A Stressful Trip To Denver

Yesterday, I gave you a quick run-through of Isabel’s birth and what happened in the first couple days. If you didn’t get a chance to read it, check it out here. Now, to continue with getting Isabel to Denver.

The Life Flight Team was at the hospital by 4:05 am on December 29th. Watching them work and break down all the information the Gunnison nurses provided them was amazing. They ran tests and transferred Isabel to their machines. They did great job explaining to Jen and I every thing they were doing and they were able to answer any questions we had as well. After making sure Isabel was stable, they were ready to head back to the airport. We were lucky that they had an extra seat on the plane for Jen because it would be a hard drive to Denver that night with it snowing most of the way and running on very little sleep. We decided that I would head back to Crested Butte and start driving to Denver the following morning. After the quick flight to Denver and a short ambulance trip, Jen and Isabel arrived at The Children’s Hospital. They immediately took them to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) where a team a doctors where waiting to check on Isabel. After a few tests, they diagnosed her with Congenital Heart Disease. Jen almost immediately called me and told me I needed to be on the next flight to Denver. During my flight to Denver, Isabel had her first ECHO, and they waited for me to arrive before transferring her to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU). 

Once we arrived in the CICU, the doctors started her on a medicine called Prostaglandins to keep her Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) functioning. The PDA allows blood flow between the Aorta and Pulmonary arteries. They were very worried that if they did not keep the PDA open, blood would be unable to flow to her lungs. That night, one of the doctors sat down with us and showed us pictures explaining exactly what was wrong with Isabel. He told us that they suspected she had a Ventricular Septal Defect with Pulmonary Valve Atresia, also called Tetralogy of Fallot with Pulmonary Atresia, and we would need to have a Cardia catheterization to confirm her condition.

It was a very busy first 3 days of life for Isabel. There is still much more to the story, so stay tuned tomorrow for more.

Before I finish, I want to thank Jen’s mom, PJ, for everything she did for us. She came into town for Christmas and the birth, most likely thinking she would be helping out for a few days with Addison while we were in the hospital. She didn’t expect to spend more than a month in Crested Butte alone with a 3-year-old. She also put up with all the crazy I could put out while I was so stressed and didn’t let it bother her! Thank you, PJ.