Jaymeson

Jaymeson

Meet Jaymeson

“Jaymeson was born at Reading Hospital on March 27, 2009. We were able to have him with us for approximately 12 hours before he was starting to get lethargic and unable to nurse. The nurses took him to the nursery to give him a bath and to “wake him up” and “make him nice and mad” so he would feed when he got back. Approximately 10 minutes after they took him for his bath a nurse came in and told me that during his bath half his body turned blue and his blood oxygen levels on the top half of his body was only 60% and his lower half was down to 40%. He was taken immediately up to the NICU in the Reading Hospital to assess if it was a lung issue or a heart issue. Through an Echocardiograph it was determined that Jaymeson had several heart defects. His first diagnosis was that he had Transposition of the Greater Arteries, Atrial Septal Defect, and his PDA hadn’t closed yet and needed to be Life Flighted by helicopter to another children’s hospital with a pediatric cardiologist on staff. We chose Penn State Hershey Medical Center (PSHMC). When Jaymeson landed and admitted to PSHMC he was in the NICU. We arrived a couple hours later to find a Pediatric Cardiologist observing Jaymeson and waiting for us. Dr. Lee took his time and explained his condition and what we were to expect in the next couple of days. He was born on a Friday, transported to the PSHMC on Saturday and had his first surgery on Sunday through the Cath. Lab. In order for him to have a better survival rate during his Arterial Switch operation called an Atrial Septostomy which is a surgical procedure in which a bigger hole is created between the upper two chambers of the heart. Because he already had an ASD, they just widened the hole that already existed between the walls. This allowed more mixing of the blue and red blood to get more oxygen pumped to his body. During this procedure they were able to put a camera up through is arteries to take a better look at his coronaries – which supply his heart with blood. They discovered he had a defect in his coronaries – instead of having 2 like normal hearts Jaymeson had two which went into one place in his heart so it acted like only having one. This was a serious complication. The doctors were not sure he could have the operation called “Arterial Switch” where they cut the arteries above the valves and switch them and sew them to where they were supposed to be due to this coronary defect. The talented surgeons and cardiologist staff researched how to move his coronaries with his aorta but they had to attach them to the aorta with a “skin patch”. This coronary defect, as we were told by Dr. Clark, was a like “lightning strike” – that’s how rare it is to the general population. Jaymeson went into his open heart surgery a little after noon on April 1, 2009 on his 5th day of life. After approximately 6 hours Dr. Clark came up with a big smile on his face and said that he’s got a strong heart and he wasn’t even on blood pressure medicine coming from the OR to the PICU! Jaymeson recovered from his surgery with very little complications and was released to come home before Easter that year 10 days after he was admitted. We learned later that Dr. Clark AND Dr. Meyers performed the surgery as 2 surgeons are needed for TGA arterial switch operations. Dr. Meyers flew in the night before from Orlando, Fl. where he was a key note speaker at a conference. He performed the surgery, checked in on him at 6am the next day and was back on a plane to finish up the conference. NOW THAT IS DEDICATION! We never met him in the hospital but we were able to personally thank him at the Hershey Hearts Picnic later that year. We LOVED Dr. Clark and we called him our “life coach” as he was much more than just Jaymeson’s heart surgeon. He has such a great way of supporting the whole family through this scary time. We have never taken a day for granted with our strong, happy, and healthy 4 years old! Although he will always have to see a pediatric cardiologist and will have to undergo life-long heart monitoring, many stress tests, MRI’s, heart monitors, and some minor restrictions in participating in contact sports and not allowed to power lift; he has been able to enjoy life like any other boy with lots of friends and a loving big sister, Annabella. He is truly our “Miracle Man”.”

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