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Show Now he takes life in stride by JoAnn Jacobsen-We- ll Tribune Staff Writer PHYSICIANS AT PRIMARY Childrens Medical Center still refer to Richard Charles Sloan as Above, Richard Charles Sloan on the shoulders of family friend Ted Kimball, who frequently carried Richard to outings, etc., prior to his heart operation; below. Dr. Conrad Jenson performs the surgery while Dr. L. George Veasy looks on. The Miracle Baby. In actuality, he was once one of several newborns a month transferred to the center, met at the door by an emergency team, taken into the catheterization laboratory, then to the operating room where major heart surgery is performed on the tiny babies. Born with a serious congenital heart condition which required surgery hours after his birth nine years ago, physicians were convinced he wouldn't live. Wrong diagnosis. Today following a third operation at Primary, his condition is at least 80 percent normal. And according to one of his surgeons, Dr. Conrad Jenson, Richard will be 300 percent improved. Richards heart was corrected and the concerns of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Charles Sloan and their other six children alleviated. THEIR SON, who will soon enroll in a new rehabilitation program at Primary, can do almost anything he wants thanks to modern micro-medicin- Yet for the family, it seems like just yesterday when children at school who didn't know him teas-inglcalled him purple lips. His y elder brother had to give him piggy back rides when the outdoor enthusiastic family went hiking. And when Richard would quickly climb a flight of stairs, he would huff and puff, become out of breath. His condition was determined seven hours after his birth at Holy Cross Hospital. Physicians saw he was getting blue, and rushed the newborn to Primary Childrens. Following a heart catheterization, it was determined his pulmonary valve was totally obstructed. Dr. L. George Veasy, physician and chief of medicine at Primary and Richards doctor, said the right ventricle of children who have this defect don't usually develop properly. His was small. The outlook was grim.' HE WAS IN such a precarious situation that we felt we had to get some means of getting more blood to his lungs, the pediatric cardiologist said. They operated. Specifically, they made an opening, sewed a tube between the right pulmonary artery and the ascending aorta. Two days later the surgeons performed a Brock Operation to perforate a small area of tissue to allow blood to flow from the right ventricle into the pulmonary artery. Richard improved dramatically, the physician recalled. The operation permitted the development of his right ventricle. It got bigger and looked as though it would serve much to the relief of the normally concerned family. Since that point his life has been very full, active, and happy, said Mrs. Sloan, recalling the past nine years. But it has had its limita-tions- , which his friends, brothers, sisters, cub scout leaders have accepted. "EVERYONE HAS BEEN willing to work around his problem." He has even been quite active, but didnt have the ability to sustain an activity," Mr. Sloan added. "He liked to ride a bike and as long as he was riding around the front yard, in the driveway and up the street, he could do it. But if we went on a longer bike ride, he could keep up fairly well until we started climbing hills. Then he slowed down. Even though Richard knew he could never be really active in sports, the parents said he insisted repeatedly, I like myself the way I am. I don't want to play on any (athletic) team. Throughout his trials, the parents said their youngest child was very sensitive to other peoples feelings. |
