1/20/14

My Daughter's Good Heart

We had a cardiologist appointment on the books since we left the NICU. We expected to go in and be cleared of all issues. I also expected the visit to last only an hour, unfortunately neither one of those happened.

After lots of crying, they finally got all blood pressure readings, EKG, measurements, and echo cardiogram readings they needed. I eventually got to talk with a nurse practitioner about the results. Two of the holes in her heart closed up. (Yea!) Unfortunately one of the holes is still there. (Boo) She has an arterial septal defect (ASD).  The top two chambers of her heart aren't separated by a wall like they should be so the blood feeds back into the right chamber, enlarging the chamber slightly. She called the enlargement mild and said if it doesn't close on its own they can do a simple procedure to help it close when she's three or four. She also said it wouldn't affect her future surgeries, which was good to hear.

I'm glad it's nothing serious but I was really hoping to check that doctor off the list. But for now she'll be monitored by them every three months.

After spending three and a half hours at All Children's already, I decided I should just waltz upstairs to visit the neurosurgery office to get her encephalocele repair surgery on the books while I was there. After some discussion, she's scheduled for surgery on February 5th at 8am.

I'm nervous as can be about it but am glad there's a date that can be planned for. More on that later.

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