Thursday, April 7, 2011

Grant Lars Visscher 04-08-2008 to 04-19-2008

This blog was created to share Grant Lars Visscher's story and to ask people to pay it forward in his memory each April. Grant was born April 8, 2008 and passed away from a medical error on April 19, 2008. Here is the story of Grant's arrival and departure from this word told through words and pictures. September 2007 we learned we were pregnant and due on May 1, 2008. By January 2008 we found out we were having a boy and that he would be born with a heart defect called 'coarctation of the aorta'. Since Grant had to be born via c-section we decided to have him born on Rich's mother's birthday of April 21. However, Grant ended up being born on my step-Grandpa (Poppop/Richard 'Dick' Classick) birthday because my amniotic fluid went low and was putting Grant at risk. Grant Lars Visscher was born on April 8, 2008 at 5:58 p.m. weighing 6lbs 5oz and was 18 inches long Rich and Deahna holding Grant for the first time.




Grandpa Leonard Brady with Grant



Nanna Linda Brady with Grant


Grammie Arlene Visscher with Grant





Poppy Larry Visscher with Grant




Getting ready to be transported from Rose Medical Center to Children's Hospital of Denver on April 9, 2008.





PICU at Children's Hospital of Denver



Aunt Kristy Gruppo holding Grant. She thought she might be catching something and didn't want to pass it onto him.



Grant having his first CT scan to determine how bad his coarctation of the aorta is.




April 10, 2008 it was determined that Grant was a little jaundiced so he needed to go under the special lights. He loved the warmth of those lights.




April 11, 2008 we learned that Grant would go in for surgery the next day. The x-rays showed that his heart anatomy grew a little uniquely. The coarctation that needs to be fixed would normally be in front of his esophagus and trachea and for hit it was behind. Since the coarctation was behind they had to use a gortex valve to do the correction to his heart. The aortic valve and mitrol valve issues that they had been watching did not need to have surgery on them after all.



Grandma Peggy Brady with Grant




Grant's surgery went from 9am to 3pm. It took longer then expected because it took them a little longer to stop his bleeding and warm him back up. The doctors were able to sever the coarctation and tie the valve off on both sides and insert the gortex valve to replace the coarctation and put the replacement valve correctly in front of his esophagus and trachea. They also tied off his left super vena cava valve that went to his mitrol valve to see if it would help his mitrol valve grow to normal size. While inside his tiny little chest the doctos did find a small hole in side the top section of his heart so they put in a few sutures to correct that.


We were lucky that he came out of surgery needing only one chest tube for drainage. He also is on the minimal amount of medication for post op. He only has 6 meds going into him. We were told it could be as high as 12, we were happy with just 6. That meant he was doing well. He was intabated (breathing tube) and would be on that for a day or two.


Grant post-op






Drawing of a normal heart, Grant's heart before surgery, and the Grant's heart after surgery. Amazing!




April 14, 2008 Grant had his breathing tube removed and so he was temporarily put under an oxygen tent.



Not long after the oxygen tent was removed and a nasal canula put on. At this time Grant is the most stable patient on the PICU.




April 15, 2008 the doctors removed Grant's chest tube and took him off of all medication except for oral Tylenol. The only tube he is connected to is one for nutrients. The hospital moves us up tot he Cardiac Progressive Care Unit. This means that we are closer to going home and now we can introduce Grant to his big brother Mason.






Mason meeting Grant for the first time.




Later that day Grant started having trouble keeping his pulse ox (oxygenated blood) levels up. They should be between 95-100 and his were around 80. A chest x-ray was ordered to find out why and they discoved that his lower left lung had collasped. The doctors said this was a common side affect from having open heart surgery in infants. To correct this they put Grant on a CPAT machine to keep pressure in his lungs and help them re-open his lower left lung. We called it snorkling in bed.



April 16, 2008 Grant was taken off of the CPAT machine and put back on a nasal canula with regular nebulizer treatments every 6 hours. He had an upper GI (gateral intestinal) test to find out why the nurses were having trouble putting in his feeding tube. It turned out that he had severe reflux and his esophagaus muscles were under developed. The doctors had to put the feeding tube in under x-ray.








April 17, 2008 Grant's scar already healing nicely.



April 19, 2008 we are told that Grant might be going home as early as Wednesday. They just want to get him off of oxygen and fatten him up before sending us all home. The morning nurse was not comfortable with the type of feeding tube was in Grant so she got permission to put in a different type of feeding tube into Grant. She struggled a bit and I told her about the troubles they had with the first feeding tube and how they had to put it in under x-ray. She showed me

how to verify placement by pushing air into the tube and listening to the bubbles in the stomach. She then showed me how to pull fluid out of the tube to verify that it was in the stomach.


