Reflections on a miraculous November 2017
While singing the opening songs at our church during Thanksgiving weekend in 2017, I couldn’t help but be moved to tears by the lyrics of one of the hymns:
“Rejoice, the Lord is King,
Your Lord and King adore;
Mortals give thanks and sing,
And triumph ever more.
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice.”
In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving last year, my family and I walked through valleys so low that I didn’t know if we could come out of them. But after arriving on the other side, I’d never before experienced the depths of such gratitude or joy.
Our thankfulness and amazement at God’s care and provision cannot fully be put into words following the events that occurred in the hours, days and weeks after my son’s open-heart surgery Nov. 1, 2017.
———
My husband, Andy, and I have a son Everett, now age 4, who was diagnosed at age 3 months with a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM. With this inherited disease, the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick, which puts extra strain on the heart and makes it more difficult for the heart to pump blood to the body.
As a result of having HCM, Everett developed a left ventricular outflow tract obstruction that continued to worsen over time. His doctors at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus eventually determined a surgical procedure called a myectomy was necessary to resect some of the heart muscle and remove the obstruction.
Several days before the surgery date, our family — my husband, me, our son and his grandparents — traveled to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., for Everett’s procedure so that our then 3-year-old could have the very best care and expertise. Myectomies are not commonly performed in children, but our surgeon, Dr. Joseph Dearani, specializes in the procedure in the pediatric setting, with children traveling to him from around the world for their myectomies.
Mandy, Andy and Everett Loehr at their Bellefontaine home just prior to leaving for the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for Everett’s open heart procedure, Nov. 1, 2017.
While we prepared and prayed long and hard for that day of the surgery, the procedure itself actually went very well. We anxiously awaited Dr. Dearani’s post-operative report, and then received the glowing news that he had been able to remove all of the obstruction in Everett’s heart.
He previously had told us this feat would be a challenge because he was working in such small confines on a tiny child.
While celebrating the surgery success for a few brief minutes with my husband and our parents, I received a phone call from the nurse in Everett’s ICU recovery room.
“Everett has been extubated, and you can come to see him in about 30 minutes,” the nurse said.
After that 30-minute window had elapsed, we walked to the ICU, and received a gut-wrenching surprise that nearly brought us to our knees.
———
When we entered the doors of the ICU, we observed a crowd of medical professionals gathered around one of the patient’s rooms. We would soon learn they were at Everett’s bedside after a dramatic series of events.
Shortly after being extubated, our son went into cardiac arrest because of a life-threatening arrhythmia, ventricular fibrillation, where the lower chambers of the heart quiver instead of contracting and pumping blood. Attempts to resuscitate Everett were initially unsuccessful, and Dr. Dearani rushed to the ICU from another part of the hospital to assist his 3-year-old patient.
In quick-thinking and acting on his part, our surgeon re-opened Everett’s chest and literally massaged the heart muscle to get Everett’s heart pumping again.
Our medical professionals would tell us that Everett’s heart was “extremely irritable” after the procedure because portions of the heart’s electrical system are removed during a myectomy.
Following the life-saving efforts, Everett was placed on the ECMO machine, which stands for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, to give his body and his heart time to recover and rest for several days.
That evening when we finally saw our son, who was sedated, had a pump controlling his heart, and ventilator tube attached to his mouth, we were overwhelmed to say the least. However, we were quite comforted by the positive perspective the medical staff provided.
As Dr. Dearani told us, “Kids are very resilient, and we are glass-half-full kind of people around here.”
———
The next few days spent in the ICU went according to our medical team’s plan, with Everett successfully being weaned from the ECMO machine three days after his surgery. Two days later, he was fitted with a permanent pacemaker and defibrillator in yet another operating room procedure.
We were right moving along toward the hope of extubating Everett when our difficulties were confounded Nov. 7 with the news that our son had suffered a stroke, which was confirmed by a CT scan. What that meant for Everett’s future abilities we did not know, as stroke recovery is so variable person to person.
While still trying to wrap our heads around those stroke consequences, we received an early morning phone call Nov. 8 in our hotel room, with a nurse informing us that Everett had suffered a second cardiac arrest. Fortunately, his implanted defibrillator provided the electrical shocks needed to quickly get his heart back in rhythm.
After some adjustments to his medication, Everett’s heart began to function much better and his actual recovery could begin. Following 10 days under sedation and heavy opioid pain medication, our 3-year-old was successfully extubated Nov. 10. All of his IV medications were gradually reduced and he was moved out of the ICU on Nov. 16 to a step down unit at the hospital.
Everett Loehr recovering after his surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Looking back at our experiences last November, I know that God was by our side for all of that time and can truly see how He orchestrated miracles on ours and Everett’s behalf.
Our resilient little boy was released from the hospital Nov. 19, and then we began our two-day journey home from Minnesota. We felt blessed beyond measure to be able to spend our Thanksgiving Day Nov. 23 as a family of three back at our Bellefontaine home. Everett’s recovery has not always been an easy one, as he had stroke consequences to deal with on top of the painful healing of a chest incision and other pain from the procedure. But through completing physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy, he is doing well and thriving today, and is enjoying attending preschool and has an insatiable love of race cars.
Everett is pictured on the one-year anniversary of his heart surgery with a pillow signed by his surgeon with the following message: “Everett, You are a star! Get well.”
We’ll look forward to sitting down to our Thanksgiving dinner Thursday now as a family of four, as Everett’s little brother, Landon, joined us in June. Our two boys have a lighthearted and fun brotherly bond already.
As we prepare for these celebrations, another hymn has been on my mind lately, remembering the words to How Great Thou Art that I would play over and over in my mind while we were in Minnesota, which were quite therapeutic during those long days.
“O Lord, my God, When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds thy hands have made.
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.”