Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Getting to the heart of the matter

Cardio thoracic surgeon's appointment yesterday. Wait 1 1/2 hours (2 if you count waiting to see the surgery scheduler)

Mason's surgeon will be Dr L. Bailey. World renown and highly recommended. He seemed very approachable and had a calming manner about him (is it ageism that the fact that he's two years younger than my mother makes me pause a bit?).



Most of the echo results are normal. The repair of the interrupted aorta and the closure of the VSD were successful. The patch they place to close the VSD has not bulged. Instead it seems that part of the septum is malaligned. This is not a failure of the previous surgery rather another issue with Mason's anatomy.

The exact findings on the echo are:

Severe infundibular/conoseptal malalignment, with subaortic obstruction. Mild left ventricular hypertropy.


What the heck does that mean?

Well in short the infundibular/conoseptal part (the red arrow) is bulging out and causing the subaortic obstruction ,or narrowing of the aorta, (the yellow arrow). With the aorta being so narrow it's causing the blood to back up and the pressure from this back up is causing the left ventricle to enlarge (green arrow).




Left untreated this will eventually cause the heart to fail but with surgery they plan on dissecting the aorta and removing the extra tissue that is bulging out.


Dr Bailey tells us this is a very successful surgery and he sees no reason for it to fail or cause any major complications. He is afraid however, with Masons Laryngomalacia(redundant tissue around his vocal cords) and respiratory difficulties because of this might cause another extended hospital stay. He also already brought up the possibility of Mason needing a trach.


The kicker......

we face the very real possibility of this re-occurring and Mason needing the same surgery again in the future. We will just have to have an echo done every 6 months and hope that it doesn't.

I know. Talk about gut check. I felt like I was going to throw up right there on that world famous heart Dr.


So surgery day is set for August 26th. We have a month to prepare for the unprepareable

Our heart is on the line again. There is nothing more I can say.


There is nothing more to say I guess.




Mason's first haircut. Sorry for the lousy pictures but I was by myself so I was shooting with the point and shoot camera one handed!

This boy's hair grows fast. It was over his ears and getting down to his eyes! See how well he is sitting? He's getting better and better everyday (even if it's only for short amounts of time)



Yeah so it was going really well terrible. So I had to improvise.



and I did the rest of the haircut with Mason in the bouncy seat (yes do I rule!)




and Ta Da! Not too bad if I do say so myself.

6 comments:

Growing Up Cameron said... Best Blogger Tips

Every night Mason is in our prayers, every.single.night. Big hugs to you amy. And I for one LOVE the long locks. ;)

Michelle said... Best Blogger Tips

You are my hero Amy, god bless you.

David said... Best Blogger Tips

If he can survive a haircutting session like that he should be okay with the heart surgery, it seems to me. But, just to help make sure I will be sending all the warm thoughts that I can muster over the next month or so, and especially on 26th.

Kristi said... Best Blogger Tips

Haven't stopped in here in a while and... wow... that's some big news.
Thinking of you all as Mason's surgery date approaches... knowing all the emotion and apprehension that's occupying your mamaheart and mamabrain. Big hugs your way.

goodgirrl79 said... Best Blogger Tips

Hoping that no news is good news. If you get a moment let us know how things are going. Keeping you and your family in our thoughts!

The Bagley Bunch said... Best Blogger Tips

He is an amazing Doctor! You are definitely in good hands. He is always there when I'm up scanning a kiddo seeing to it himself that all is well post-surgery. PRAYING!!!