Friday, October 12, 2012

31 for 21: Day 12 Another Trip to the Cardiologist

Today Piper had a routine check up with the Cardiologist. Now I don't know why but those appointments take forever. We arrived at 9:30, and made it to the room by 10ish, they went through the usual steps of getting her vitals. Then came the never ending echo. Usually I can give Piper a bottle and by the time she is done the echo is done as well. This time however she finished her bottle and the ultrasound technician wasn't done.
Trying to distract Piper while they finished was a rather large task, but with the aid of some light wand we made it through. The Cardiologist came in to talk to us afterwards. He told us that her heart looked and sounded good, however they couldn't get an accurate read on her tricuspid valve, to measure her possible hypertension. Before her surgery her levels were around 86 in May it was around 39 and hasn't changed since then. Normal is below 30, as she is possibly above it, he told us that she will more than likely need to  have a cardiac catheterization. Which means they will need to put her to sleep possibly using a general aniesthetic, and put a catheter through her groin into her heart to measure the pressure. 
Mark and I were hoping that once she had had her initial heart surgery that would be it, I guess that is wasn't that easy. I will keep you posted on what happens next. 

1 comment:

  1. I totally don't understand all the cardiologist 'stuff'. We went in for our yearly checkup this week and Max wouldn't sit still enough for the ekg to even get a remote reading! I asked for a sedated echo to check on Max's pulmonary hypertension (because this is the only reason he is still on oxygen at night), so we go back in next week. Now I'm wondering if I requested the right 'test'. But more, I'm wondering why the cardiologist isn't asking for the tests, I am - ha!

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