Cardiology Update

Hey! Just a quick post to update you on how our annual check-up with cardiology went. Since the echo and ECG were already done last week we only had to meet with Josh's cardiologist, Dr. Gow, today for the results.

I am thrilled to report that Josh's heart looks great! His ECG was perfect as is his heart function. There are some minor abnormalities present but really nothing too alarming for a heart that has been surgically repaired.

There is some minor leaking at the aortic valve as well as some slight enlargement of the vessel around the aortic valve. However there is no enlargement of the aortic vessel itself (which can be a common complication with congenital heart disease) so according to Dr. Gow the slight enlargement at the valve becomes inconsequential.

There is also a slight narrowing of the right pulmonary artery. Narrowing of the pulmonary arteries can be quite common after the arterial switch operation because once the pulmonary artery is attached in it's proper location the surgeon has to stretch the vessels a bit in order for them to fit properly. This stretching can cause some narrowing which is the case with Joshua, however Dr. Gow is not concerned since the amount of narrowing is small and the vessel will grow with him. In other words, I guess the narrowing isn't expected to get any worse. Amazingly, there is absolutely no narrowing at the actual suture sites where the vessels were cut and reattached. Wow!


So overall we could not have asked for a better report from cardiology. Even though I had no reason to expect any cardiac issues it's always nice to have the piece of mind in knowing that all is good.

In light of our fabulous echo results we don't have to go back to Cardiology for two whole years! Simply amazing.