Sweet Cheeks

This is one of my favorite pics of Katelyn, it shows her beautiful blue eyes and chubby cheeks- my two favorite features!  She is such a happy baby and looks so healthy, it was hard for us to believe what the cardiologist told us this week.  My baby girl needs open heart surgery.  She was born with a hole in her heart and was seen by a cardiologist several times for echos to track the progress of the hole.  Last summer, we were told the hole was nearly closed and we didn't need to worry anymore.  At her 1 year visit, our pediatrician decided to send us back to have her looked at again because she has been congested all winter and she feared a problem with her heart.  I took this visit very lightly as I never dreamed there were any problems.

We saw Dr. Swanson at Children's Mercy Hospital and she saw something new on the echo this time.  A muscle mass, referred to as a subaortic ridge has developed over this hole and is causing difficulty for the blood to get into the aorta valve causing damage to the valve.  Her aorta valve has now developed a leak, catagorized as a 50-55 leak (compared to a trivial leak of 0-10).  The solution is to remove this muscle mass to avoid any further damage to her aorta valve.  We are so thankful our pediatrician sent us back because we never would have suspected any heart problems and this could have been much worse had it have gone unnoticed. 

So now we wait.  All 13 cardiologist will review her case next Wednesday and at that time they will discuss if they agree with the recommendation for surgery.  After that, her case will then be reviewed with the 2 cardiosurgeons, anesthesiologist and the cardiologist to get another confirmation that this is the correct move.  I love Children's Mercy Hospital and know she is in the best possible care there is here.  And even more comforting is knowing that she rests safely in God's arms even in situations that are out of our control.  Not only does she have a loving Heavenly Father protecting her she also has a special angel we call Grandma watching over her.