For years life had been passing him by.
Because the big blood vessels of his heart were all. in the wrong places, 10-year-old Tommy Cavell; of Lafayette, could! not have fun like the rest of the] kids.
He couldn't play on the school's football team. He could not play on the baseball team. Tommy's mind was very bright. But since he had been born "an extermely blue baby" his physical condition made regular attendance at school practically impossible.
FEW SURVIVORS Now all of this has been changed.
Tommy left Touro Infirmary over the weekend apparently recovered from a very delicate operation in which stir- | geons from Louisiana State University Medical school transposed the great vessels of his heart.
As far as can be determined only about a dozen persons have survived this very dangerous type of surgery. As far as Tommy is concerned it means he can now hold his own with the gang.
"Oh boy!" he said in anticipation.
Dr. Harold M. Albert, who headed the LSU surgical team, said the big vessels in Tommy's heart were all in the wrong places. "Normally," he explained,"the pulmonary arteries in a person's heart extend from the lower right hand chamber of, the heart. From this lower right; hand chamber the arteries carry blood into the lungs to be purified. After the blood has been purified, It is carried back into the heart by means of the pulmonary veins which enter the left side of the heart. The blood is then pumped into the body through the aorta which is also on the left hand side of the heart."
So- much for the normal heart.
But Tommy's heart was far from normal.
Dr. Albert, who is associate professor of surgery at LSU, said the young patient was born with the aorta extending from the right ventricle instead of the left ventricle of his heart and the pulmonary artery extending from the left ventricle instead of the right ventricle. This meant that Tommy had two separate circuits in his body for conducting the blood, the surgeon explained. "One of these circuits pumped the blood out to the lungs then right back to the same side of the heart, then out to the lungs again," added Dr. Albert. "The other circuit pumped the blood out to the body, then back to the same side of the heart, then out to the body again."
The surgeon said the blood going to Tommy's body didn't get to the lungs and that the blood going to his lungs didn't get to his body.
"Such a condition," he explained, "makes survival impossible since there is no oxygenated blood going to the body. In order Tor a patient to survive there must be some mixing of blood on both sides of the heart."
Asked how Tommy managed to survive, the surgeon said sometimes mixing of the blood can be partially achieved through a defect in the heart. He said in Tommy's case there was a small hole between the two upper chambers of the heart which permitted the mixing.
"This, however, is certainly not the best way of mixing blood," added Dr. Albert, who conceived the idea for the operation—an idea subsequently modified and refined by a Swedish surgeon.
Dr. Albert said surgery was advocated for Tommy for quite a while before it was actually performed. He said Tommy's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Leo A. Cavell, of Lafayette, wouldn't agree.
'We didn't like to push them since this operation carries an unusually high mortality risk," the surgeon explained.
Surgery was performed at Touro Nov. 7. First Tommy was placed on the heart-lung machine which remained in operation for an hour and a half. Then the surgeons set about shunting the pulmonary veins so they entered the right instead of the left side of the young boy's heart. Next they shunted The veins from the body so they
entered the left instead of the right side of the heart. COMPLICATED SURGERY
Although it was extremely! complicated operation everything went smoothly.
Today Tommy no longer is navy blue. And Dr. Albert thinks he will be able to play games, ride his bike, "do anything which a normal child can
just prior to his departure! from Touro, Tommy was having a lot of fun in the Crippled Children's Ward with a set of balloons a friend had given him. His mother said Tommy has four brothers and two sisters waiting to welcome him back to Lafayette. He is one of seven children.
"Everyone in Lafayette was praying for Tommy's recovery," added Mrs. Cavell, whose husband is executive secretary for the Knights of Columbus in Louisiana.
Tommy's treatment was part of an overall congenital heart disease program sponsored by the state board of healths Crippled Children's Heart program.
A team of 11 assisted Dr. Albert in the operation. They in-eluded three surgeons, two heart specialists who monitored such things as arterial and venous pressure; two circulating nurses, a scrub nurse, an anesthesiologist and two heart-lung technicians. PHOTO: SMILING TOMMY CAVELL Ready for the ball games.
