Cardiac Checkup Update

don't you?  :)

Eli had a cardiac checkup today, complete with echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart and vessels) and EKG (shows the electrical activity/rhythm of the heart).  He did pretty well for the echo (I'm sure the Ibuprofen and Benadryl I gave him in the parking lot had nothing to do with his cooperation).  It takes a long time for them to get all the right views they want since his anatomy has changed so much because of the defects and two surgeries.  He didn't throw a fit until the last 15-20 minutes.  I was really proud of him!

We took a break during the echo and Eli was NOT happy about getting back on the table to resume the test.  You can see my bribery on the table:  Bottle, cut up grapes, apple slices, and Goldfish.  It didn't work.

Once we got in the doctor's office, they did an EKG.  It showed he is still in the junctional rhythm.  That was a surprise to no one.  Frankly, if he converted on his own after being in this rhythm for the last year and a half, that would surprise people. 

When we saw Dr. Kumbar (Evansville cardiologist) she did a thorough exam (listening to his heart and lungs, feeling for pulses in his groin & feet, and palpating his abdomen to check his liver).  She noted his color (blueish) and started asking questions about his health since we'd last seen her. 

Eli with Dr. Deepa Kumbar.  She's the pediatric cardiologist who initially diagnosed him in January 2011.  We get to see her for most of our follow ups so we don't have to go to Indy as often. 

His echo had nothing surprising on it.  There's some deterioration or decrease in some areas they look at, but it's expected and not alarming.  We've known for a while he has mitral valve regurgitation (the mitral valve is the valve between the upper & lower chambers on the left side of his heart).  The left side of Eli's heart has to do most of the work of his whole heart since the right half isn't functional.  That's a lot of blood to pump along and regurgitation means that instead of flowing from the top chamber to the bottom, there's some "backflow" from the bottom to the top.  This is somewhat expected with his defects but is still something to monitor and take care of as needed.  About a year ago his regurgitation classification was changed from "mild" to "moderate" meaning it was getting worse.  Today's echo showed the regurgitation was about the same as his last echo. 

Overall, she sees a little boy who has had good weight gain, who is consistently blue around the lips and fingers indicating a decrease in his oxygen saturation levels, and whose activity level is slightly affected by his decreasing heart function.  All this leads her to believe his Fontan will be done within the next couple months.  She will send today's testing and her notes to Drs Parikh (main Indy cardiologist) and Abraham (surgeon) for them to review.  She expects we should hear from them within a week or so regarding scheduling. 

I can't say it was a good appointment, but it definitely wasn't bad.  We didn't hear anything we didn't expect, so I guess that was good.  We'll post more when we hear from Indy about scheduling.

If you haven't been reading our blog lately, we are currently selling tshirts and sweatshirts with an "Eli's MVPs" logo on the front.  They are available in three colors each.  To read the blog post describing our fundraiser, click here.  We are asking everyone who orders a shirt to wear it the day of Eli's next surgery as part of a "Pray for Eli" day.  We've had a wonderful response, but of course we want to sell more!  Thank you to everyone who has already ordered!  If you want to order, you can contact us via our personal Facebook pages, Eli's MVPs Facebook page, or by emailing us at elismvps@yahoo.com. 

Keep praying for him as we enter this next stage of surgery preparation!  THANK YOU!!!