Thursday, November 13, 2008

First Cardiologist Appointment


Today Emerson had her first cardiologist appointment to discuss her heart defects. She has a combination of two defects that will need to be corrected with surgery. Luckily, the doctors will be able to fix both at the same time. The first defect is called AV Canal which is common in Down Syndrome children. Basically, there is a hole in the middle of the heart in between all 4 chambers. This is causing blood to transfer rapidly through the heart. To repair they take a graft from the pericardium (the sack that surrounds the heart) and use it to divide the hole into 2 separate chambers. The second defect is called Tetralogy of Fallot. There are 4 components with this defect. From what I understand this is thickening of muscle in the valves leading from the heart to the lungs. The doctor said that Emerson is "fortunate" to have both defects because they are counter-acting with one another. He predicts that her surgery will be sometime in the Spring depending on her symptoms. We are to be looking for loss of appetite/low weight gain, blue spells, and trouble breathing. Travis and I had many questions in regards to crying and holding. Dr. Fleishman reassured us that we need to treat her like a baby! That was very reassuring to hear! We will visit the cardiologist every 4-6 weeks to monitor any changes. We are praying that we can prolong this as much as possible so Emerson will be strong for her surgery. She is a champ!!!

2 comments:

ksegrest1 said...

I pray the Emerson gain the strength she need to sail through surgery in the spring! Yeah for treating her like a baby!!! And she is a darn cute one too.

KRISTI said...

You are all in my thoughts. Love the new photo, she's getting so big!