Julian J. Grissom

Julian J. Grissom was born on March 27, 2018 at 12:11pm at Bloomington Hospital located in Bloomington, Indiana. I was told when I was 20 weeks pregnant that he had a heart defect. But I never knew the severity of it until he was born and taken away to Riley Children’s Hospital where they found out he had a total of 7 heart defects. His diagnosis was called Congenital Heart Disease (CHD). He needed immediate open-heart surgery. That’s when Dr. Turrentine became his surgeon. Then he was placed on ECMO (life support) immediately after to give his body a rest for 5 days. Once able to come off ECMO (life support) he started improving. At 1 month old exactly Jr. coded for 24 mins. I thought he was gone but my son came back. He had to have another open-heart surgery in June to remove the scar tissue from around his heart. Spent the next 3 months in the hospital-before he was able to go home for the first time on August 9, 2018. I was the happiest mom alive. He was sent home on .25L of oxygen. But something went wrong, and he ended up being readmitted two weeks later on 8-23-18 for respiratory distress along with having a virus called BOCAVIRUS. He was at Riley for another month and got sent home on September 28, 2018. This time due to his breathing he was sent home with 2L of oxygen. I was very scared to take him home this time due to him being on a higher amount of oxygen support. During this 4 day stay at home he became very ill. So, on October 2, 2018 we went to his pediatrician appointment where we left in an ambulance due to his breathing once again. He needed to be seen at Riley AGAIN!!! So, we left, and we went up to Riley Hospital. During this stay he was doing well until 10/16/2018, when he started to work harder to breathe. He was taken off of normal oxygen and put onto High Flow Nasal Cannula. Later on, that night at midnight Julian was transferred over the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU)due to his work of breathing. He was on 6L to begin with, but he was only comfortable on 10L of oxygen. That’s where he remained comfortable. Julian was then transferred back over to the Heart Center (Step Down). Where he still remained on the high flow machine. Even though everyone knew Julian disliked that cannula very much. His personality was amazing. Even though the machine was doing the breathing for him he still always was happy. Over the course of his short life he fought a good fight of faith and had the scars to prove it. He was such a strong fighting warrior who will be miss more than words can describe. Rest peacefully in heaven mommy’s little bug. Julian leaves behind his Mother Mariah Christine Grissom Daddy Julian J. Hargrove Big Sister Juliah Grayce Grissom Grandma Eva Hargrove and Great Grandma Louise Grissom Hosts of Aunties And cousins.

Tributes

Julian J. Grissom

March 27, 2018 - November 29, 2018