April 3, 2009

Cardiology Visit


The visit went pretty well today. It was a lot simpler than I had expected. No x-rays, no labs, but enough to get Maren's blood pressure up!

So Maren looks really good. She's pink, she's growing, and she is very, very happy. Her sats were pretty good-- in the 80's. Her echo wasn't the best. It showed that her heart is still enlarged and that her tricuspid valve is still leaking. We've known this for about a year now, but we were hoping that it would correct itself. It doesn't seem to be any better or worse, but it's there. We talked a little bit about how her less than perfect heart function would affect the Fontan operation. We'll go back in 6 months or so and have a cath to see what her pressures are and then maybe a decision will be made about the Fontan.

It's kind of funny-- yesterday I was worried that we'd have to have the Fontan done right away. Now my biggest fear is that my daughter's heart will not be healthy enough to have the Fontan ever. I'm worried that we'll have to skip the Fontan and go straight to transplant.

BUT... happy thoughts! Like I said in the beginning-- Maren is happy. She's doing great and we don't have to go back for six months! We can make good on our promise to go to the beach with Ranie and Burl this summer. Randy and I will even be able to celebrate our anniversary with a night out rather than crappy Mama Lucias take out in the HKU! Woo!

3 comments:

Higleys said...

I'm glad the visit went well. Sorry the heart hasn't healed itself. Maren looks very happy. Happy Anniversary whenever that is. We got to spend a night away last August for our 5th year. The first time we have both been gone overnight since Ben was born. It was fun.

Maren Hansen said...

Yay for the good news. And fabulously cute nakee baby pictures. I can testify to her happiness since everytime I see her, she's about to split her head in half grinning... :)

A. Schoonie said...

So nice that you have a happy baby girl that you get to enjoy! Your kids are both adorable.