Earlier this week Harper and I made our bimonthly trip to UAB's Children's Cardiology office for an EKG and ECHO. This visit, though like the others, was bittersweet with good and bad news. Good news is that her prognosis is the same "moderate" PVS (pulmonary valve stenosis). The bad news is that her doctor said that the condition is causing strain on the right side of her heart and will require surgical correction, preferably before she turns 5 years old. The surgery is relatively simple (as far as heart surgery goes anyway) and is done frequently at Children's with a very high success rate. The procedure is called a balloon valvuloplasty. Here's what the Mayo Clinic has to say about it: This technique, which tends to be the first choice for treatment, uses cardiac catheterization to treat pulmonary valve stenosis. During this procedure, your doctor threads a small tube through a vein in your leg and up to your heart. An uninflated balloon is placed through the opening of the narrowed pulmonary valve. Your doctor then inflates the balloon, opening up the narrowed pulmonary valve and increasing the area available for blood flow. The balloon is then removed.
Overall, I think our baby girl is going to be fine, but it's still scary knowing she needs surgery on her little heart. She will continue to see the cardiologist every 6 months now so he can continue to monitor her condition. We feel good knowing she's in good hands (as UAB is one of the nations top medical facilities) and will be well taken care of. Overall, she should be able to live a normal, active childhood!
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