It Takes a Lickin' and Keeps on Tickin'

Zachy's special heart has been through a lot, but according to his cardiologist Dr. Battiste, it's still ticking strong!  A big highlight from his doctor visit was the news that Zachy broke the 20-pound "car seat barrier," and is tipping the scales these days at 21 lb. 8 oz.  That means we can officially turn his car seat from backward- to forward-facing, which he should enjoy much more!  The doctor said we can also try taking Zachy off his Lasix, but if we notice him looking puffy we will have to resume.  We don't pay her another visit for four months, and at that time she'll call his surgeon at the U of M to schedule his (hopefully) final surgery, probably for this summer.  Agh... nothing we want to think of right now!  Judging from the way Zachary throws fits if he so much as looks at a doctor or nurse, I'm sure another surgery and hospital stay will not be his cup of tea.  But we'll cross that path when we come to it.


We thought you might be curious what goes on at the cardiologist, so we took a few pictures this time around.  First Zachy gets weighed and measured, and we review his list of medications (which are very few!)  Then the nurse takes his oxygen saturation (85%, which is great for a Hemi-Fontan baby.)  She takes his blood pressure and an EKG, and this is when Zachy starts to lose it (even though the test is painless.)

 Fortunately we were able to distract him for a while with Steve's Blackberry.

The doctor reviews his EKG, then enters the room and asks a whole series of questions:  "Does he often look blue?  Do you think he sweats too much?  Does he tire easily?  Has anyone ever said that he has an irregular heart rhythm?  Has he ever passed out?  Does he ever pant or breathe fast?"  etc. etc. etc.  These are signs and symptoms of congestive heart failure, and we were happy to answer "no" to all of them!  She does a thorough physical exam, including listening to his lungs and heart with a stethoscope, checking his pulses, palpating his liver, and other tests that include those fancy otoscopes and "flashlights" that kids love to play with!  Finally we move to another room for an echocardiogram, which is a non-invasive detailed sonogram of his heart.  His doctor can see the entire anatomy of his heart this way, including his surgical repairs and blood flow.  She takes measurements and checks the function of his valves, the main pumping chamber (left ventricle), and great vessels (pulmonary artery and aorta.)  She usually has a med student or resident along for observation, so if we're thinking fast on our feet we get an explanation of what's going on in that otherwise cloudy and hard-to-visualize computer screen.  Even though they put on a children's video and try to calm him with sugar water, this is the very hardest part of the visit for Zachary.  It's hard to get good pictures unless he is laying calm and still, and the echo usually lasts a good thirty minutes.  It's no wonder that the U of M puts their patients to sleep with a little sedation for this segment of their pre-op testing!

Zachy preps for his echocardiogram:

Thank you for your prayers for an uneventful check-up.  We are happy to report that Zachy's heart is beating good and strong, and that it should provide him with lots of energy to soon be running circles around his brothers!