Kodi Protsch's Open Heart Surgery Medical Fund
Donation protected
Kodi was born with what they call “Bicuspid Aortic Stenosis” which means he only has two cuspids instead of 3, which causes the heart to work harder and have a significant leak.
He also HAD a large dilation “Aneurysm” (which was as big as the bottom of a soda can) at the bend of the Aorta when he was 15 and had to have emergency open heart surgery to fix this. Surgery WAS successful
Fast forward to now about 17 years later:
Over theses years they noticed that he was starting a new dilation at the root of the Aorta. And Kodi goes in yearly for them to watch that very closely.
It has been consistent as far as they knew for the past 5 or so years.
But Kodi started getting symptoms here and there, but just kinda pushed them off (about a year ago). He works a very physically demanding job and is an active father. About 6 months ago it started interfering with his work. Kodi wasn’t able to do his job without having shortness of breath and feeling super fatigued. And the past 2 months it has been nonstop symptoms. From taking the trash out or carrying the baby up the steps.. he gets so winded he can barley catch his breath. He also feels like his heart is being squeezed and he is constantly so tired.
So, after about 10 doctors appointments with Hagerstown Heart and then doing every test imaginable. His doctor decided to turn Kodi over to the “Big Wigs” at Washington Hospital in DC.
The dilation is now an aneurysm and it is at a 5.1 (surgery is needed at 4.8 or above)
They were doing the yearly echo’s and because his dilation was oval and not round (like a normal aneurysm) they were not getting a accurate reading.
Kodi was then scheduled to get his aortic root that has the aneurysm completely replaced, and getting his valve replaced.
He had surgery on Thursday, August 29th.
During surgery, there were some complications:
1st obstacle— Kodia had a very complicated and complex heart surgery that took the surgeons much longer than expected (over 8 hours). There was so much scar tissue and overgrowth from his previous surgery that they had some troubles. His heart was “asleep” for 211 minutes ( typically they don’t want your heart “asleep” longer than 90 minutes). But in the end they got it done!! Due to his heart not beating for so long they had to place a balloon pump through his groin to help the heart pump the blood to the body.
2nd obstacle— When it was time for the balloon pump to be removed... everything seemed to be fine, but shortly after the removal all his vitals started dropping and they decided to rush him for an emergency CT scan. It showed he had internal bleeding coming from the external iliac artery. The doctors believe it got punctured during the pump removal. So, he was immediately rushed for vascular surgery and they repaired the leak with a stent. It was successful.
3rd obstacle— Having such a long and big heart surgery it has created him to have a “heart block”, which is when the heart's electrical impulses (AV Node) is partially blocked or in his case as they attempt to travel from the atrial chambers of the heart to the ventricular chambers. Because these electrical impulses let the heart know when it is supposed to beat, if heart block is severe enough it may slow the heart rate to dangerously low levels. Which happened to Kodi.
This led to Kodi needing a permanent pacemaker.
During the placement of the permanent pacemaker, when they wire in the pacemaker, they screw one lead into the (top) atrium and one into the (bottom) ventricle. Unfortunately, the screw for the atrium didn’t hold, and they had already fed him some food by the time they checked it. So, yet again he went under anesthesia the following morning, to re-implant the top wire and get it to have a good hold.
The following morning was a success and after a few days in the ICU, Kodi made it HOME!!
In short:
Kodi made it through a heart catheterization, a VERY intense open heart surgery, 2 times of intubation, internal bleeding, vascular surgery, a complete heart block, chest tube removal, two pacemaker procedures, 100 pokes and pricks! We are so thankful to all of the doctors, nurses, and all of the medical staff that helped Kodi during his 10 day stay at the hospital and extremely blessed that all was successful.
He is currently at home resting but still has a lot of recovery to do before he is able to be back at work to support his family.
Kodi is an amazing husband to Leeann and a father to two sweet kiddos! Now that he is home and getting some much needed rest, the last thing this sweet family needs to worry about are the bills that are going to be rolling in soon.
Your support is truly appreciated by all of us who love and admire Kodi! All donations will go towards medical bills not covered by insurance and goes directly to Kodi. No amount is too small.
