Matthew's life: Cardiology

Sorry it has been such a long wait! We had our most recent cardiology appointment on September 1st but I have spent 5 days out of the last two weeks with a fever and couldn't even get out of bed, let alone write a post :)

At this meeting we had an echo cardiogram again and also got to meet with the same cardiologist, Dr Bhat. The echo went smoothly and we loved the technician. She was super sweet and talked with us and made us feel like friends.

A friend hosted a small baby shower for Matthew and I!

Pretty much everything looks the same as the last one! There aren't any changes for the worse and the only new thing is that we have been hearing an irregular heart beat for about a month and they were able to explain that it appears that the normal "ASD" (whole between the upper two chambers of the heart) that everyone has appears to have a large flap (that would normally close it after birth) which seems to move enough to irritate the right or left sides and cause that side to contract too soon. For Matthew it is okay because his heart is realizing that it was too soon and telling that side to wait it's turn. This causes a quick heartbeat then an extra long wait for the next one so that the next one is in time with the rest of the heart.

She told us that as long as it is stopping the early ones we don't need to worry about it but that we can be on the watch for it to start doing all early beats for a long period of time. At that point I think he would need intervention of some sort.

The winners of the balloon diapering contest :)

Since that appointment (sometime last week) she called us personally to tell us that after reviewing the first and second echo she believes that the heart lung artery is having consistent back flow (we had known that) and that it is actually a good thing for the balance of Matthew's heart (I can't remember the reason though!). She told us that she would recommend that as soon as he is stabilized after birth that we start an IV through his umbilical stump to give him prostaglandins to keep the valve open to allow that flow. She said that by giving it right away it will begin benefiting him before we are able to tell if that is what is needed or not. She said the only side effect she is concerned about is that a small number of babies can have more lethargic breathing while on this medicine and that they will be on the watch for that to dial back how much he is getting if it effects him that way.

A few of the attendees

She said another possibility of why that is happening is that the vessel may be small farther down and if that is the case that would probably be his first heart procedure to find a way to reroute that blood back to the lungs again for better flow.

We are super excited by what she told us. Sometimes it seemed like she has been the least optimistic, more hesitant to have hope. Not in a bad way, just realistic I think. But with that phone call we really feel like she is coming on board with us about interventions since she is talking about starting medicines and even a possible procedure! We are super thankful for that!

Our next cardio appointment is this coming Tuesday, September 22nd.