- So, after having our first baby,
everything was going great with the second pregnancy.
No concerns at all.
Everyone looking forward to the new baby, and then
we got the word after Tiffany had
the baby five weeks early, that there was problems.
It's tough, because there's a lot of stuff
on the web, and that was our primary source
is looking on to see what the best options were
for his condition.
After talking with the specialist, you know,
he was telling us information about
what's available locally.
You know, we wanted to know what's best for him
no matter where it is.
Money was no option for us, luckily.
We have really good insurance, and we would do
anything that's possible to care for him.
So, we went to the web, did our own research.
A lot of scary stuff out there.
So, we tried to find the best information we could.
We also checked around with friends who have
other people that are in the same position
that have relationships with doctors, and we were
directed to Texas Children's Hospital.
That was easy for us.
We had family in Houston.
So, the transition from moving from Austin to Houston
was a quick and easy thing for us,
as well as easy for our other child.
We life flighted Blake at about seven days old.
I left, left Tiffany with Blake to see him off.
I left with my family to meet them in Houston when the plane
or when the helicopter landed.
We were there waiting in Texas Children's, got him.
Tiffany arrived about a couple hours later, and then
we met with Dr. Frazier.
They got him rested, in a good, stable state, and then
we met with Dr. Frazier later that afternoon
to discuss kinda what his condition is and what
the process would be going forward.
I was glad that the doctor told us how bad it could be.
They kinda took their selves out of being a parent and more
about being a doctor, which that's what I would rather have,
somebody working on my son that knows what
they're talking about, giving it to me like it is,
but at the same time, it's tough as a parent
to hear that sort of information.
So, when we got into it, we knew this is gonna be
a scary adventure, but we knew
he was in the best hands.
The day of the first surgery was a long day.
We woke up early that morning, got him
moved over to the operation room,
and we then moved into the waiting room
for a full day of meetings with,
you know, as the surgery went on, we would meet constantly
with the doctors, getting an update, understanding
what his status is, understanding what concerns they had,
anything that they saw that was different than what they,
what was in their plan, but everything
seemed to go as to their plan.
You know, when the doctor comes in and tells you
this was kinda boring, that's great news.
That means everything is exactly how
it shoulda gone, and that's great news.
You know, nothing could've been better than that.
The other day everything was great, and we were happy.
We had our son in the best place that he could have been.
The surgery was the first of many to come, and when
there's no cure for something that he has,
there's gonna be a long battle, but at the same time,
you're thankful for what you have, and that's
exactly the way Tiffany and I both felt, and we took
each day as a new day, and it was
a long journey.
After the open-heart surgery that we had,
Blake came in weighing about a little less than
six pounds, I believe, and lost a lot of weight.
So, after the surgery that we had for him,
we had to get him to start gaining some weight
in order for him to be released from the hospital and move
forward to the next surgery, whenever that might be.
The one thing that we, the one piece of advice
that we got is to get him fat.
So, we worked constantly at getting him
as chubby as he could be.
You know, met with the doctor for him, and he was shocked
about how big he was.
He was amazed about how great he looked size-wise.
His heart, still had some sort of concern for it,
but he was in a better state than
if he was not at that weight.
So, one thing that we told the doctor was we listened.
Whatever you tell us, we'll do.
So, that was one thing that we were
very thankful for, and I think it assisted him,
you know, in the second surgery, to make it easier
than the first one.