Medical Update

I have been really slow to give a medical update for Mahaela. Many of you know that our appointment was last Friday 1/14. Bill had the day off so we picked a day that we could go together. Mahaela did really well. We saw the pediatric cardiologist and he took a lot of time with us. They did an echo in the office. Mahaela was very compliant and still, but in the end, she just didn't "echo" well. Sometimes they just aren't able to get good pictures due to her anatomy, scarring, ribs, etc. So, there are still some questions about her anatomy that couldn't be answered. She does have good heart function, so that is good. The one great thing that we found out is that she does, in fact, have 2 ventricles. They feel that is good because she has the benefit of having a strong pump. It's just that her ventricles are functioning together as one because of the huge septal (barrier between the left and right ventricles) defect and the single outlet. Usually your right ventricle pumps to your lungs and the left to your body circulation. Because of her defect and how she has been corrected with surgeries so far, she only pumps to her body. Blood flows to her lungs by "gravity." It's complicated, but she has been corrected as if she has one ventricle and that is probably how we will continue with her surgery. Bill was able to sit in on the cath conference on Monday and hear some opinions of what is going on with her heart. All in all, she needs a heart cath to give the full picture. We also are still unsure of her spleen function or whether she even has one. There is some kind of scan/study that can show function. They say that kids with this defect often have no spleen or a cluster of spleens that poorly function. It's important to know so that we can be certain of her risk of infections.
The doctor did give his opinion that she does need to have the final surgery done (the last of three surgeries) and that she is of the proper weight and health to do it. So there is no urgency, but no reason to delay.
The office called today to schedule her heart catheterization for March 1. We may be bumped up if there is an opening that becomes available in February, but we are good with Mar. 1st.
As an ideal timeline for us, we would like to see her have surgery the end of March or beginning of April. That's just our initial thoughts...although we would like to postpone it FOREVER!

So that's her medical situation right now, but it's easy to keep pretending that she is Perfect! (which she pretty much is!)