Later that day Grant started to get distressed. His pulse ox started fluxuating. He got very fussy which was out of character for him (all things considering). He also started blowing milky white bubbles. The noon nurse suctioned the bubbles out. That seemed to help a little. By evening Grant was very agitated and started turning blue around the mouth. We brought this to the night nurses attention. She was feeding him through his feeding tube at the time and continued pushing his feed while we told her he was blowing milky white bubbles like he did earlier and that he was starting to look very pale. We told her how the noon nurse suctioned his mouth so she did that. By this time Grant starting turning blue around the mouth. The nurse didn't notice so we told her. She then pushed the call light for help and got confused for me by the person that answered. She then asked me to run in the hall and ask for help. It wasn't until I ran in the hall and shouted that my baby was turning blue that a code blue was paged to our room.


This picture was taken on Grant's last day with us about an hour before he passed away.



At 9:10 p.m. on Saturday, April 19, 2008 Grant Lars Visscher suddenly passed away. A team of over 20 people were unable to save him. It was so shocking because just that morning they talked about discharging him in a couple of days. We later found out that the morning nurse had put the feeding tube through his trachea causing him to drown in his own feedings and then go into cardiac arrest.


Even in my grief I remembered hearing about an organization that would come out and take pictures of babies who had died so that the parents could have memories of their little one. The organization is called Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep (NILMDTS). One of their volunteer photographs came out that night around midnight to take pictures for us. His name too was Grant. The pictures below are what he took that night for us.












We had this picturd etched onto Grant's urn that we keep at home by our bedside.



April 25, 2008 Grant's Viewing was held from 4pm to 7pm at Horan and McConaty in Denver







Grammie Arlene and Poppy Larry Visscher with Grant



Nana Linda Brady with Grant



Aunt Kristy Gruppo with Grant



Grandpa Leonard Brady with Grant



Grandma Peggy Brady with Grant



Aunt Michele and Uncle Tim with Grant



Uncle Brent with Grant



Great Grandma Patricia Brady with Grant



Great-Aunt Mary with Grant



Friends Greg and Elisa Sodja with Grant



Friends Eric and Lisa Fetzer with Grant



Friends Vicky and Dave Meisinger with Grant



April 26, 2008 Grants Funeral at Horan and McConaty in Denver. The visitation was at 1pm and the service was at 2pm. My dad officiated the service. He spoke eloquently. We had three songs played at the service: Who You'd Be Today by Kenny Chesney, Precious Child by Karen Taylor-Good, and Fly by Celine Dion. The lyrics from all the songs resonated deeply with us. We even had the lyrics from Precious Child etched onto Grant's urn.










Grant Lars Visscher

April 8, 2008 to April 19, 2008

You will live in our hearts forever


Each April we hope that you pay it forward in honor of the brief time that Grant was with us. It is our way of saying he was here and he touched our lives.







8 comments:

  1. Grant's story is horrific and beautiful at the same time. I sobbed, but I'm amazed at the strength of your family to honor a life that impacted so many at such a young age. I will forward this on, and Grant's life will continue to help heal those who need to weep at the loss but also rejoice in the love of family.

    I don't know if I could come up with anything as huge as what Grant did to pay it forward, but I will find something... many things to help honor him.

    Thank you, Deahna.

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  2. It was tough reading this; I can imagine what it was for you writing it. Grant didn't spend a hundred years on this planet, but he was loved as though he had. Our prayers will always be lifted for you guys, whom we love dearly, on this day. I know that Grant awaits us all in heaven and I look forward to getting to know him as brother there! Spread that love you have for Grant between Mason and Liam, and one day you can give it to Grant as well. We love you!

    Fetzers

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  3. Thank you for sharing Grant with us. I am so sorry for such a preventable loss.

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  4. I'm so very sad to read this. I'm sorry for the loss of your son Grant. Our family will celebrate Grant each year on his birthday! Grant's story resonated deeply with me, my first born-only son Cayman, died of an undiagnosed COA. He lived for 10 days and we had him to the ped. the morning of the day he died. His death was sudden and in my arms.

    I really like what you did with the viewing and how you had the crib. I wished I would have thought of that. I know...how sad this is now our language. Since Cayman's death was in the ER, no one thought of photos, etc. regrets...guilt.

    I wish peace and love for you and your family.

    Kelly Frost

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  5. Thank you for sharing Grant. He is a beautiful little boy. My first born, a boy Avery Jace, was stillborn at 34 weeks 2 days in Sept 2006. My arms still ache for him. I miss him tremendously. You and your family will forever be in my thoughts.

    ~Adrienne

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  6. I just found this post through a friend on Facebook. Thank you for sharing Grant's story, it touched me deeply. I cannot say how sorry I am for your loss. Thank you for the encouragement and reminder to pay it forward. I will dedicate the next 11 days to Grant's memory with my own boys.

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  7. Hello Visscher family - Thank you for sharing Grant's story and letting us be a small part of your memories. I sent flowers to a volunteer who would never have expected them to thank her for her work on a large project, I will be paying for the person behind me at Starbucks this afternoon, and I have put a note with Grant's name on my desk lamp so I will think of him and your intentions of paying it forward for the rest of the month. Thank you for being a part of my journey now - I'm glad our paths crossed :-)
    Maureen Ediger

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  8. Every year this story does not get easier to read. Tears flowing as I type this entry. Prayers for you and your family. I admire your strength in keeping Grant's memory alive and the mission to help this never happens to another family

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