Trisomy 13, Lexie : Heart Surgery

 Heart Surgery

 

May, 1998

We decided to look at the last option that was open to us and took Lexie to a local heart surgeon, Dr. Duncan. He was so kind and comforting, “She’s so feisty,” he said, “I think she’ll do fine during heart surgery. The throwing up she’s experiencing will go away and she could grow up to be strong and healthy.”  We could feel our hearts soar, but stated fearfully, “We need you to understand that she has Trisomy 13, and her life expectancy is only one year.”  He responded, “Well, maybe she will only live five years. But the quality of her life those next four years will be so much better than the struggle she is in now.”  That’s all we needed to hear. We agreed to the procedure, and at six months of age and a tiny ten pounds, Lexie went in for surgery.

In the middle of the operation we began to hear a banging sound outside the waiting room. We peeked outside the door and saw nurses running down the halls with beds, lining them up outside the surgery room.We were nervous and began asking, “What’s going on?”

As the sirens began, they explained, “A tornado is headed right for the hospital and we are going to have to send all visitors to the garage.” Seeing the fear in our faces, the employee quickly responded, “Don’t worry, a backup generator is in place and the underground surgery room is one of the safest places to be.”It was more than I could handle, “How could this happen now, at this moment?…