Cash’s Story - Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH)
Our CDH journey began on September 28th, 2020. I remember that day so clearly. We had gone in for an anatomy scan. During the scan, the ultrasound tech suddenly was quiet and appeared concerned, and although I pretended to ignore it, deep down, I could feel something was wrong. In my head, I came up with several excuses for why her mood suddenly changed. She finished up and said the doctor would be right in to talk to us. We waited nervously for the doctor to review the scans and enter the room.
When the doctor came in, she got straight to the point, and in a blunt manner, she told us our son had CDH. I immediately broke down into tears as she continued to explained what it all meant. I blamed myself and questioned what I had done wrong or what I could have done differently; was it my fault?! The doctor reassured us and said neither myself nor my boyfriend were to blame. She called it “bad luck” and gave us articles which explained what was to follow. Our son’s left side is where the problem was. Luckily, the doctor said only his stomach had made its way through the diaphragm, but the liver (which is common) was still underneath where it should be.
We walked out feeling defeated and afraid as we didn’t really know what to expect from that point on. My boyfriend did his best to comfort me as tears were still rolling down my cheeks. He said to me, “That was crappy news, but we’re going to stay positive.” And that’s exactly what we did. We didn’t let the diagnosis define our pregnancy! We celebrated him in whatever way we could, including a gender reveal party with our closest friends and family and later a baby shower.
Optimistically and confidently, we said our son would only need 3 weeks in the hospital after being born. 3 weeks for him to be stable enough for surgery, have the surgery and recover in the NICU. We said it out loud to each other, and we believed every word as we enjoyed the rest of our pregnancy.
I was induced at 39 weeks and one day. Our son, Cash, made his debut at 11:34 am on February 4th, 2020, weighing 7lbs. 4oz., and was 19 1/2inches long. A team of doctors and nurses was ready for him, and he was immediately intubated after his first cry. His dad was still able to cut the umbilical cord and even got a picture of him before they took him away to stabilize him. Cash was scheduled to be transferred to the Valley Children’s hospital a few hours later, but we were able to say goodbye to him and reminded him that we were cheering for him along with many others. Five days later, on February 9th, a little before 11:30 am, he was taken into surgery. His surgery took about an hour and a half but felt like an eternity for me. The surgery was a success! The surgeon said they breezed right through it and that Cash had made the whole procedure easy for them. The doctor mentioned that they also found his spleen and part of the intestines up above the diaphragm but were able to move everything back into place and repair his diaphragm with Cash’s own muscle.
Two days after his surgery Cash was extubated and was on high flow, then the next day, he was put on room air. On February 16th, his PICC (IV) line was removed, and we were that much closer to bringing him home. We had a short setback with discharge dates because Cash lost weight, and they kept him a couple of extra days just to monitor him. On February 23rd, Cash was finally discharged, and he came home oxygen and G-tube free. Our baby boy knew we wanted him home, and he knew we were hoping it would take no more than 3 weeks. He proved how strong he is by recovering and leaving the hospital 2 days shy of 3 weeks, and he currently HOLDS THE RECORD FOR THE QUICKEST CDH RECOVERY at that children’s hospital! Cash is now 5 1/2 months old and thriving!
