Carter McLeroy Carter Mcleroy

We welcomed Carter James on Sunday, February 21st at 1:49 pm.  He was born in Arlington, TX and was a solid 8 lbs 4 oz at birth.  We spent our first night together rocking, nursing and trying to get a few hours of sleep. On Monday, he went in for a routine checkup, and a few hours later we were at Cook Children’s in Fort Worth. What was first detected as a simple heart murmur was soon diagnosed to be a rare heart defect known as the Taussig-Bing Anomaly.  Carter’s aortic and pulmonary arteries were reversed, he had a large hole in the bottom of his heart, a small hole in the top of his heart, and both the aortic and pulmonary valves were going into the right side of his heart, so his left side was a little small.  From a medical standpoint, those conditions are known as Transposition of the Great Arteries, Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), Coarctation of the Aorta (COA) and Atrial Septal Defect (ASD).  At four days old, Carter underwent a surgery to repair his defects.  His aortic and pulmonary arteries were switched, and his VSD was corrected by taking a small piece of the outer heart wall and creating a bridge between his ventricles.  The surgery is one of the most complicated surgeries for heart patients, and the surgery took almost 12 hours from start to finish.  Carter had a few rough days after surgery, but then began to turn the corner.  Since then, we’ve had lots of positive days, sprinkled with some setbacks.  Carter had his chest opened for a week before the swelling reduced enough for the doctors to close it, he’s had his breathing tube put in, taken out, and put back in. He’s been on IV nutrition, breast milk, formula, and now skim breast milk.  His lungs continue to clear; he’s getting stronger and continues to amaze us each day.  He’s definitely a little heart warrior, and he has the scars to prove it! The past few weeks have not been easy, but we have been blessed by so much love and support.  Words cannot express how grateful we are for the thoughts and prayers for Carter and our family.