Alittle background

July 5th we went in to docs for Haleys appointment before she started Kindergarten!! All is well, except her doctor heard an irregular heart beat. The past 5 years heart beat has always been regular, no murmurs. Doctor suggested EKG.

EKG suggested enlarged right side of heart. Suggested an echocardiogram (ultra sound of the heart). Echo done July 15th, NP came in and explained her EKG and the 2nd heart sound, said it isn't a big deal but suggested we do an echo. I told her we just did. She suggested she go look at that and then come back. She came back, sat down and said, "Well no one expected this." and showed me a picture of a normal heart and then one of haleys. My baby was in need of open heart surgery. She explained everything, said she was ready with the tissues and was suprised I was so calm. I had purposely prayed that morning for calm and peace. and there it is.  The cardioloigist came in next to back her up, answer any questions and explain what we do now. They said it is very rare to see children of this age with holes this big. They dont understand how this went so long without obvious symptoms. 

Haley has a congenital heart disease, called ventricular septal defects. She has 2 large holes in the wall that seperate the right side from the left in the lower part of her heart. They consider large to be between 6mm and 10mm. Haley has one thats 10mm and one that is 12mm.  

Next step was for all the surgeons and cardiologists at PCH to meet on monday and discuss her case and figure out the best plan of action. He talked about the catheter surgery, and open heart alittle about how everything goes after. She should be able to do everything everyone else can, but the cardiologist was becoming a life long friend. We left with a 24 hr heart monitor. (which by the way we made it 23 hrs before it got ripped off. all is well though)

Acouple days later, the cardiologists receptionist called to let me know he spoke with the catheter surgeon and they decided not to do a catheter because of the risk of putting her under twice. We made the appt to talk with the surgeon about what they talked about at the meeting and the plan for Haleys surgery.

Met with the surgeon July 29th. He was great, very nice, laid back. Explained a typical VSD surgery great, we would only be in the hopital 5 days. Pretty easy surgery, they do it all the time. Confused we brought up the fact that every other heathcare professional we talked to said it was rare, they dont see this in kids this age. Surgeon and nurse reassured us they see it all the time and work on kids her age alot. I thought ok well they are in a heart hospital, so maybe they do. He asked if we wore Holter monitor. Yes. They needed to get thoughs results. He couldnt open her echo video, said he would look at it later. Towards the end he took a listen to her heart, changed his tune a bit and started going into if her heart/ lungs didnt function properly after, pasemakers and meds. We scheduled surgery for Thursday aug. 4. Pre-op  a day before. I left feeling pretty confident, this was not as bad as everyone else made it sound.