Before I fill you in on your cardiologist appointment today, let me tell you about the past week.
Last Friday was your six month eye exam. You were incredibly patient and though you did not enjoy light being shone into your pupils, all was over quickly and were happy once again soon thereafter. The optometrist said your eyes were doing great! No more follow-ups until next year. Apparently you are a bit far-sighted, which she stated is normal for babies. Go figure.
Your pediatrician told us to go ahead and try a bit of rice cereal in July, so we decided to break it out on Sunday evening. You didn't seem to love or hate it, but instead tried to figure out how your tongue and mouth were supposed to work this new stuff out. We'll keep trying! I can't believe you are old enough to be trying rice cereal.
Which brings us to this morning. Our long awaited appointment with the cardiologist from Salt Lake. After being measured you patiently endured 30-45 minutes of an echo (echocardiogram) involving massive amounts of jelly and prodding. The room had a small television playing Pixar Shorts, and your eyes were glued to that t.v. the entire time. Thankfully that made it easier for the technician to get done quicker than it would have taken with kicking and screaming. You only cried at the end when he had to use the wand near your neck. Didn't look particularly comfortable to me either- who could blame you for being so upset? After talking with the cardiologist, she said that she didn't feel you needed the oxygen any more for your heart (hooray!), but that they did notice what is called atrial septal defect (ASD). She drew out a great picture below to explain.
Essentially, you have an opening between your right and left atrium allowing some of your red, oxygen-filled blood to shunt over to the right atrium, which is filled with blue blood (no oxygen). She said that we would watch it over time, and so long as it does not appear to affect your growth, we will do nothing and hope it closes on its own. If it has not healed by the time you are 3-5 years old, a surgery using a catheter will place a patch of sorts over the opening and allow you to continue to be healthy and happy. If for some reason, the opening begins to hamper your growth prior to age 3, an open heart surgery will done to insert the patch. Hopefully you will continue to grow and hopefully that opening will close. While your dad and I had hoped to receive a clean bill of health, we are thrilled that we can begin to wean your oxygen and get those pesky tubes off your face. The freedom! I spoke with your neonatologist this afternoon and he felt that it would be a matter of weeks to completely wean your oxygen, assuming you tolerate the weaning well. It's hard to believe that after nearly 8 months of tubes, you will be free in such a short amount of time. The very thought has me grinning from ear to ear.
Sofi, we love you. Everyone loves you and continues to pray for you. You have beat everything that life has thrown your way and I know we will get past this minor heart detour. Keep fighting, little one.
And what does one do after a full morning of poking and prodding, but take a nap. That is peace.
