Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Henry's Heart: Post Op Appointment

(This is a picture from Easter, but I just hate posting without photos)

We had our first appointment with the cardiologist since the surgery. Everything looks fantastic and the doctor is very pleased with the results. We have to go back in 3 months and after that, it will be longer and longer between visits. He doesn't think that Henry will need to have the surgery repeated, but that if it were to be needed, it would likely be when he is a teenager and does all that growing.

I don't know the names or units of measure, but for reference, a normal heart has (some) measurement between 1-2. Before the surgery, Henry's was 3.8. Today, it is 2.1.

Also, the pressure difference between the two chambers of a normal heart is about 10. Before the surgery, Henry's was 70. Today it is 16. (He said that it is impossible to get it completely to the normal range, but that this is so close, it doesn't matter).

(It's funny, I'm usually really particular about knowing the units of measure and exactly what things are, but in this case, I don't so much...I guess I'm most concerned with knowing my son is better!)

He said that he will always have a murmur (which is just a sound, not a condition), so to be prepared that doctors for the rest of his life will probably make some comment about it. But not to worry.


On the way home from Santa Barbara, we had to re run over a deer on the highway. Blech. It was one of those things where if we swerved, we might have swerved into a semi in the lane next to us or rolled, so we had no choice but to go over it. SOOOO glad we drive an SUV!!! SOOO glad it was Andy driving!!! Nasty though. Gotta go to the carwash.

7 comments:

joy said...

That is wonderful news about Henry's heart. Praise God for all the good news. And, praise Him that you didn't end up in a bad accident because of that deer in the road.

Jacquelyn said...

I guess you could have titled this post "Bambi and Thumper" SO glad to hear that Henry is O.K. What a relief that must be for you!! Has his post-op burst of energy continued or has he settled down?

Cham F. said...

I'm happy to hear that Henry is doing so well! I adore that picture of his cheesy smile. It's too cute! :-)

Larissa said...

Did you have to use a picture of Bambi, really?


=)

Mama Mote said...

Yay for Henry. Sorry about the deer, but glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Keep those babies of yours safe.

summer roughton said...

yeah... for henry, not the deer. every doctor will say something about the murmur... i have one and they all do make comment on it!

Kevin Heldt said...

HA! Very clever, Jacquelyn!