I had my TEE today at the Heart Hospital. It went well... they tell me I required a lot of IV medicine to put me to sleep, but I never said I was a cheap date, did I? Luckily, I don't remember any of it, and I am glad to have that behind me!
The news was good! Luckily, my ASD is not very big, and is located in the middle of the septum, which is fixable with a cath lab procedure using a closure device, and not requiring surgery. Dr Robertson still would like me to have one more diagnostic test, a cardiac MRI, in the next week, to get a better image of the heart and major blood vessels, because of the right-side enlargement of my heart as a result of the ASD, and to make sure there are no other vascular anomalies or anything else that could be causing the problem.
Once the MRI is complete, then we will have a set plan of action, but I am unbelievably calm now just in knowing that surgery is out of my near future. I appreciate all of the kind words, good thoughts, and powerful prayers in the past few weeks - they obviously worked!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Our baby girl turns 3!
Our sweet baby girl, Ava Riley Whetzel, born July 13, 2008, at 8:08 am. 7lbs, 15oz, 21 inches long. Here she is, just about an hour old!
Ava's first birthday!
Ava's 2nd birthday!
And here she is - on her 3rd birthday! It has been an adventurous 3 years, but we have enjoyed every minute of watching you grow up, Ava. The new things you learn every day, the funny phrases we hear you say, and watching you discover and learn to love your baby brother melts our hearts. Happy birthday to our beautiful daughter!
Happy 6 months Aidan!
Wow, how time flies! Aidan is growing so fast, it is hard to keep up. He is now rolling over both ways, trying SO hard to sit up unassisted (he can do it for less than a minute, but always ends up toppling over or falling forward!), he is eating every type of fruit and veggie, loves his oatmeal, and his new favorite - banana yogurt! He loves to splash in the pool and jump in his "jumperoo"!
At his 6 month appointment, he was 17 lbs, 10 oz in weight (52nd percentile), 27 1/2 inches tall (80th percentile!) and his head was around the 44cm mark - not that anyone ever pays attention to head measurements!
Way to grow, my sweet baby boy!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Ava's 3rd birthday party!
We had Ava's birthday party on Saturday - and we lucked out and got great weather! Early in the morning, it was dark, and storming hard. But by 10am, the sun was shining just for us, and it turned out to be a perfect day for a pool party!
She was very into opening gifts this year, even though her attention span still wasn't long enough to get through the whole pile of presents in one sitting! She'd open a few, check them out, say "Thank you!" to the gift-givers, and head back to the pool to swim.
We had a great turnout - lots of family and friends got to enjoy the summer day by the pool!
Ava's pink birthday cake - made with love by Mommy!
This is Ava's new "big girl" swimming style - swimming with only a noodle! She is getting more independent every day.
Our big boy, Aidan, enjoying the party with Grandma!
Ava and her cousin Allyssa, who is much better at posing for pictures!
All in all, it was a great day! Thank you to all of the family and friends that
Ava's pink birthday cake - made with love by Mommy!
This is Ava's new "big girl" swimming style - swimming with only a noodle! She is getting more independent every day.
Our big boy, Aidan, enjoying the party with Grandma!
Ava and her cousin Allyssa, who is much better at posing for pictures!
All in all, it was a great day! Thank you to all of the family and friends that
came to share this day with us!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
A pothole in the road of life...
I debated whether or not to even blog about this topic. This blog is about my family, and although life with a toddler and a baby has its obvious ups and downs, for the most part this blog is extremely positive, showing the happiness and good times in our family. But for those family and friends that read this blog, I want to keep you all "in the loop" so to speak, because I got some bad news last week personally, but I can't imagine moving forward without the support from all of you who chose to offer it.
I saw my family doctor over a week ago, due to having a few episodes of chest pain, which was pretty alarming considering I'm only 27! Well, my doctor assured me she was "85% sure" it was just bad acid reflux, but also did an EKG in her office. Unfortunately, my EKG was abnormal, and she heard what sounded like a murmur when she listened to my heart, so she referred me to a cardiologist for some testing.
This past Tuesday, I went in for a cardiac echo (ultrasound of the heart) and a stress treadmill test. The good news is - the pain I was having WAS reflux, because after starting some meds for that, it has gone away, and my treadmill test was completely negative.
The bad news is, my resting echo showed my heart was abnormal. After another diagnostic test, the cardiologist told me I had an atrial septal defect which essentially is a hole in my heart, in between the 2 upper chambers. He is concerned because already, my heart is showing early signs of heart failure, because the right side of my heart is starting to enlarge (which happens because the heart muscle has to work harder to pump the blood that is being shunted the wrong way in the circulation of the heart), and once that happens, it can lead to pulmonary hypertension = high blood pressure in the vessels between the heart and lungs.
