Thursday, March 18, 2010

Great News!

Yesterday Katie had her follow-up cardiology appointment. When she was born, the doctor heard something in her heart. Katie had an echocardiogram done when she was only 1 day old. They found that she had two holes in her heart. At the time, we didn't yet have the results back for the genetic testing for Marfan syndrome (she did test positive for Marfan syndrome). The cardiologist scheduled a follow-up for 6 months.

At her 6 month checkup, one of the holes had closed up. The second hole, which was classified as an ASD, was a little larger than the cardiologist had hoped it would be. He told us that if the hole didn't close up or get smaller by the time Katie was 3 or 4, he would have to patch it. He wanted to follow up again in another 6 months, when Katie turned 1.

At her 1 year appointment, Katie had another echocardiogram. I was pretty nervous to see what the results would be. Well, it was great news. The ASD was 7mm at the 6 month checkup and it measured between 1 and 2 mm at the 1 year checkup. In fact, the cardiologist said that he wouldn't even classify it as an ASD anymore; it was now a PFO. Michael had a PFO but it closed by the time he was 3 years old. Katie will go back for a follow-up a year from now.

It's nice to get good news every once in a while, especially since we never know what to expect!

7 comments:

Carrie said...

Oh my goodness how scary, but it sounds like you are handling this all very well and as calm as can be expected. I am so happy you received such good news, you deserve it!!

Lindsay said...

That is great news, Karen!

Mel said...

That is GREAT news! Analese's little best friend was born with a VSD, and it seems to have closed up. Anyway, I know it is such a relief!

Joanna said...

I know I already told you this, but YAY! It's worth multiple cheering sessions.

Steph said...

What great news and such a relief!

Beth said...

That is awesome news. Yay!

Heidi O said...

That's such fantastic news! YAY!