Primary Children's Medical Center

I am fortunate to receive all of my care from the good folks at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. I'm 35 but the oldest baby on the planet so they oblige. Actually, all of the experts and surgeons who specialize in my heart's anatomy and birth defect are there. I grew up going to this hospital when it was high up in the avenues up above the state capital and Mormon temple. Now, it is located on the University of Utah campus and next to the University Hospital where a lot of advances in medicine were developed.

Every time I go there I am deeply affected by the amount of ill children who I see. They are so helpless and hurting. Many are scared and some alone. I remember being there myself as a child and having the same emotions. But, there could not be a better place and staff to accommodate them and their families. These children bring a special feeling to the center. I believe angels walk the halls and provide a comforting spirit.


I'm also amazed at the advances in medicine since I was a child. When I went last week to have my picc replaced in radiology I saw a hallway with a sign that read "MRI". This was incredible because when I was 13 and dying with a staff infection in my heart we had to travel to LDS hospital in an ambulance to have an MRI. In fact, the MRI had only been there in Utah for 6 months. The full body scan would help doctors locate my staff infection and prepare surgeons which prolonged my life. Also, when I was there 2 months ago in the intensive care a nurse who I had not seen since I was 14 came to my bedside and we had a great discussion. There are many great folks who are still there and they remember the kids.

I'm very honored and feel greatly blessed to receive my care from the people at Primary Children's Hospital. As one of their patients I feel like a black sheep among some of God's purest sons and daughters. When you pray this week keep in mind the kids up there in that hospital even though we don't know their names, faces, or stories.

MY BRIEF MEDICAL HISTORY | Potts Shunt, Endocarditis, The Fontan

BRIEF HISTORY

I was born in 1973 with tricuspid atresia and transposition of the greater arteries. I was not getting any oxygen in my blood for the body. I was a blue baby. Within hours of being born my body was rushed to the children’s hospital where Dr. Conrad Jensen (former partner of Russell M. Nelson, M.D.) flew home from a medical conference to perform a Potts shunt when I was 22 hours old. Before going into surgery my parents overhead one of the doctors say, "We're going to lose that kid." The Potts shunt allowed me to enjoy a fun childhood. I played baseball and ran around the neighborhood. But, I would stop to rest. I loved scouts and the outdoors. I was fortunate to get my Eagle before I turned 13.

One week after my eagle award ceremony and in August 1986, before 8th grade began, I developed endocarditis, which doctors could not find for almost a month. I was losing weight and in serious heart failure. After three MRI scans they found the walnut size blister full of staff infection in the section of my heart that Dr. Conrad fixed my heart with the Potts Shunt. (I should include here that the MRI came to Utah 6 months before I got ill. This technology helped save my life). Donald Doty, M.D. opened me up and removed the infection. He performed a new technique, which allowed my life to continue. But, he said within a year I would need a reconstructive heart surgery called the Fontan.

School had begun and I was home-schooled for a month before I could attend. I remember my first day back. Because I still had a poor heart I was pale, blue, and weak. I remembering walking up the stairs to my health class for the first time. I sat in the back. My teacher said, "You ok?" And in front of the class I broke down crying. She took me to the teacher's lounge and gave me some food. She went back up an told the kids about my heart and the word spread through the school. Kids were kind to me. The girls called me "Purple Plum." I didn't mind. And the end of the year the kids elected me student body historian. Summer was coming and that meant the Fontan surgery.

In August of 1987 I went in for the Fontan. It was a difficult procedure. Not only did they have to re-create a right atrium but they had to figure out how to deal with my reversed arteries. It was a difficult surgery. Doctors implanted a pacemaker, which would fail within days, so they moved it to my abdomen because the leads are screwed into the outer walls of the heart muscle since my anatomy won’t allow them to flow in through the arteries. After my recovery I went back to school and life went back to normal. I was no longer "Purple Plum" because there was great coloring in my face and nails. Two months after the surgery I rode my bike from Salt Lake to Draper. It takes 30 minutes to drive there.

Since that time I’ve had 5-6 pacemakers replaced. I came home a month early from serving a 2 year church mission because the battery was very low.

I married my amazing wife who loves the medical field and is a nurse. What a blessing!

Doctors replaced defective leads almost 5 years ago by going into the heart through some ribs below my left breast.

I’ve been in the hospital for endocarditis once more, which I beat after three weeks thanks to great new antibiotics.

I’ve been in for pneumonia and the flu among other minor issues.

But, for the most part I have had an extremely healthy “feel good” type of a life.