Healing Hattie's Heart

On Monday, Paul and I took Hattie to the Nassef Pediatric Heart Center to meet with the cardiologist.  They did an EKG and an echocardiogram first, then we met with Dr. Shanthi, the cardiologist.  She was very kind and informative and kept stressing that if we have any questions at all, to call her directly.  She started by drawing a diagram of Hattie's heart, showing us the hole that is located between the two upper atriums.  Then she went on to talk about a vein that grew incorrectly because of the location of the hole.  This type of hole, an ASD, will not fix itself.  Hattie will have to have open heart surgery between the ages of 1 and 1.5.  They'll place a Dacron patch over the hole, disconnect the vein and reattach it where it is supposed to go.

For now, Hattie will be seen every 5 or so weeks to make sure her lung pressure and oxygenation level is good.  Paul and I are still a little overwhelmed by it all and are kind of in shock.  We had so many ultrasounds - even a level 2 that did a workup of her heart.  However, Dr. Shanthi told us that this type of heart defect can be really difficult to detect and how some aren't found until the kids are between 5-8 years old, which is beyond the ideal time to operate.  She said that we were very lucky the pediatrician doing rounds picked up on Hattie's heart murmur and followed up on it.  We are grateful and feel lucky that we have some time to do research and learn about ASD's and how we can best help Hattie have a successful surgery.  We are also grateful that we have such great medical options right here in our backyard.

For those of you who are so inclined, we appreciate any prayers or positive thoughts sent Hattie's way!  She is healthy and happy and according to Dr. Shanthi, she will continue to be one, now and after the surgery.

After a post like this, I have to end with some cute kid pictures!  We had Hattie's newborn photo shoot last night.  We used a new photographer and we really liked her.  Here are a few sneak peeks.  Enjoy!