one year post op check up

hazel had her annual echocardiogram and cardiology visit yesterday. for the first time we tried the echo without sedation. they give kids an oral “forget” medicine called versed. unfortunately they have to have nothing to eat or drink for 6 hours before the medicine. since our appointment was at 10 am i just knew that would not be possible. when hazel wakes up in the morning , the girl wants to EAT!

so i decided to try jelly bean and little bear bribery. she sat like a zombie watching little bear and the tech was able to get an excellent study. he was able to point out to me all the things they look at. the interesting thing is that the little gortex patch that they closed her supra crystal vsd with is hardly even visible, he really had to hunt for it. that means that her body has generated new cardiac cells that are covering the gortex.

she still has a leak in her aortic valve which is not unexpected. it’s the same size as last year. her ekg was also normal, which means that her electrical conduction system is still working just fine. one of the incisions they made in the surgery is in the atrium ( upper chamber of the heart) where the heart gets the message to beat. with scar tissue there, sometimes it can affect the heart rhythm.

after the study we had a visit with her cardiologist who says she is doing very well and does not need to come back until she is four- 18 months from now. she weighed in at a whopping 25 1/2 pounds. pre surgery she was something like 19 pounds.

i think hazel must be the poster child for open heart surgery!