The good news (yes there is some!) is that I am very lucky to have this diagnosed now, considering my initial symptoms that led me to the cardiologist are not related to this defect. He told me a lot of people that have this start to have major problems once they reach their 40s and 50s, and by that time, the heart failure is very advanced and they can be very ill.
So the plan now includes a few things. Chris and I are meeting with Dr Robertson, the cardiologist who diagnosed me, this Thursday in his office, and then we will be scheduling a few additional tests. The first will be a TEE or transesophageal echo, to get a better look at the hole in my heart and see how big it is. The second will be a right heart catheterization to assess the level of heart failure by looking at the blood pressure on both sides of the heart, and looks for pulmonary hypertension by placing a catheter in the pulmonary artery in between the heart and lungs.
Once we have those 2 tests out of the way, we can decide which way would be the best option for closure of the defect. Luckily, there is a pretty new procedure that is FDA-approved, which involves placing a closure device in a cath lab procedure, similar to the process of a balloon angioplasty or a cardiac stent. And unfortunately, if that procedure is not an option for us, then we are faced with needing to do open heart surgery to patch the hole directly. Several things will determine which route we will take - the size of the hole, primarily, as well as how much damage there is to my heart and blood vessels.
So now, we wait. One appointment at a time, one procedure at a time. Obviously this news came as a huge shock to me, and our family too, but it is out of my hands. I am trusting that I am in excellent, capable hands of a great cardiologist who will fix this, and I know that I am lucky to have this diagnosed now before further complications came up. All I can ask is that you keep me, and my family, in your thoughts and prayers, and I will keep you updated.
I saw my family doctor over a week ago, due to having a few episodes of chest pain, which was pretty alarming considering I'm only 27! Well, my doctor assured me she was "85% sure" it was just bad acid reflux, but also did an EKG in her office. Unfortunately, my EKG was abnormal, and she heard what sounded like a murmur when she listened to my heart, so she referred me to a cardiologist for some testing.
This past Tuesday, I went in for a cardiac echo (ultrasound of the heart) and a stress treadmill test. The good news is - the pain I was having WAS reflux, because after starting some meds for that, it has gone away, and my treadmill test was completely negative.
The bad news is, my resting echo showed my heart was abnormal. After another diagnostic test, the cardiologist told me I had an atrial septal defect which essentially is a hole in my heart, in between the 2 upper chambers. He is concerned because already, my heart is showing early signs of heart failure, because the right side of my heart is starting to enlarge (which happens because the heart muscle has to work harder to pump the blood that is being shunted the wrong way in the circulation of the heart), and once that happens, it can lead to pulmonary hypertension = high blood pressure in the vessels between the heart and lungs.
The good news (yes there is some!) is that I am very lucky to have this diagnosed now, considering my initial symptoms that led me to the cardiologist are not related to this defect. He told me a lot of people that have this start to have major problems once they reach their 40s and 50s, and by that time, the heart failure is very advanced and they can be very ill.
So the plan now includes a few things. Chris and I are meeting with Dr Robertson, the cardiologist who diagnosed me, this Thursday in his office, and then we will be scheduling a few additional tests. The first will be a TEE or transesophageal echo, to get a better look at the hole in my heart and see how big it is. The second will be a right heart catheterization to assess the level of heart failure by looking at the blood pressure on both sides of the heart, and looks for pulmonary hypertension by placing a catheter in the pulmonary artery in between the heart and lungs.
Once we have those 2 tests out of the way, we can decide which way would be the best option for closure of the defect. Luckily, there is a pretty new procedure that is FDA-approved, which involves placing a closure device in a cath lab procedure, similar to the process of a balloon angioplasty or a cardiac stent. And unfortunately, if that procedure is not an option for us, then we are faced with needing to do open heart surgery to patch the hole directly. Several things will determine which route we will take - the size of the hole, primarily, as well as how much damage there is to my heart and blood vessels.
So now, we wait. One appointment at a time, one procedure at a time. Obviously this news came as a huge shock to me, and our family too, but it is out of my hands. I am trusting that I am in excellent, capable hands of a great cardiologist who will fix this, and I know that I am lucky to have this diagnosed now before further complications came up. All I can ask is that you keep me, and my family, in your thoughts and prayers, and I will keep you updated.
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