We had our appointment at Children's today. All four of us trekked down to Broomfield with the hope that we would get a successful echo with Daddy, Mommy, or Izzy present. It worked! Daddy was the successful partner in crime during the echo. We not only got a great echo, we got an EKG, pulse ox and weight. Izzy and I have been playing doctor with Mia at home as well, so I think it all helped. Couldn't have gone better! Since we did get a good echo today, our cardiologist was able to really see what's going on with Mia. Her function looked great, which is always fantastic news to hear. They were able to see that she is forming a lot of collaterals. Collaterals are basically little tiny arteries that your body creates on it's own to get blood flow from one area to another. Mia's pulmonary arteries are narrow (both of them), so her body is creating these collaterals to try and get more blood flow to the lungs. What it actually does is create a path that leads to nowhere. So it takes that extra blood away from the area that it actually needs to go. Not good. During the cathiterization, those collaterals will be coiled off, or plugged up.
Our cardiologist told us today that based on what she was able to see by echo, she is thinking that Mia's surgery will be this summer. That will still be decided for sure after the cath. During the cath the doctor & surgeon will make the decision as to whether or not we should leave the pulmonary arteries alone and patch them during surgery, balloon them to enlarge them temporarily, or put in a stent. The problem is that the left artery, in particular, is narrow along a large portion. A balloon wouldn't help the entire area, only a small portion. The stent would help until they can be patched, but the surgeon would prefer there not be a stent for surgery. Until they're in there for the cath, that decision can't be made. Because of the amount of collaterals that Mia has, our doctor is going to try to push up her cath. It's currently scheduled for May 15th, but she'd like to have it in April. It all depends on scheduling.
Today's appointment was a relief. Because we haven't gotten a good echo for months, there's been a lot of guessing and speculation. Today we got answers. At least for the time being. I think it put all our minds at ease. We have a better picture (a quite literal picture) of what's going on in our little girl's body. After the appointment we explored Pearl Street in Boulder and took advantage of the gorgeous weather. Great day with great news!
2 comments:
"During the cath the doctor & surgeon will make the decision as to whether or not we should leave the pulmonary arteries alone and patch them during surgery, balloon them to enlarge them temporarily, or put in a stent."
All of thee above have been done to Liam and in the Left PA he has that long stent. Let me know if you want to get coffee and talk - I can bring pretty pictures of what the coils and plugs look like. (((Hugs))) I know this road, and I'm here for you.
Thanks Amanda! They've told us that many post Glenn kids have narrow pulmonary arteries and that it's kind of a common thing. Only time will tell and give us a more definite answer!
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