Brooke’s Broken Heart
Born with a broken heart.
Doctors at Children’s Medical Center diagnosed Brooke with a heart murmur when she was just two days old. Further analysis revealed that Brooke’s heart was shifted too far to the right — a condition know as Dextrocardia.
She also had left transposition of the great arteries; basically, her heart’s ventricles were switched. Unlike a normal heart, Brooke’s stronger Left Ventricle (LV) pumped blood to the lungs, while her weaker Right Ventricle (RV) pumped blood out to the body. This made it difficult for Brooke to breathe and even to eat.
In addition, Brooke had a VSD — a hole in the chambers between the two ventricles. And she had a large amount of blockage under one of the outlet valves in her heart.
Experts at fixing broken hearts.
Dr. Forbess and Dr. Blumenschein spoke extensively about how to correct this problem with the best outcome for Brooke.
They determined that Dr. Forbess could perform a heart operation called a Double Switch — a procedure performed in less than a handful of pediatric centers in the nation. Once completed, the procedure would create normal blood flow in Brooke’s body.
They knew there was a known risk for heart block, which would require Brooke to have a pacemaker the rest of her life. However, successful surgery would increase her quality of life dramatically.
Since she was growing and still thriving, her doctors put off surgery until Brooke was older and stronger. Brooke’s parents agreed to the surgery in the summer of 2005, when their daughter was just 11 months old and 16.5 pounds.
Read MoreBrooke hearts her reconstructed heart.
Today, Brooke is a happy, healthy five-year old. The only sign of her early trauma in life is a small scar on the center of her chest.
Some days her family even forgets Brooke has a pacemaker. As her mom says, “Brooke thought for the longest time that everyone had a pacemaker. I would have to remind her that she was special, and not everyone got a special machine that helped their heart beat.”
Every month, Brooke calls in a remote transmission to a confidential website where we can review the tracings and numbers to determine if the pacemaker is functioning normally.
Every six months, Brooke comes to see Dr. William Scott, a pediatric cardiac electrophysiologist, to check the pacemaker in person.
For follow up of her heart surgery, she sees Dr. Sarah Blumenschein.
Always on the go, Brooke is full of life. When she’s not playing with her little sister, Kourtney, Brooke loves to dance and sing. Sometimes, her mom hooks up a video camera to the TV so she can see herself. And four years after surgery, the family has a new karaoke machine to replace the one Brooke wore out.
Our Heart Center
Our premiere cardiac department continues a tradition of leadership and innovation that began when we performed North Texas' first pediatric heart transplant in 1988. Today, children have healthy hearts thanks to Children’s.
We’re also the nation’s first hospital to receive disease-specific certification for fetal heart care. Our accredited, comprehensive echocardiography laboratory performs more than 9,000 echocardiograms a year.
From diagnosis to the most complex procedures, our comprehensive program offers a wide variety of services, including prenatal consultation, non-invasive diagnostic imaging and cardiothoracic surgery for children with congenital or acquired heart problems.
We perform more than 500 cardiac surgical procedures and more than 300 open-heart procedures each year. To meet the extraordinary demand of one of the most active cardiac centers in the nation, we have a 22-bed inpatient floor dedicated to cardiac patients.
And through it all, an expert team cares for you and your family’s unique needs so that you can rest assured your child’s heart is in the best hands.
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