THANK YOU to all!!
He also HAD a large dilation “Aneurysm” (which was as big as the bottom of a soda can) at the bend of the Aorta when he was 15 and had to have emergency open heart surgery to fix this. Surgery WAS successful
Fast forward to now about 17 years later:
Over theses years they noticed that he was starting a new dilation at the root of the Aorta. And Kodi goes in yearly for them to watch that very closely.
It has been consistent as far as they knew for the past 5 or so years.
But Kodi started getting symptoms here and there, but just kinda pushed them off (about a year ago). He works a very physically demanding job and is an active father. About 6 months ago it started interfering with his work. Kodi wasn’t able to do his job without having shortness of breath and feeling super fatigued. And the past 2 months it has been nonstop symptoms. From taking the trash out or carrying the baby up the steps.. he gets so winded he can barley catch his breath. He also feels like his heart is being squeezed and he is constantly so tired.
So, after about 10 doctors appointments with Hagerstown Heart and then doing every test imaginable. His doctor decided to turn Kodi over to the “Big Wigs” at Washington Hospital in DC.
The dilation is now an aneurysm and it is at a 5.1 (surgery is needed at 4.8 or above)
They were doing the yearly echo’s and because his dilation was oval and not round (like a normal aneurysm) they were not getting a accurate reading.
Kodi was then scheduled to get his aortic root that has the aneurysm completely replaced, and getting his valve replaced.
He had surgery on Thursday, August 29th.
During surgery, there were some complications:
1st obstacle— Kodia had a very complicated and complex heart surgery that took the surgeons much longer than expected (over 8 hours). There was so much scar tissue and overgrowth from his previous surgery that they had some troubles. His heart was “asleep” for 211 minutes ( typically they don’t want your heart “asleep” longer than 90 minutes). But in the end they got it done!! Due to his heart not beating for so long they had to place a balloon pump through his groin to help the heart pump the blood to the body.
2nd obstacle— When it was time for the balloon pump to be removed... everything seemed to be fine, but shortly after the removal all his vitals started dropping and they decided to rush him for an emergency CT scan. It showed he had internal bleeding coming from the external iliac artery. The doctors believe it got punctured during the pump removal. So, he was immediately rushed for vascular surgery and they repaired the leak with a stent. It was successful.
3rd obstacle— Having such a long and big heart surgery it has created him to have a “heart block”, which is when the heart's electrical impulses (AV Node) is partially blocked or in his case as they attempt to travel from the atrial chambers of the heart to the ventricular chambers. Because these electrical impulses let the heart know when it is supposed to beat, if heart block is severe enough it may slow the heart rate to dangerously low levels. Which happened to Kodi.
This led to Kodi needing a permanent pacemaker.
During the placement of the permanent pacemaker, when they wire in the pacemaker, they screw one lead into the (top) atrium and one into the (bottom) ventricle. Unfortunately, the screw for the atrium didn’t hold, and they had already fed him some food by the time they checked it. So, yet again he went under anesthesia the following morning, to re-implant the top wire and get it to have a good hold.
The following morning was a success and after a few days in the ICU, Kodi made it HOME!!
In short:
Kodi made it through a heart catheterization, a VERY intense open heart surgery, 2 times of intubation, internal bleeding, vascular surgery, a complete heart block, chest tube removal, two pacemaker procedures, 100 pokes and pricks! We are so thankful to all of the doctors, nurses, and all of the medical staff that helped Kodi during his 10 day stay at the hospital and extremely blessed that all was successful.
He is currently at home resting but still has a lot of recovery to do before he is able to be back at work to support his family.
Kodi is an amazing husband to Leeann and a father to two sweet kiddos! Now that he is home and getting some much needed rest, the last thing this sweet family needs to worry about are the bills that are going to be rolling in soon.
Your support is truly appreciated by all of us who love and admire Kodi! All donations will go towards medical bills not covered by insurance and goes directly to Kodi. No amount is too small.
THANK YOU to all!!
Organizer and beneficiary
Kirby Leigh Scholl
Organizer
Redmond, OR
Sandra Protsch
Beneficiary