2hearts - archive - sebastian

Sebastian

20th March

Dear Friends,

After 12 days at Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok we have come back to Saigon. Our son Sebastian is at home with us and seems to be recovering well. He is feeding and sleeping better each day and should be putting on some weight soon. Mom and dad are feeling a bit tired but very relieved.

We will need to have check-ups in one month, three months, six months, one year and yearly after that. If there are no complications, the outlook for a normal or nearly normal life are excellent.

I've said it before many times but it's worth repeating that we are truly grateful for everyone's help, prayers and support.

All the best to you and your families.

Sincerely,
Andres and Cat Bao

8th March

Dear Friends,

Just a brief note that Sebastian's heart surgery was successful: they did the arterial switch operation, cut the PDA tube connecting the aorta and the pulmonary artery and closed up the ASD hole in his heart.

We saw him this morning. His face is a bit swollen (normal) but his colour looks very good and he is now at 100% oxygen saturation in his blood.

For the next 48 to 72 hours he will be in the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) and if there are no complications he will be off the ventilator in a day or two. After that he would return to ICU and we could fly home in a week.

The hospital has the fastest Internet connection I have ever seen and it has a McDonald's, a Starbuck's, and a Au Bon Pain (bakery/deli/cafe). They also give
out free water, lychee juice, wet towels and newspapers so at least we'll be comfortable for the next week as we have absolutely no desire to do any
sightseeing.

I won't be bothering you with any more updates until we fly home to Saigon. Thank you once again for all your support and your prayers. We feel very lucky to have gotten this far and are grateful for the generosity and kindness of so many people.

Sincerely,
Andres, Bao and Sebastian

6th March

Dear Friends,

If you have written in the past 24 hours, I haven't had time to reply but here is an update.

Thai Airlines were wonderful both on the ground and on the air, helping us to go through customs, etc.

Sebastian arrived with a dangerously low 23% oxygen saturation level. I believe this was not so much due to the flight as to the fact that he had basically had no care other than oxygen and has been hypoxic since his birth.

The pediatric cardilogist met us with an ambulance at the airport. Upon arrival at Bumrungrad, he was given prostaglandin immediately but it was too late for it to have much of an effect. So they had to do a balloon atrial septostomy- the procedure I had asked the
doctors in Vietnam to attempt on Monday but which they couldn't or wouldn't perform.

Immediately after the septostomy his oxygen saturation level was about 40%- still much too low but at least out of immediate danger. We were worried last night when we went home, but after we left the levels went up and were above 60% by midnight. This morning he was
at 80%, which is what is needed for the atrial switch surgery to be performed.

They have to do more tests today and they will decide whether to do the surgery on Friday night or Saturday morning. Both the pediatric cardiologist and the neonatologist are very personable and seem like very good physicians, so we feel he is in good hands.

Now we can only wait and hope Sebastian keeps improving.

Thanks for the continued prayers and support.

Yours,
Andres, Cat Bao and Sebastian

3rd March

Dear friends,

I was about to post something I wrote last night about yesterday's developments, but I have even better news now. It all finally came together today: we received the credit card we had been waiting on at around 11:30 this morning, got the OK to fly from Thai Airlines at 3:00 pm after a long day of anxiously waiting for their decision and picked up the passport at 4:30 pm.

We are flying to Bangkok at 12:30 pm tomorrow with oxygen and an escort doctor, arriving in Bangkok at 2 pm and taking an ambulance straight to Bumrangrad Hospital where the surgery for Sebastian is scheduled for Thursday. I can't describe to you the relief and joy we are feeling right now. We feel the flight and the surgery itself will be a breeze compared with what transpired during the past week.

If you wrote us with advice and suggestions about private flights, please don't feel like you wasted your time as we explored every option available and the information you sent helped us to make a more informed decision. In fact, many pilots wrote us to say that they felt a commercial flight would be safe for our child, particularly as it only takes 85 minutes to fly from Saigon to Bangkok and he will be traveling in a pressurised environment.

Sebastian's medical condition is stable at the moment. We had a bit of a scare yesterday when we spent a couple of hours at the Heart Institute thinking that they were doing a balloon atrial septostomy- at my suggestion!- to enlarge the ASD to allow the blood to oxygenate a bit more. It turned out that his ASD is apparently large enough to allow him to survive until he can have the operation. In addition, his DA is still open in spite of not being able to receive the prostaglandin E1 IV normally required for that to happen.

We are not out of the woods yet, but we are feeling very optimistic at the moment. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has helped us with suggestions, contacts, and prayers. In addition to the full support and help from our families and friends in Vietnam and the US, we have been very lucky to have kind strangers from around the globe willing to help out in any way they could. We couldn't have gotten this far without you!

Gratefully yours,

Andres, Cat Bao and Sebastian

2nd March

Dear Pastor David,
I am writing you with an urgent request for prayer. This baby has a heart defect and needs to be transported by air in order to have the life-saving surgery it needs. The baby is in Viet Nam and the dad also e-mailed me that there is no prostaglandin, a drug used to keep the PDA open in babies, available in Viet Nam. The baby needs this hole to remain open until they can have the surgery. If it closes, they have to hope that the ASD (atrial septal defect or hole in the heart) remains open and is large enough to allow the blood in the heart to mix. I am not sure of all the technical stuff but whatever the case, they need our prayers in order to get this baby to the hospital in time.
Thank you,
Cheri Roe

As published on Heart Defects Message Board

need advice on neonatal air transportation March 01, 2003

by: andrese
Our son was born 4 days ago with transposition of the great arteries (TGA) as well as the commonly related PDA and ASD. Most of the literature I have read agrees that it is best to undergo the arterial switch operation within the first two weeks of life. Our problem is that the surgery is not available in Vietnam (where we reside) and must fly to Bangkok for the operation. In addition to the many red tape problems of obtaining a birth certificate and passport quickly (my wife is a Vietnamese national and I am a U.S. citizen), we have received conflicting information on the safety of flying to Bangkok on a commercial flight. One doctor (a cardiologist) has told us that it would be no problem, but the head doctor at the neonatal ICU at the pediatric hospital disagrees. Medical evacuation is not an option as our insurance does not cover congenital conditions and it would cost in excess of $25,000. We are considering taking a doctor along and oxygen but are still worried about the risk involved. Any advice from anyone who has had to fly under similar circumstances and at what age would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Andres and Cat Bao

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