Texas Children's Hospital (English)

My wife’s cousin is a pediatrician in Houston and knows some of the best doctors here in the US. She is also familiar with HLHS, that’s why she recommended us to meet with the heart team in Houston at Texas children’s hospital. November 14^th, 2014 we had made an appointment with a cardiologist in Houston to get a second opinion. When we got there they first sent us to do an ultrasound on the baby’s heart (echocardiogram) and then we met with the cardiologist, and she basically said the same thing as we had heard in Dallas. Unfortunately our son has hypoplastic left heart syndrome and there is nothing that can be done to make it go away. We even asked about balloon dilation in vitro (inside the mother’s womb) that has been done to blow up the left ventricle. But it was not possible for our child. The only help are the three open heart surgeries (heart transplant is an option, but maybe not the best at this time). We also met with a genetic counselor to find out what types of genetic defects that could be related to heart defects. There are tests that you can do to eliminate the possibility of defects as for example chromosome defects. Texas children’s hospital is ranked second best in the nation according to some research after Boston children’s hospital for congenital heart defects. On Monday November 17^th, 2014 we met with thoracic surgeon, a specialist heart surgeon, to discuss and ask questions about the surgeries. We met with Dr. Charles Fraser, which is a very experienced and competent doctor, to learn about his procedures with HLHS. He has done many Norwood procedures and the hospital performs an average of 18 Norwood per year, where 84.2% are successful. We received a very positive impression of the hospital and the whole heart team. Some of the negatives by delivering our baby down is Houston is first of all, we don’t know if Dr. Fraser will be the surgeon performing the procedure. Second is that they wanted my wife to come down and stay in Houston at least a month before our due date, which is march 1^st, 2014. Then he needs our son to stay in Houston until he has done the second surgery (Glenn). That would mean that my wife and unborn son would be there in Houston for over 6 months. That would be hard, I still have to work and Drew has school. What are we doing with Lucas? What happens if I am 300 miles away when they need me? We really have to think about this and see if it is possible, can we make it happen?