After an examination, State College pediatrician Eric Schuck, MD, referred the family to Geisinger’s Janet Weis Children’s Hospital, concerned about Dominic’s heart. At the appointment the next day, Janet Weis Children’s Hospital pediatric cardiologist Michele Monaco, MD, discovered that Dominic was suffering from transposition of the great arteries, a condition in which the left and right heart vessels are reversed. This meant that the oxygenated blood that is supposed to travel throughout the body was not. Dominic was turning blue and already was in congestive heart failure when he arrived at the children’s hospital. He would need to be admitted to the children’s hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) immediately. “We figured maybe, at the most, a hole in the heart – which is more commonplace with heart issues – but to have his two main arteries switched was just unbelievable,” Susan says. The problem could be fixed, Dr. Monaco would explain, but it required open-heart surgery on their small son. There was no other option. “He literally was going to die in a couple days” if he wasn’t treated, David remembers. “Transposition of the great arteries happens only in about three or four percent of patients with congenital heart defects,” says Kamal Pourmoghadam, MD, pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon at the children’s hospital. Typically, the defect is noticed at birth, he explains, but Dominic also had the more-common hole in his heart, which actually helped to mix the blood between the heart chambers. While it helped him survive, it also helped to mask the problem for the first few weeks of his life. Susan and David waited nervously while Dominic was stabilized and pre-surgery preparations, including a heart catheterization, were performed. The next week, the month-old infant underwent the operation. “It was the longest day of our lives,” Susan says. Dr. Pourmoghadam would have to surgically reverse the arteries and the coronary arteries – roughly the widths of a pen and a pen point, respectively. He would repair the hole in Dominic’s heart as well. “It’s really a team effort,” Dr. Pourmoghadam says. “The nurses, the respiratory therapists, the physicians and all the operating room and the PICU staff are working before, during and after the operation to make sure it is successful.” Another factor that helped in the success of the surgery was Dominic’s otherwise good health, Dr. Pourmoghadam says. Because he did not have further health problems, he was strong enough to overcome the stress on his small body. When the surgery was completed, Dr. Pourmoghadam found Susan and David to tell them it went well. Susan says she could tell he was pleased with the outcome, and while they were aware of the obstacles that still needed to be overcome, they were optimistic about his recovery. “We still were on edge, but there were no complications. Everything fell into place,” David says. It was difficult to see Dominic after the surgery, both parents remember. Their young son was heavily sedated to prevent him from moving too much in his delicate state, and they weren’t able to hold him – but they knew his recovery was progressing. Soon, they were able to take him home, where he continued to grow stronger and develop at a typical pace. Even his older brother, Ethan, helped Dominic get well. “It’s like Ethan knew something wasn’t quite right, and all of a sudden, he took over as big brother,” Susan says. While his family wasn’t sure what to expect, Dominic has bounced back quickly, and today, the youngster is doing everything anyone would expect of a typical toddler. Janet Weis Children’s Hospital pediatric cardiologist Fareed Ahmad, MD, monitors Dominic’s heart yearly at Geisinger Medical Group-Scenery Park in State College, but Dominic has no limitations and isn’t expected to need any more surgeries because of the defect. “We just put it in God’s hands and the doctors’ hands, and we have to take what we get,” Susan says. “We didn’t expect this, but we managed to get through it, and now he’s healthy.” | 
