A New Chapter

April 8th 2010, 7 year old Joey Codoni went in for open-heart surgery. The surgeon performed the 3rd phase of three phases that take place on people who have HLHS, called the Fontan. All the details are explained below in "Joey's Story". Joey was born with half of a heart and this was his 3rd open-heart surgery.  Joey went into surgery happy and smiling because they gave him laughing gas and waited until he was asleep to give him any IV's. Around 1pm the surgery was done. Steve and Vicki had to wait until about 5pm to see Joey when he was taken to the 7th floor at UCSF, the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit. At 8:30 pm I got a message saying that Joey's stats were not stable and that his right lung was filling with fluid and he needed prayer. On April 9th around 5am Joey's lung had collapsed and he crashed. The medical staff resesitated him and he was taken back into the operating room. Steve and Vicki witnessed their baby crash and had to watch him head back to the OR. It was an emotional and confusing day for so many friends and family. The word spread like wild fire and literally, due to todays technology, there was people praying for Joey across the United States. Around 1pm Steve and Vicki were notified that the Dr. had to reverse the Fontan and Joey was placed on a heart and lung bypass machine, life support. He was placed on this machine so his little heart and ecspecially his lungs could heal and recover. It is unknown why his body could not handle the Fontan at that point in his life but his little lungs didn't react well to the surgery. Joey was not taken back to the PCICU until almost 6pm. His surgeon sat by his side in the operation room for hours making sure he was stable. The surgeon cancelled all surgeries scheduled in that operating room for the day and designated his day to Joey. Joey was slowly wheeled by the waiting room with at least 7 medical staff helping his bed roll smooth and keep all machines in place late that evening. Steve and Vicki were insured that Joey was "safe" that the heart lung bypass was full proof. They made a plan to try to take him off of the heart lung bypass on Monday. That meant three days of Joey unconscience with machines making his body work, his chest was left open with a thin layer of protection. We could see his little heart beating. Saturday and Sunday were quiet. Steve and Vicki tried to get sleep but obviously struggled to do so. Each day the medical staff x-rayed Joey's lungs checking for improvements and each day Joey showed improvement. Monday was an emotional roller-coaster. The electricity went out hospital wide and turned off Joey's bypass maching and the battery did not kick on like it was suppose to. So, the nurses had to manually begin compressions. The craziness and scare lasted about 10second and the battery kicked on. Around 10:30am the doctor clamped off Joey's bypass machine while he was still in the PCICU. He did it. Joey's little body did it. About 30 minutes later Joey was taken back to the operating room to remove all of the tubes and close his chest. A few hours later Joey was brought back to his little room in the PCICU and the recovery began from there. Steve or Vicki stayed by Joey's side every step of the way. Each day was a milestone. It started with taking his ventilator out, then he could start moving a little bit, everyday he improved and was moved into a regular room for only two nights and then he was allowed to go home. The Codoni's lived at UCSF for 2weeks. So, Joey is home. He is improving and getting stronger everyday. He is still on oxygen to let his lungs heal as much as possible. Everyone asks the same question.........now what. The surgery was not a success and the Fontan did not happen. At this point nobody but God knows what is next in Joey's journey. The doctors have mentioned trying again after they evaluate and determine what caused Joey's lungs to reject the Fontan. Right now everyone is happy to see Joey healing and improving and gettting strong.

I will update the blog as I hear what the next step will be in Joey's journey. The prayers for Joey pulled him and his family through the last month. Please continue to pray and love the Codoni's. They are an amazingly strong family.

The money that has been raised to help the Codoni's is only a fraction of what will be needed to help with medical expenses. Please support our efforts.

JOEY'S STORY!!

90% of all situations like Joey are detected while the baby is in utero. But, this was not the case. Joey was born with an apgar score of 9. He nursed without trouble and seemed to be absolutely healthy. Mom and Dad were exhausted and needed to get some sleep so the nurses took Joey to the nursery. At 2am Mom and Dad were woke up by the pediatrician. He told them that Joey was having some problems but not to worry they were going to do some tests. Next they heard that their baby boy was having heart problems and would be taken to UCSF immediately.

Joey was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. He was born with half of a heart. With this condition Joey was going to have to undergo 3 stages of open-heart surgery. Stage 1 Norwood, Stage 2 Glenn, and Stage 3 Fontan.



At 3 days old Joey endured the Norwood. The goals of the first stage Norwood palliation are to provide adequate blood flow to the lungs and allow the single ventricle to pump mixed blood to the whole body. 3 months later he conquered the Glenn. The Glenn Shunt is the first stage in separating the circulations. The superior vena cava is anastomosed to the right pulmonary artery. In the spring Joey will be undergoing the Fontan. The goal of the Fontan is to complete systemic and pulmonary venous blood separation, and divert more systemic venous blood flow directly into the pulmonary circulation. A homograft conduit will join the inferior vena cava to the pulmonary artery. The goal of the Fontan is to reduce the workload of the right ventricle.



Joey has not undergone surgery of this caliber sense he was 3 months old and he is now 7. We all know Joey is a champ and is going to do phenomenal. He is an athletic, loving, compassionate, HERO.



Now that the information is out there, lets talk Joey, Joe Joe, Joseph, Josepi or Joe. Everyone has his or her own personal name for this amazing child. Joey may only have half of a heart but this 7 year old loves with every ounce of his body. He has a huge smile that lights up the room. He not only looks up to but he keeps up with the older kids in his life. If he has the opportunity to care for little ones he does an amazing job. From teaching and encouraging a younger boy to be brave and use the big boy bathroom to worrying about the younger kids in the hot tub. A hug from Joey is like no other hug a child gives. He wraps his arms and legs around you and for those few seconds he puts 100% of his attention and love into his hugs. Joey is loved and adorable by all people in his life.



The people who have been there from day one and have made this child into who he is are his Mom and Dad, Steve and Vicki. Along with Steve and Vicki, Hailey and David are Joey's older sister and brother. There are no words to describe what an amazing family this is. Unconditional love, giving, caring, compassionate, and phenomenal are words that scratch the surface of who this family is. Hailey is 12. She dances at a dance studio almost daily is an overachieving student. David is 11. He plays basketball and baseball. He is a very gifted athlete that not only played all stars but also was picked to play on a travel team called the Rebels. He too is an overachieving student. I cannot think of a more perfect family to be blessed with a child like Joey who have encouraged him and supported him into being exactly like all the other kids despite his condition. I also cannot think of a more deserving family to have caring and giving people help them during Joey's next surgery.



We have come together as a community to be there for this family. We all know that they would be the ringleaders of helping any other family in there life. We will be putting together fundraisers that will be fun and exemplify what this family is about. Please help us raise funds because this family is going to be spending a lot of time away from work and living away from home while their son needs them by his side.