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Showing posts with the label congenital heart defect awareness

August Was Moving Month

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It's been a while since I have put up a blog post. I also haven't been very active on Faith's Mom's Facebook page. That's because the month of August was dedicated to moving!  About 4 years ago, Faith and I moved from the apartment she grew up in, to a different one in northeast Bismarck. The primary reason for the move was to have underground parking so that getting her loaded into the van by myself during our cold, snowy winters would be less of a challenge. We also needed to find a place in which the elevator didn't break down on a regular basis!  One of our last sunsets at our old apartment  That place served us well, but the drive to her day program, which is located across the river in Mandan was time consuming, not to mention, expensive. I drove about 45 miles a day and used up a tank of gas a week!  Searching for a New Place  Before our lease ended, I began praying about finding somewhere else to live. A condo would have been nice, but surprisingly not a...
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Adults Living with Congenital Heart Defects (CHD)

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We are right in the middle of Congenital Hearts Defect (CHD) Awareness Week, which runs from February 7th through 14th. I am glad to see so many posts on social media to help draw awareness! Many of those posts center around children with CHD, which is good as heart defects are the most common birth defect in the United States. But many people are unaware of how CHD affects adults. Hence, this blog post!  In 2010, there were 1.4 million adults in the United States living with congenital heart defects (CHD). Due to increased survival, this number increases by about 5% every year. These numbers are significant considering that at one time babies born with CHD had virtually no chance of becoming an adult. Thanks to surgical advances and research in pediatric cardiology in the past 50 years, most congenital heart defects have been able to be corrected. Today, babies born with heart defects have a much better outlook than they did 50, or even 15 years ago. February 7-14th is CHD Awar...
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CHD Awareness Week: My Heart Story (So Far)

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In February 1974 when my mom took me home from the hospital, she thought she had a perfectly healthy baby. But when her mom came for a visit five weeks later to see her granddaughter, she asked why my lips looked discolored. Grandma Dorothy also noticed I slept a lot, even for a newborn. Mom assured Grandma she would ask the doctor about it during my six-week checkup. Mom took me to the same clinic in Wolf Point, Montana, where I had been born. She and Dad were living in a tiny town called Lustre, where Dad worked as a ranch hand. My regular pediatrician was unavailable. Instead, a young doctor, fresh out of medical school examined me.  Dr. Mattley quickly agreed the bluish tint to my lips was disconcerting and because of it, dubbed me a "blue baby." He told Mom that my body wasn't getting enough oxygen, which is why I was cyanotic.  He also detected a heart murmur. An X-ray confirmed a possible heart defect. Following the exam, Dr. Mattley called a clinic in Great Falls,...
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