Something unexpected

Grab a cup of coffee, soda, lemonaid or whatever wets your whistle and sit down. This will probably be a long and wordy post. I've got my coffee after the morning I've had!


Ok first update is dealing with his MRSA... this is an easy one. It's not an active infection therefore we can just watch it and just need to be careful if he would ever get sick.


Second update, remember that murmur we found last Friday? Well here we go.


Chris and I came into the clinic at about 9am this morning to meet with Dr. A (the cardiologist). The nurse did a thorough workup/interview, EKG and blood pressures. We moved into another room where we started on the Echo (an ultrasound of the heart)


I guess I figured out pretty quick that things weren't normal because instead of a quick 10-15 minute scan... we were in there for an hour. My second clue that things weren't quite right... the doctor came in during the test and had them check something again. He did really really well during all this fussing about, he had a few moments where he got upset because he wanted to go to sleep but we put a little sweeties (sugar water) on his pacifier and he finally went to sleep.


So what did we find out?


He has a large VSD and a small PDA.

A quick refresher for you... This is a VSD.

This is a PDA.

His heart is starting to show signs of heart failure. (his left Atria- one of the chambers of his heart) has already started to thicken and his pulmonary pressures are elevated slightly. This is from the VSD, a large amount of blood is rushing through that hole and putting more pressure on the other Ventricle, that it's not supposed to have. 

Dr. A believes that Christopher's small PDA might be because of the large VSD that he has. (Getting sick of Acronyms yet?) Here is a quote about PDAs ... skip it if you don't care, otherwise it's pretty easy to understand.

"Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is a heart problem that affects some babies soon after birth. In PDA, abnormal blood flow occurs between two of the major arteries connected to the heart. These arteries are the aorta and the pulmonary (PULL-mun-ary) artery.

Before birth, these arteries are connected by a blood vessel called the ductus arteriosus. This blood vessel is a vital part of fetal blood circulation.

Within minutes or up to a few days after birth, the ductus arteriosus closes. This change is normal in newborns.

In some babies, however, the ductus arteriosus remains open (patent). The opening allows oxygen-rich blood from the aorta to mix with oxygen-poor blood from the pulmonary artery. This can strain the heart and increase blood pressure in the lung arteries."

(http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/pda/)

The Plan?

Dr A is starting Christopher on Lasix, a medication that will help pull off fluid and reduce the work his little heart is doing (also will make him pee more in case you were wondering haha!)

He is going to talk to Dr. Z (our pediatrician) and we will see Dr. Z again on Tuesday. We are going to need to watch his weight carefully as well and may need to supplement him. Does this give me an excuse to eat more so that I can continue to keep him growing?  Pass the pepperoni pizza please!

We come back to see Dr A again in a month to check his heart again. We will know more then. He asked me if I wanted to discuss surgery but I wanted to wait until the one month appt to see where things stand. 

Will his heart hole close? There is a chance yes. Unfortunately for Christopher the hole is not located in the muscular tissue of the ventricle... and it's large.

When do we need to consider surgery? If Christopher starts showing signs of not being able to compensate (faster breathing, more difficulty breathing, lips turning blue, not eating well) or if one of his heart scans shows that the heart is getting thicker. 

Why are they waiting? Why not do surgery now? As long as Christopher remains stable we are ok to wait. If at the end of this surgery is what we do we will make it safer for him by waiting and letting him get a little larger. Plus by waiting we give him a chance to close it on his own. 

But that is where things stand currently. I'm more than happy to answer questions and comforted by your prayers. Please continue to pray for him! I'm so thankful for the staff there that are my co-workers and friends. I'm comforted that they are there to help us through this and that I know I can call any time to ask silly questions or concerns. What a blessing they already are to us....

And now we watch, wait and rest in the Lord.