Heart Warrior Dallas

Dallas was born with an Complete AV Canal defect in her heart. She underwent her first open heart surgery to repair it at just 11 weeks old. The repair was unsuccessful due to her tissue being so fragile, because she was so small. They placed a PA band as a temporary fix to help her heart not strain as much so she could get bigger.

Two weeks after her open heart surgery she had another surgery to place a G-tube(feeding tube) in her stomach. She could only drink about 1oz from her bottle before becoming too exhausted to finish the rest because her heart was working so hard. Since then, Dallas has been fed thru her feeding tube and is gaining weight beautifully.

Dallas caught her first cold, at 7 months old, which led To a double ear infection. We brought her to the doctor and they started on antibiotics. A week later, I noticed her oxygen levels were very low. brought her into the ER. The infection in her ears was still very bad, they gave her antibiotics by IV and kept us overnight. The next day she was fine and we went home. The same thing kept happening with her oxygen levels so we brought her back in to run more tests. A few days later we had her appointment with her cardiologist for the results of the tests. He says it’s time for surgery.. now. Just a simple ear infection strained her heart enough to need surgery.

The doctors originally wanted her to be between 17 and 22 lbs for her next surgery in case they end up having to do a mechanical valve, she would be big enough. We thought her surgery would be between November and January. She only weighs 15 lbs but, the doctors say her body is telling us she’s ready now.