Wednesday, August 27, 2008

an update with Natalie's Monday cardiology appt!

I actually wrote this entry for my Myspace and forgot to put it here too! I thought I had but alas..nope I was wrong.
Oh and if you have a Myspace account let me know so I can add you! I have one but it's a CHD support page. It used to be my own personal one but I couldn't keep up with it. So here's the update!:


Natalie had her 6 month heart checkup and passed with flying colors. Actually she passed so well, that the colors had a hard time catching up with her. lol

Saturations in the mid-80s which is beautiful and exactly there they need to be. She cried at the end of her EKG and I am so proud of her for holding the tears back that long. She actually cried more when the nurse measured her height. awww

Dr.Ravekes, the coolest doctor ever, said that because she's doing so well there is no need to put her through any echocardiogram until she's 3. Which brings me to the next topic: her Fontan.

Natalie's Fontan procedure (where they will complete the shunts needed to help her blood oxygen flow better in her lower limbs, which is why her saturations are in the 80s..after the Fontan they go way up back into the mid to high 90s).. this will happen at either age 3 or 4. The concern is that because she's such a tall girl (near 95th percentile which = huge in baby terms) she may need the Fontan sooner than later. Which was actually Ricky and I's biggest concern. We don't want to go through what we did last time.. she was 5 months old, growing like a weed (thank goodness) but her she needed her Glenn shunt sooner than she got it. We know what signs to look for, but even Dr.Ravekes agrees that she shouldn't have to wait like that again. But, back to the awesome news.. Natalie is doing wonderful and she's even pulling herself up to stand now!!! We went in her room this morning to get her and she was standing in her crib!!! To explain how much of a sap that I am..typing that makes me misty eyed. lol

Any purple spells that she gets in her legs and feet is still normal for her and once she gets her 2nd, and we're hoping the last, surgery..she shouldn't ever have those spells. And we never even knew this, but with her Fontan, they don't even have to cut any of her heart muscle ..everything is done on the outside of the heart. She'll still have to have open heart surgery, but even the time spent on the heart lung bypass is very very (very) brief. She was on it for 5 minutes last time and it could be less than that.

So, that's our update! We don't go back to Hopkins until February!!!!!! WAHOOO..although, we do love the doctors there, it is nice to stay away.
We love you Natalie.. our little warrior princess. ;)

4 comments:

Jen said...

This update just confirms what we already know..that Natalie rocks!
And I was just talking to my coworker the other day about what a miracle and a blessing Natalie is... :)

Leanne said...

What a strong, adorable little girl you have there. Glad to hear that things are going well. I can't imagine what it's been like for all of you.

Unkempt Mommy said...

I have done a horrible job at keeping up with reading blogs (and blogging myself) lately. I'm so glad I stopped in here to see what's going on. Natalie's gorgeous face just made my night and I loved reading the good report. It's so great that she's doing so well!!

Chicke3 said...

I am so glad Natalie is doing so well!!!! She definitely is a miracle baby!

Yeah, I know I should have lots of those nights but then to have lots of those wonderful nights would make them not seem so special. I didn't even realize my friend Jen had caught me by my boob when I slipped lol...and the boys were very lost when Jen and I were talking about it 10 minutes later lol.

I am so glad that Natalie is doing so well!