Cardiology Update

Teagan's cardiology appointment on wed. went really well! This was her first appointment since January and her first echo/ekg since Nov. so I was a bit nervous to see how she was doing. I knew it would be interesting to try and entertain Teag for a half an hour laying on the table for her echo, but she did pretty good. We put on a baby einstein video, gave her a sucker and blew bubbles... she was quite entertained until the last few minutes of it. Here she is during her echo.. Next up, EKG... this started out great but ended with a few screams. Something about 12 stickers with clips and wires all over her body that she just wasn't quite ok with! (I don't blame her!) Here she is at the beginning- no wires yet. You can see how distracted she is by her baby einstein...

Here come the clips...

...and the screaming!

This only lasted for a minute, until we were done and I took all those stickers back off! We checked her weight and sats next and then chatted with Dr. Toews. Her sats were actually really low compared to her norm (they were 74, normal is 85) But she has been fighting off a yucky cold so we'll check back in next week to see if they're coming back up. The results of her echo were pretty good. Her heart function is in the 'good for a single ventricle' range, which was nice to hear. My main concern is her tri-cuspid valve regurg. since this has been an issue in the past, but Dr. Toews said that he thought it looked the same or maybe even a little better! He said right now Teag is in a holding pattern and we'll just keep checking in every 3 months or so to see how she is doing. Right now there are no plans for a cath this summer and our next checkup is in July! I asked him if he had a time frame in mind for her Fontan and he said the way things are going that she'll probably be atleast 3 or 4. (and hopefully 35lbs...)

Here is a picture of Teag and Dr. ToewsIn between screams Teag was totally hammin it up for everyone in the office. She was waving and saying,"Hiiiii!" and "uh, uuunnn" (uh,oh). Dr. Toews is keeping her on all of her current meds and doubling her dose of Captopril. He reassured me that this is not because of her heart function but just to adjust for her weight. I guess she was on a really low amount compared to most kids? So now she is taking Captopril 2mls- 3x's/day, Lasix .6mls-2x's/day, ranitadine .5mls-2x's/day, and 1/4 of a baby aspirin once a day. She's also still taking amoxicillan 2x's/day for a few more days to help fight off this yucky bronchitis stuff. -Lots of meds!

Thank you to everyone who said a little prayer for Teag yesterday. I am so thankful to receive such a good report on her heart status. With so many of our heart buddies headed towards a transplant, I know every day we have with Teagan's little half heart supporting her is such a gift!