Tuesday, April 21, 2009

heart news

Ryan took Athan to see Dr. K today for a cardiology check-up. It was good to see the staff again, and Ryan reported that Athan was chipper and talkative for his reunion with them.

The reunion was happy, the news was not-so-happy. Today's ECHO shows that the leak in Athan's mitral valve has gotten a bit worse. Last time it was classified as "mild to moderate." This time, "moderate." As of right now, this means 2 things:

1. He goes back on a heart med. They wanted to put him on a blood-pressure medication (ACE inhibitor), but those make Athan cough (a common side effect). So he will actually be on a kidney medication that does the same thing. Dr. K will let us know the exact medicine and dosage soon.

2. Dr. Kakavand will take Athan's information to the surgeons' meeting on Monday to be reviewed. Another surgery is needed, but Dr. K and Dr. Plunkett (surgeon) will confer to decide whether we need to have surgery soon, or wait to see if the condition is manageable on the medication to give Athan time to develop and grow before another surgery. Unless they tell us otherwise, we'll just start the med and check him again in October.

The silver lining for today: He weighs over 23 pounds! :) That's pretty significant weight gain since we last checked him back in January.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Not the news we had hoped for. We'll pray that it heals with the meds!! At least he is not outwardly symptomatic!! Hang in there!

erin crisp said...

Ryan told us when he picked Morgan up...I'm sad for that little guy. Its a tough road to walk. Will be praying for him, you and the rest of the family.

Sarah said...

I hope that Athan adjusts to the meds okay. We will be praying for him.