Molly's Second Echocardiogram

Molly had an echo done when she was born. It confirmed what we already knew: she has a large hole in her heart - a VSD. Yesterday she had another. We've seen the cardiologist a few times, but this was the first time she wanted to do a follow-up echo.

The process was frighteningly similar to the day we went for Erin's ultrasound and learned of Molly's condition. The technician was thorough and silent and then the doctor followed up with a parallel examination. Silence. Less disturbing this time, however. I guess because we basically knew what to expect.

Right.

So once again we get just a little unexpected wrinkle. VSD, yes. A few other defects, yes. But in addition we learned that many of the problems Molly is having gaining weight can be attributed to these problems with her heart. For the last several weeks we've been doing all the things we possible could to increase her calories/volume, but it turns out that's not going to help if her heart has to continue working as hard as it is currently. She basically burns all the calories she takes in; it's like someone with a healthy heart running wind sprints all day.

Now we're faced with yet another decision - or two. First: surgery or no surgery. Second: more invasive or less invasive. The more invasive surgery is open heart surgery where they actually open up her heart and attempt to fix all of the defects. The less invasive surgery would be to band an artery that is currently allowing an excessive amount of blood to flow through it. The band would be put on to decrease the amount of blood traveling through it, and thus increase the pressure in the left side of the heart. Both surgeries have their pros and cons.

Actually surgery, in general, has its pros and cons.