Today's fetal echo didn't quite take as long as the last one, but I was probably at Primary's just as long because after we were finished, the nurse took us to tour the PICU so that we will kind of know what to expect and where to go. Russ almost wishes she hadn't done that because it has made this whole thing more real for him.
Anyway, it turns out that Dylan may not have Truncus. With the previous echo, Dr. Su did say that looking one way it looked like Truncus and looking another it looked like something else. And the same thing happened this time. So he either has Truncus or Aortic Valve Artesia (I've tried to do a search on that and haven't found anything...but then, Dr. Su did also use a different term but didn't write that one down for us). With Aortic Valve Artesia, they do have the second vein they are supposed to have, but it didn't develop right and basically doesn't have an opening to allow blood through. All fetuses have an extra vein that takes the blood to the body. This vein closes shortly after birth. By knowing he may have Aortic Valve Artesia, they will give him medicine right away that will prevent that vein from closing. If it's Truncus, this medicine won't do any harm. If it's Aortic Valve Artesia, likely it will save his life because if the vein were to close, he wouldn't get any blood to his body. So I am personally glad that Dr. Su decided to go ahead and have us come back for this second fetal echo. Otherwise they probably wouldn't have planned to give him the medicine. Either way, he will still need surgery while little.
Guess all we have to do now is wait and see what the echo will show that they will give Dylan after he is born. That should show more than a fetal echo. It's hard to see real well with a fetal echo because the babies move and there is a lot of shadowing from ribs and things. Today his shoulder got in the way for them to be able to see right where they wanted to. That won't be a problem when they do the echo on him later.
6 comments:
What did the doctor say about delivering earlier/later? (Dr. Steele's question from your last visit)
Oh, guess I didn't mention that one, did I. He said at this point, it really doesn't matter when the baby is delivered.
Could the other term be "tricuspid artesia"?
Nope, it wasn't tricupsid artesia. The first word was aortic. Second word sounded very similar to artesia, but seemed to start with a c.
It actually aortic atresia. check out this link for information:
http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/HeartConditions/Aortic-Atresia.aspx?articleID=7448&categoryID=HC-nh2-04b
I should look back at my records. I bet I have some information on something similar. Jack did get medicine to keep that artery open too. But obviously there are so many complications that can happen with a heart. Maybe they won't know everything until they actually are there performing the surgery. They adapted Jack's surgery for him while they were doing the surgery. It's a scary thought, but at least they know what they are doing. They try to give you the answers as they best know them.
Post a Comment