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Luke Thomas Welcome to Luke's Web Page. It has been provided to keep people updated about our little one.
Luke Thomas
Born: 11/05/2004 6:40pm Weight: 9lbs 13oz Length: 21in
Journal
Tuesday, April 26, 2005 6:08 PM CDT Deanna and I met with Dr. Baker (Luke's cardiologist) last week to go over the autopsy report. The immediate cause of death is listed as multiorgan system hypoxia. In single syllable words that just means several organ systems stopped working.
There were no major ah ha's in the report. Dr. Baker warned us this could be the case. No answer as to why he was having trouble oxygenating his blood before surgery. No answer for the unusual swelling and bruising post op. And no reason for it being so extreemly difficult to get an IV started.
The autopsy did reveal that the heart repair was well done. All the soutures and patches were firmly in place where they should be and the atrial septic defect they created with the 2nd heart surgery was the proper size.
We feared that Luke had a blood clot that had formed while he had that antibiotic resistant blood infection. That could have meant another infection as his system disolved the clot. Luke did have that clot in his femeral artery. But the autopsy found no sign of infection.
There was also evidence of more clotting in the arteries that supply the kidneys with blood. This helps to explain why the kidney trouble. But the autopsy revealed that though the kidneys showed signs of damage, they were not dead and given time and and adequate blood supply should have recovered.
The only new thing we learned was that Luke's left coronary artery was not at a normal 90 degree angle from the heart. It was more acute. Dr Baker explained that this could have presented problems, but Luke's symptoms were never consistant with the sorts of problems you would expect from this condition. He also noted that if it were a very severe angle, either he or one of the surgeons would have noticed and made note of it. So he does not beleive this was a factor.
The cardiologists meet quarterly for a final review of cases where the patient dies. When they meet next month to go over Luke's case, the Dr. who performed the autopsy will be there and Dr. Baker will ask about this artery. If he learns anything new about this, or anything else, he will let us know. But at this time his opinion is that this arterial defect had nothing to do with Luke's death.
Many possible causes of death were ruled out. But no concrete answer. Dr Baker still does not know why Luke couldn't recover. The only thing he's able to point to is that genetic defects like Down Syndrome are complex and we don't know everything about them. Perhaps there was more wrong with Luke genetically that we don't understand. Perhaps that contributed to his inability to heal from the surgery. We just don't know.
Thanks again for all your prayers and support. We loved Luke. We made sure he knew that every day he was with us. We don't understand why he had to die, but are trying to accept it and be thankful for the time we had.
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Hospital Information: Patient Room: PICU Children's Hospitals and Clinics (Mpls and St. Paul)
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