Cain Clinkscales

The following posts were taken from the blog of Catherine Clinkscales. Don't worry, Catherine told me I was welcome to "steal" from her blog! Catherine and I actually attended the same college, ULM, in Monroe, LA. With the suggestion of a mutual friend, Catherine contacted me recently on FB because we are now both raising children with congenital heart defects. I am so glad she did! Her story has touched my heart as I am sure it will touch yours. I hope to post continually about Cain and his progress. Catherine is now pregnant with her second child, a healthy baby girl, so Cain will soon have his own little sister! I know how terribly busy she must be, so I am taking things she's already written to post for now. Thanks Catherine!


http://clinkscalesfamily.blogspot.com/ is the link to the Clinkscales' Blog!



Finding Out The News- Cain's CHD:

I was 20 weeks into my pregnancy at the time of my 30th birthday. As a birthday present to myself, I scheduled an ultrasound on the day of my birthday, September 22nd. I was totally expecting it to be the best birthday present ever! How could it not be? I was going to find out the sex of our first child.

We were immediately elated to find out we are having a boy! However, we also received very sad news during this ultrasound. We found out that Cain has a rare congenital heart defect.

The following Thursday, September 25th, we had our first appointment with the Pediatric Heart Institute at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. We met with a pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Michael Liske, who performed a fetal echo. Afterwards, Dr. Liske sat down with Brad and me and explained to us that Cain has several congenital heart defects. The following are his defects.
1. Tricuspid atresia
2. Hypoplastic Right Ventricle
3. Ventricular Septal Defect
4. Transposition of the Great Arteries
5. A small aortic valve

As unlucky as this may all seem, we are very lucky for several reasons. One of those is the fact that we live in a town where we have access to a wonderful team of physicians who are dedicated to the care of patients with heart disease. We are also very lucky that the Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt has a surgeon who performs surgeries on babies born with Hypoplastic Right Hearts. The surgeons name is Dr. David Bichell. He is the chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at Vanderbilt and is the only surgeon in Nashville who performs the operations that Cain will need.

We were able to have a consult with Dr. Bichell on October 14th. He explained to us that Cain will have to undergo multiple surgeries after birth. As it stands now, he will have his first open heart surgery during his first week of life. They wait a few days after birth to let the lungs strengthen. The second surgery will occur at approximately 4-6 months. The first two surgeries are designed to temporarily relieve blood flow to and from the lungs. His third surgery will occur around 18 months and it is to improve overall circulation. The procedures do not cure the defects, but rather re-routes the blood flow around the defective areas. We were told Cain will be at high risk due to his number of complications. Essentially, when the procedures are completed, he will be functioning on the use of the left side of his heart only. We were also told there is a possibility that he will need a heart transplant later in life depending on the outcome of these procedures and how well his left ventricle holds up under the extra stress of supplying blood to the entire body.

So, with all of this said, I have decided to start a blog. We feel so grateful to have our family and friends. It is during times like this, we realize how truly blessed we are. We can’t thank each of you enough for your prayers and support thus far. My hope is for this blog to keep each of you updated on my pregnancy and updated on Cain’s progress.


A Later Post- Cain's Birth


During the last minutes of my pushing the NICU team had already arrived in our room and began getting prepared for Cain. As soon as Cain was here, he was handed off to this team of people and they immediately began working on him. I had hoped to be able to touch or hold him for at least one second but we had a very scary moment after his birth where he was not breathing on his own. Eventually, he had to be intubated. To this day I still have not heard him cry or had the chance to hold him. I can't wait for that day!!!
Since I didn't get to hold him before they took him to NICU, they held him up from across the room so I could get a good look at him. As you can see, he looked at me too.
Brad and my dad followed along with the NICU team as they rushed Cain over to the Children's Hospital. Actually, from what they both told me...the whole team as well as Brad and Dad were all running Cain over to NICU.


A few hours later I was able to be wheeled over to see Cain. I couldn't believe how beautiful he was. It's so hard to believe by looking at this precious baby who looks so perfect on the outside that he could possibly have so many heart defects going on inside his little body.
After Cain had been settled into NICU for awhile, Dr. Liske (Cain's pediatric cardiologist) came to access Cain's heart once more. From what we were told, everything looked the same as it did during the prenatal assesment. Cain would still be needing the same surgeries as previously discussed.
We stayed most of the evening in NICU just sitting and staring at Cain. After many hours we both knew we greatly needed to get some rest so we could stay strong for Cain. So after being awake for 39 hours straight we got what little rest we could. Actually, I think Brad said he rested well but I of course had the nurses coming in my room checking my vitals every few hours. Thank goodness I loved all of my nurses!