The open house was very well attended and was informative. The principal introduced all of the teachers and staff. The PTA board informed attendees of the next meeting and upcoming events, e.g., a fundraising event on August 22 at Chick Fil A. We did not attend that event because we are boycotting that restaurant because of the owner's stance on gay people. One big event is the "character party," which is really a Halloween party but here in the deep south Halloween is now viewed as pagan or something so schools are not allowed to refer to Halloween. At least that's what I think is the current situation.
After the open house ended around 7pm, we were directed to go to our children's classrooms. There, Cleo's teacher Ms. Edwards talked to us and begged us for us to volunteer some of our time to assist her in the classroom. She explained that the kids are in two groups now and she expects there to be 4 groups eventually. The groups are separated by ability. Right now, Group A is working on sight words and slightly easier homework. Group B is getting a set of weekly spelling words and a spelling test on Friday. Cleo is in Group B, of course!
Here is a shot of Cleo outside of her classroom.
On Wednesday, August 22, we went to see the cardiology practice group at the Children's Hospital of Atlanta at Egleston. Our appointment was at 1pm. As I have reported in an earlier post, Cleo was born with an atrial septal defect in her heart. It's an abnormal opening between the upper two chambers of the heart.
During the visit, two techs performed a marathon echocardiogram (a sonogram of the heart) on Cleo's chest, abdomen and clavicle area. Cleo was a champ. It wasn't painful but she did have to arch her neck a bit so that they could angle the sonogram wand and get all of the pictures they needed. She watched TV during it, mostly Disney live action shows, like "Good Luck Charlie."
After the techs were finally done around around 2pm. We waited a short bit and one of the doctors, Dr. Dennis Kim, came and talked with us. The doctor explained that Cleo's ASD is 8mm = .25". For years, we thought it was 5mm because that is what Cleo's regular cardiologists told us. Dr. Kim explained that his office's echocardiograms are more thorough and are better equipped at measuring the size of the hole. The size of the ASD in Cleo's heart is considered moderate (as opposed to small or large) He told us that the shape, location and size of Cleo's ASD make her an excellent candidate for closing it with a circular device called a Gore Helex Septal Occluder. It consists of a circular wire frame covered with a thin polytetrafluoroethylene (ptfe) membrane (one brand name ptfe is Teflon). The wire frame is made of a nickel-titanium metal alloy called nitinol. The device is sent into Cleo's heart via a catheter that goes in from her femoral vein. Cleo's heart tissue will completely grow over the device within 3-6 months. The device is not biodegradable. Cleo will stay overnight after the procedure.
Dr. Kim explained the pros and cons of repairing the hole in Cleo's heart via a catheterization procedure or via open heart surgery. He said that people still opt to repair the holes via open heart surgery. The benefit of open heart surgery is that it's a sure fire solution to the hole and you don't have a foreign object lodged in your heart. The risk is that it's a very invasive surgery, leaves an unsightly scar, the recovery is longer, and any complications that do arise can be serious.
The pros to the catheterization are that the recovery is not that long, the surgery is not invasive, there is no scar (the catheter enters a tiny incision on her thigh/groin area), and that so far closing the ASDs in this fashion have been quite effective. The cons are that the procedure has only been around for 15 years, there is a risk of the metal rim of the device eroding the heart wall which can cause severe bleeding around the heart. This eroding usually occurs 48 hours to 7 days after the procedure, which is sort of comforting. I would hate to have to watch Cleo like a ticking clock forever worrying about the possible eroding. The eroding occurs when the pulsing of the heart muscle causes the wire to rub on the heart tissue, which results in the erosion. There is no predicting which type of patient will experience eroding. It's happened to Egleston patients 2 times in 15 years. The hospital performs 50 of the catheter repairs a year.
Cleo fell asleep on my lap during our hour-long talk with the doctor. She was simply worn out from school and from the marathon echocardiogram.
We found out during out talk with the doctor that we do not have to rush to get the procedure done and can wait until the Summer, which is what we are going to do. We were very relieved to find out that we do not have to schedule the procedure right away. We will likely do it in June to get it over with and so she will have all of July to fully recover before school starts in early August. So we are clear: we are opting for the catheter procedure, not the open heart surgery.
While we waited to register for our appointment in the main hospital waiting room, some of the Princesses with a Purpose visited the girls. Cleo was excited to meet Cinderella and Jasmine. Cleo told them that she saw Cinderella at Cinderella's castle in Disney World.
Have a good weekend!
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