Broken Heart, Two

Today was Lizzy's appointment with the heart surgeon. We left Emma with our friend in Fairfax, and went to meet the surgeon.

First, we had a repeat of the echocardiogram on the nice machine. Lizzy's first echo was on the portable machine, which was fine. The machine in the Fairfax office shows a pretty big detailed colored picture. While Clinton and I watched the technician run the full echocardiogram with fascination, Lizzy watched 2 episodes of Dora the Explorer.

The surgeon brought in a medical resident, because she needed to see an ASD patient. It was fascinating to watch and listen as he explained to her what to look for, what to listen for, and why. He explained why Lizzy's case was typical, and what other symptoms she might see. Then she followed his example and did the same exam. She said she didn't hear one of the sounds he had described, and he carefully explained again, and said what she was listening for was "an absence of silence." He had her use his stethoscope, which is somehow better, and showed her where to position.

Then he explained to her, with us watching, exactly what was happening in doctor phraseology. He quizzed her and explained, being sure that she understood the whole condition. He explained using examples of balloons and pressure and then talked about medical terms that I can't remember. It was fascinating.

When he was satisfied with her understanding, he brought the conversation to us and let us ask our questions. He was cute with Lizzy and had a good mix of humor and serious for Lizzy, the resident, and us. Managed his class pretty well, I'd say.

He explained the procedure, showed us the device that will be used, showed us how it is placed, and let us handle and touch and see his demonstration model. He briefly discussed the history of this heart defect and how it has been treated over the past 50-60 years and what we might expect.

Also, with the fancier in-office echo machine, they discovered that Lizzy has a second heart condition, a Patent Ductus Arteriosus. He explained this to us, as well.

By this time I'm thinking, "OK, cool. Double heart defects, yeah, no big deal."

While the Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) is a hole in the heart that should have knit together and closed at birth, the Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) is a blood vessel in the heart that should have tightened off and closed at birth.

My kid has holes in her heart. The surgeon says we'll get two birds with one stone, or two heart defects with one surgery.

He has done over 670 ASD repairs, and has taught most of the area surgeons that do this procedure. He's been doing them for roughly 15 years, ever since they started doing it with a catheter instead of open-heart surgery.

We'll schedule Lizzy's procedure with his secretary, so depending on her holiday schedule, we'll know when this is happening next week or the following.