. She has been taking
walks all day and her stamina increases with each passing
hour. If the air in her chest cavity clears and we get her
body fluids to stabilize, she could check out on Wednesday.
|
| June 4,
2007 11:00 am
|
This morning Arden had her
follow-up echocardiogram to look inside her heart and
determine the success of the surgery. Many of you might not
know that originally Arden was going to have her heart valve
replaced at the Mayo Clinic instead of repaired. This would
have only lasted 7 to 15 years and she would have needed
surgery all over again. 4 out of 5 surgeons around the
country had given the same opinion except for Dr. Pedro del
Nido in Boston. He started performing a new procedure a year
ago after going to Brazil to learn about this repair from
the world renowned surgeon Dr. Desilva. After much
deliberation and the Doctor from the Mayo clinic agreeing
with Dr. del Nido about the surgery, we made the correct
choice in coming to Boston.
The echocardiogram this morning
showed that her heart is working properly and that the
repaired valve only has mild to moderate leakage. Her Doctor
said out of 100 in how the valve leaked, she was a 100
before surgery and now 15 to 20 which is incredible. They
also closed a hole in her heart and reduced the right side
of her heart. There are no promises that Arden will not need
surgery again, but she has entirely her own heart and it is
working great. She will totally feel like a new kid in a
month or two and she can get back to being a great kid and
now a beautiful young woman. |
| June 4,
2007 8:00 am |
 Last
night we had a big dinner and watched a movie. It was great
to see her eat again. In the middle of the night, they
started her diuretic drugs again
(drug
that elevates the rate of bodily urine output)
which gave her headaches and
made her sick to her stomach. At 5 am she had a chest x-ray
to check on the fluids in her lungs and the air bubble in
the chest cavity. The bubble has reduced and there was no
sign of fluid build up which is great news. She will just
need to have some additional oxygen for the rest of the day
to help reduce the bubble. If everything goes really well,
we might be out the hospital by Wednesday or Thursday. |
| June 3,
2007 8:00 pm
|
Arden is really feeling good and
had a great dinner. She had a chest x-ray two hours after
having her tubes out and that revealed an air bubble in the
chest cavity. She will get some oxygen tonight that will
help the air bubble to get absorbed by her body. She
will get another chest x-ray in the morning to check it
again. |
| June 3,
2007 5:00 pm
|
TUBES ARE OUT AND SHE IS RESTING
COMFORTABLY! |
| June 3,
2007 3:30 pm |
GREAT TURNAROUND
- We are getting the chest tubes out
at 4 pm. Arden started eating and her drainage from her
chest tubes slowed greatly. She has also been up and
around the unit walking
SEE PICTURES. Updates to
follow. |
| June 3,
2007 9:00 am |
No luck with taking the tubes out
today. There is still too much drainage. We are still trying
to get her to eat something but it continues to be a
struggle. They are going to try some new medications
today to help her out with nausea and headaches. |
| June 2,
2007 5:50 pm |
SEE
PICTURES - Arden had a big day with visitors. She was
only able to stay awake for a little while but it was well
worth it. She made some more progress this afternoon with
walking and we are really hoping tomorrow is the day she
gets her chest tubes out. Once they are out, she should only
be in the hospital 2 or 3 more days. |
| June 2,
2007 9:00 am |
Arden has already had a big
morning. Even though she feels really weak, she got up and
walked for a little. We were really hoping her chest tubes
would come out today but no such luck. The doctors say this
is normal for such a large operation. She is going to have a
lot of visitors today so we hope that cheers her up. |
| June 1,
2007 3:00 pm |
SEE PICTURES-Arden is having a rough day. They put
her on some new pain medication which makes her stomach
upset. She feels better when we rub her head and put cold
compresses on her. The chest tubes look like they are
staying in for another day so hopefully they will come out
tomorrow. Once they are out, she will feel so much better.
Her doctor said besides these issues with some of her
medications, she is healing really well and her heart sounds
great. |
| June 1,
2007 7:00 am |
Arden had a great night. She is now
getting up and going to the bathroom next to the bed and she
took a couple steps this morning. She did not like that! We
are hoping her chest tubes come out today because that will
make her feel 10 times better. She is really looking forward
to seeing her grandparents, her brother and sister and a
couple of her friends on Saturday. That should really cheer
her up. |
| May 31
2007 6:30 pm |
SEE
PICTURES-Arden has had a long day. She has been out of
bed twice to sit in a chair and has slept pretty much the
rest of the day. Around 4 pm she had a sponge bath that made
her feel human again. She was moved out of the ICU and we
were really lucky to get a private room. She has a great
view of Boston. |
| May 31
2007 10:15 am |
It's been a tough morning for Arden
but an important one. She got out of bed for the first time
to sit in a chair next to the bed and it was very painful.
It is important that she start to move around to help her
circulation and allow for her lungs to clear. They will get
her in and out of bed all day and maybe tomorrow she will
walk. She has been very brave and we are so proud of her. |
| May 31
2007 6:20 am |
 Message
from Arden-Hi guys. Thank you
for all the wonderful messages. I will respond to your
emails when I can. I don't feel perfect, but I don't feel
bad. You guys have really cheered me up and now I know that
I can do it! |
| May 30
2007 4 pm |
SEE
PICTURE -Arden has been sleeping a lot of the day. They
are slowly taking her off some of the medicines and she was
allowed to have her first drink of water. Hopefully by
tomorrow she can have solid food. She holds a little button
in her hand that she can press so she can give herself pain
medicine when needed. Since she is very stable, she
will move to another room tonight in the ICU (Intensive Care
Unit) with only one nurse and should leave ICU tomorrow and
go to a regular hospital room. |
| May 30
2007 11:10 am |
Great news!
Arden is off the ventilator and breathing on her own. This
is one of the biggest accomplishments especially since it
was removed less than 24 hours after surgery. She is
incredibly strong and all her vital signs are great. Her
cardiologist visited her this morning and said repaired
heart is operating well and expects her to recover quickly.
She is still very sleepy but we expect her to sit up late
this afternoon and have her first drink on her own. |
| May 30
2007 6:55 am |
Arden had a
peaceful night. The game plan is to still wake her this
morning so the recovery process can begin. We will let you
know what hurtles she has overcome as they happen. |
| May 29 2007 7:00 pm |
We are here
with Arden in the ICU. She is resting comfortably and the
doctors say she is on track and her vital signs are great.
She has two nurses specifically assigned to her who will
watch and monitor her throughout the night. Her Dad is
staying in her room tonight and the plan is to wake her up
tomorrow. Thank you for all the great messages that lifted
her spirits before she went into surgery. |
| May 29 2007 3:55 pm |
Arden's surgery was
a success!!! We just met with the surgeon and he
said she is very strong and she will feel like a new kid. We
will get to see her later this afternoon. She will be kept
asleep till tomorrow morning at the earliest. |
| May 29, 2007 9:00 am |
Arden has been
taken into surgery. We will see her again around 4 pm.
|
| May 25, 2007 |
We flew up to
Boston today (May 25th) for Arden's Pre-operative tests. It
was a tough day for Arden but she was a real trooper. Arden
said the MRI was scary, loud and uncomfortable. We plan on
having a nice weekend at home before we fly back out Monday.
We have to be at the hospital on Tuesday morning at 7:30am
for the surgery. |
| May 23, 2007 |
Arden will have her surgery on May 29th at Children's
Hospital in Boston. |
