Kaden's CHD Journey!

From the beginning….

Kaden Anthony Insall was born Tuesday ,February 28, 2006. I had a wonderful pregnancy no problems what so ever! I was 3 weeks from Kaden’s due date and was going for yet another check up. They asked if I’ve been having any headaches. I said no…Well come to find out my blood pressure was sky high! They sent me over to labor and delivery to be monitored. After 3-4 hours my doctor came and said, “It’s your choice but whatever you choose you aren’t leaving…”, so I was thinking ok it’s time. He preceded to tell me that he could induce me and have a chance of having seziures because of the stress with my blood pressure and still have 50/50 chance of having a c-section or he could schedule the c-section for that evening. So Duh I chose the c-section. At the time my husband and I had no clue there was anything wrong with our soon to be precious little boy.

At 5:25 pm Kaden made his grand entrance into this world weighing in at 7lbs 8.6 oz and measuring 19 ins long and screaming his head off!

…Shortly after we were told that they heard a heart murmur but not to worry MOST of them go away. No biggie right? …Or so we thought. Everything continued to go well. Kaden had a round with jaundice and were kept longer in the hospital so they could treat him for that.



Sunday, March 5, we were able to finally take our little pride and joy home!



March 15, 2006, we took Kaden back for his 2 week check up. To our surprise his heart murmur was still there. So his pediatrician then referred us to a wonderful amazing woman we would soon get very close to…Dr. Lee Ann Pearse. On March 17th we were taking our little boy to see his cardiologist, that’s the day Dr. Pearse told us our son has Aortic Stenosis. From that moment on we would have more knowledge than we thought we would ever have about the aortic valve. We learned a month later that our son’s aortic valve was bicuspid and he could have surgery anywhere between 2-4 months old. God had a different plan though Kaden never had to have a surgery done…

Fast forward to April 10, 2008. We took him for a check up and to learn the balloon procedure would no longer work, because his valve was now leaking. So Dr. Pearse scheduled a catherization to get a better idea what was going on in his little heart. April 24, we took him to have it done. From the results we found out his leakage was mild and the valve was leaking between his leaflets which means when he will have to have a surgery it would have to be the ROSS procedure, but he shouldn’t have to get it done until he is a teenager. Praise the Lord!…

We continue to take him off and on anywhere from year to 6 months. Our last visit was on August 12, 2010. We found out that his valve is leaking quite a bit more. The wonderful thing about this is Dr. Pearse and us don’t agree with the ROSS procedure…so she is thinking his valve could be repaired. Wonderful news, but we have to find a surgeon we want to perform open heart surgery on our little boy. We take him back in 3 months (Nov 22) to have him reevaluated again since the two previous appointments (May 09 and Nov 09) Kaden didn’t corporate very well and was fighting us as well as the nurses, and Aug 12th he was a little angel didn’t fight what so ever so we are hopeing he does the same in November.





We were told it could be time for surgery anywhere from 6 months - 5 years. So obviously waiting until a teenager was out of the picture but at least they can repair it. So this is where we stand. Praying to God for a miracle but asking for guidance on our decision for a surgeon. We’ve been so blessed with the CHD community! Without the support of our “Heart Family” there’s no way I would still be sane through all of this. Lol. Kaden is doing wonderfully. From day one you couldn’t tell he had any heart problem, and still can’t. He started Pre-K this year going from 8- 3:30 Mon-Fri and he LOVES it!






We’ve learned so much from watching our child grow and learn with a heart problem, he just never lets ANYTHING get in his way.

If you want to talk more or if your child had a aortic valve repaired please let us know. We think we are going to be using Dr. Fraser in Houston, but we don't want to make any sudden decisions. He's just the one we have found so far with more experience. Thank you for reading about our little Kaden. Please keep him in your prayers! Take care and May God bless each and everyone of you!!

With love from the ♥
The Insall family,
Derek,Kaci, and Kaden.