Here is your chance teachers

After looking through a number of congenital heart defect blog sites, I have decided that this blog will serve to chronicle my time working with children and families living with congenital heart defects. I must say, as a healthcare provider, the one thing I have come to learn is to always listen to the family members instincts and hunches. There is no one better to know when something is wrong than a loving, caring, and attentive parent/family member.

I have seen the many blogs of parents whose child has a congenital heart defect but I have never heard what it is like for a teacher to have their student return after cardiac surgery. The technology today allows for a child's return to school rather quickly. The schools often see more of our children than we as parents are able to see. So here is your chance to express how you feel about how and when these students return.

As an educator, how do you prepare for any student who returns after a serious surgery?
Do you feel there is enough/any communication between the healthcare team and you and the school? Would you know what to look for or would you know when something just isn't right?
What would you do if you noticed something wrong?
Do you feel that you are adequately prepared and have the necessary resources to help a child with a health problem?
Do you have registered nurses in your school?
What would you like the healthcare community to do to make these transitions better?

Introduction to Congenital Heart Defects

A congenital heart defect means it was present at birth (congenital) and it is an abnormality of the heart or blood vessels near the heart that don't develop normally before birth. In most cases, it is unknown what caused the defect. Some known things that can interfere with the developing baby's heart can include; German measles (rubella), viral diseases, maternal diseases (diabetes, phenylketonuria or PKU, seizure disorders,  and lupus), heredity, chromosome abnormalities (Down syndrome, trisomy 18 and trisomy 13, Turner's syndrome, Cri du chat syndrome, Wolf-Hirshhorn syndrome, DiGeorge syndrome or deletion 22q11), single gene defects (Marfan syndrome, Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, Ellis-van Creveld, Holt-Oram syndrome, Noonan syndrom, Mucopolysaccharidoses), and other syndromes (Goldenhar syndrome or hemifacial microsomia, William's syndrome, and the VACTERL association which is tracheal and esophageal malformations associated with vertebral, anorectal, cardiac, renal, radial, and limb abnormalities make up the VACTERL syndrome), prescription and over-the-counter medications, street drugs, and alcohol. According to the American Heart Association at least 8 of every 1,000 baby's born (about 1%) have a heart defect and in the US about 40,000 are born each year. Sometimes the defect is mild and the baby shows no obvious symptoms and sometimes the baby is critically ill. Most critical defects are found prenatally or as a newborn.
Here are some resources for further information.
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/
http://www.mayoclinic.com
http://www.heart.org
http://www.childrensheartfoundation.org
http://pediheart.org

Why did I call This Love Lines?

I know it sounds like a dating service but I called this blog Love Lines because of a patient. I was a nursing student rooming a patient and getting vital signs. The little boy did not want to take off his shirt because he was embarrassed about his median sternotomy scar. I told him what I saw was a love line and all the people who love and care for him. I did get a little smile from him that day. This was the beginning of my career with those who have congenital heart defects (CHD).