Children's Hospital of Michigan now offering heart surgery clinic in Troy
TROY, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) – The heart surgery team at Children's Hospital of Michigan is expanding a clinic so more families can access their services.
Their care saved the life of a little girl who underwent open heart surgery at just two weeks old.
For three years, Michelle and Ramon Guevara tried to have a child, suffering three miscarriages. Then thru IVF, they had Apolonia Rae, affectionately known as Apple.
But there were complications shortly after Apolonia was born on January 13, 2023.
"She was having blood pressure issues. They were getting a good blood pressure in her arm. But in her legs and feet, they were getting different readings. And her hands and feet were purple," Michelle Guevara, Apolonia's mother, said.
Apolonia was rushed to the Children's Hospital of Michigan, where they discovered she had two holes between the main pumping chambers in her heart.
"The location of the defect was challenging because it was near the apex of the heart," Dr. Mamdouh Al-Ahmadi/Children's Hospital of Michigan Chief of Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery
At two weeks old, Apolonia underwent an eight-hour surgery to repair the larger of the two holes. A second surgery in June fixed the other.
"I never knew she was going to make it every time something happened. It was always this 'Am I going to lose her?'" Michelle Guevara said.
Apolonia's heart is now normal, but her parents need to take her to follow-up visits now and then. Instead of driving into Midtown Detroit, the Waterford couple can now visit the hospital's new pediatric heart surgery clinic in Troy.
"Just the presence of a heart defect is by itself a major stress for any family. Adding to it, you have to arrange your day for a visit down that can take you one hour going back and forth for both parents. So we thought about what could be easier," Dr. Al-Ahmadi said.
The clinic will happen every first and third Tuesday of the month.
"It's so nice to be able to take her to a quality hospital where you know, you're going to get the highest level of care for your child, and now it's closer too," Ramon Guevara, Apolonia's father, said.
Although surgeries will continue to take place at the main campus in Detroit, the clinic on Big Beaver Road will offer pre-and post-surgical appointments for young patients and their families.
"I think to start with this is a major step bringing our outpatient care to the population in this area, making it easier for them to see a cardiac surgeon and have their consultation done in a very convenient place for them," Dr. Al-Ahmadi said.
For more information or to make an appointment with the Children's Hospital of Michigan Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery team, call 313-745-5538.
