From the first time I shook his hand I knew that this man was going to be our surgeon. The mere fact that he called my husband back after he left a message with Dr. Emani’s admin that he wanted to make an appointment for us to talk about him possibly doing her surgery- that SAME DAY- amazed me. We met him and as he went over the various scenerios, he was very confident in the images he had seen of the echocardiograms that it would go well. He encouraged us to ask questions and of course (thanks to my Heart Mamas) I had a few. What are the chances for chylous effusions? Do you clip one of the sinus nodes? Could that affect her rhythm? I was told she had good rhythym and NO ONE was messing with her rhythym.
He backed me up in the CICU when I told the attending I wanted her extubated after she was breathing room air. I knew that the odds of her having an oral aversion were high and would only get higher if they kept that tube in. The opinion was “Why not keep in a few days? She’s having surgery on Monday.” Me, “Get it out, I want it out.” Dr. Emani: “There’s no need for her to be intubated, we have a few days and I am comfortable with it coming out.” Attending: 0, Me: 1.
The day of her Norwood was the most emotional day of my life. I knew about the preparation, that she was going to be on bypass and that her aortic arch had to be reconstructed. I knew the shunt would be put in. What I didn’t know is whether her heart would start beating after being ‘shut-off’ momentarily. I wasn’t feeling well almost a week out from the C-section and I saw Dr. Emani as I was leaving the restroom. I knew he was coming to talk to us so I practically ran him over trying to get into the family waiting room. He took us into the consultation area and apologized for taking so long. I’m sorry, what was that?
Apparently her arch was so small, he had to create a new one. Technically, she has two arches like McDonalds but only one of them works. He explained that it took a while for it to be stitched correctly and then went on to go over details of the surgery. He told us he used a Sano shunt and how he used a newer way to attach it to the heart muscle without causing too much damage. Went on to explain the conduit, and why he chose the size he did. He was very pleased with how well everything started back up again and was able to close her chest. I asked him what size her arch was, because I had seen research that suggested a tiny arch didn’t have great outcomes. “She had the smallest aortic arch I have ever seen.” Alrighty then.
He then went on to say he found something that he didn’t expect while he was in there. There was some tissue in the wrong place cutting off her subclavian artery. Basically she had some duct tissue cutting off the artery that feeds the left arm. He could have left it alone but one of the side effects is having one arm longer than the other. He decided that he would just create a new section of artery and fixed it up. The surgery took a total of 5 hours. I was expecting more like 8. And this guy is apologizing to us for taking too long. Really?
Our cardiologist is one of a few who read echoes for patients. She couldn’t wait to tell us how incredibly perfect Isabelle’s repair was. She had never seen a repair that was as well done as that one. Other doctors have said that to us too, but I was stunned to hear that from someone who reads echoes all day. Every time we had a clinic visit, Chris and I would hear how great her heart sounded. Now our job was to fatten her up.
When it came time for her second surgery, we had an informal meeting by her bedside about the next steps. She would have a cath, and then we would schedule the surgery. Her cath was incredible. Seeing her heart illuminated as the dye ran through was magical. I wish I had images from it. Dr. Emani thought they looked great and she had a few collateral vessles but nothing major. We were good to go.
Once again I handed her over to him and once again she came back to us. Her shunt was taken down, various pipes were attached to other pipes, and now all we had to do was to recover and go home. We were out of the CICU the next day and went home after a week. Everyone was happy with how everything looked and we couldn’t wait to go home and start living. After a few days home we noticed a red bump on the base of her incision. Long story short, we ended up at the ER with a staph infection in her incision.
When I saw Dr. Emani this time he was standing by her bedside shaking his head. He was upset at himself for not remembering that her body doesn’t like the dissolvable stitches that he used both on her Norwood and then on the Glenn. He promised he would fix her scar when he did the Fontan. He wanted to see everything to make sure she was healing. He knew everything that was going on. We ended up going home and then coming back after a night of profusely vomiting. Turned out she was having a reaction to the antibiotic. Were we ever going home? This is the moment, by the way, when I began to wonder if we were going to be able to leave.
We did, and since that time we have been in for a PEG removal and Mic-Key button placed. We have had a tear duct opened and her neurological development assessed. When I saw Dr. Emani walk into the cafeteria, you KNOW I had to talk to him. I drive my husband nuts. He calls me an ‘Emani Groupie’. Yeah. I admit it. I am enthralled with the man who saved our daughter’s life and gave her such an incredible chance at life. When I brought Isabelle over to see him today, she gave him a big smile and he was thrilled with how great she looked. He asked me how everything went the other day. I was thinking maybe he was referring to her tear duct surgery. Nope. He knew about her cardio-neurodevelopment assessment and wanted to know how she did. The man knows everything about his patients and is concerned enough to ask. Love it. I said to him “I don’t know what you did in there, but she has more energy than I could have imagined!” He laughed and said “Good! That’s good!” It is good, and we owe it all to him.
When you are first told that your child needs surgical intervention in order to live, once you get over the shock, you want the best surgeon doing that surgical intervention. When I am told by numerous people how great Isabelle looks, how pink she looks, I know that he is responsible. One of the esteemed cardiologists on the floor enjoyed using her as a teaching moment. She pointed out to the med students how difficult it was to see her cyanosis. When I asked her why that was she said to me “That is what happens when you get a perfect repair.”
Thank you, Dr. Ram Emani. Dr. ‘MacGuyver’. You have given us a child with boundless energy, a matching smile to that energy, and a chance to enjoy a relatively normal life. She can walk. She tries to run, we aren’t there yet. She goes up the stairs and down the stairs. She would do that all day if I let her. Isabelle is thriving in a way we didn’t expect, but are so grateful for. LHS
hopeinaheartshape 