Lia Kate's Heart

Lia Kate's first cardiology appointment was today. You may remember that we adopted her has a special needs child because of her heart defect. Her heart condition is called a VSD (ventricular septal defect) which means she has a small hole between the ventricles of her heart. Sounds scary, but VSDs are quite common and either heal on their own or require surgery. We were glad to get in so quickly with the Children's Cardiology group and I am glad to report that we had a great visit. She had an EKG and Echo today, though she did not quite cooperate for either, and the doctor told us he believed her VSD was of "no consequence." Because she fought and moved so much during the Echo he couldn't see her VSD well enough to measure it. But he saw enough to tell us that it is small and is in a location that shouldn't cause any problems. He said this kind of VSD is more common among the Asian population. He expects that she will never need surgery for it, that it will continue healing on its own. He also confirmed that all other structures of her heart look perfect.

Because he couldn't see her VSD as clearly as he would have liked and because he didn't have Lia Kate's previous Echo report from China, we decided that we would see him again in March and we would try the Echo again when, hopefully, Lia Kate is more settled and secure and won't fight so darn much. If the next test confirms what he saw today, then we will just see him once a year to monitor the VSD size.

We are thankful for this good report!