Decision

I got the call today, and the decision is to wait a year to do anything. Let me explain.

Hudson's cardiologist said that she spoke to the 2 cath lab doctors, and REALLY pleaded his case. One doctor said ok, let's go ahead and try it, the other doctor said no. That doctor said he thought Hudson was too small, and that his veins won't be big enough to get the catheter equipment threaded through, and also that the rim around the ASD is too small and too floppy for the closure device to grab on to. He thinks that waiting a year will give Hudson time to grow and time to let the rim possibly become sturdier. This is a somewhat confusing point to me, because we were told previously that the rim around the ASD is what it is, and will not change with time. Not sure what to think about that!

All the doctors agree that Hudson isn't really in good enough health for open heart surgery, they are worried about how it would affect him recovery wise, and unless absolutely necessary, isn't a route they want to go down. If in a year the catheter procedure doesn't work, then OHS would be our only option. If he begins to be more symptomatic during the year, they will reassess the situation.

So Hudson's cardio is going to bring him in frequently to monitor his heart function, and will also use this year to slowly increase his dose of Enalapril. She said that sometimes closing an ASD can cause the degree of mitral valve regurgitation to dramatically increase and make the left atrial enlargement worse. Having him on the highest dose of Enalapril will hopefully prevent this.

I have conflicting emotions about all of it. I was really hoping they would close it in the cath lab so that would be one less thing to deal with. I'm annoyed that the doctors can't agree. I'm REALLY hoping we don't go back in 3 months and see worsening heart function. And there's always the problem with the mitral valve prolapse, why did it get bad so fast and will it continue to do so? Do the problems in his heart use up a lot of energy, resulting in even less energy for the rest of his organs? Already we have seen declines in his GI and respiratory function. We see his mito doctor soon, and these are all questions I have for her from a mito standpoint. Tomorrow we see GI, hopefully no big surprises there! Thank you everyone for the prayers said for Hudson.