Here we go....we have a surgery date

So we have dates now...for both Lia's pre-surgery heart cath and her Fontan.

The heart cath will be on April 19th.  Lia's cardiology team want a heart cath to be done before any big open heart surgery.  They are able to really get some important information about the pressures in her heart and other things in the cath lab.  Lia will have an extra procedure in there this time.  In addition to the specific heart cath doctor, Dr. Nugent (who has always done her heart caths in the past), there will be another team of specialists who are looking at the electrophysiology (EP or heart rhythm) of her heart.  The EP specialist is Dr. Scott. 

Apparently, Lia has an abnormal "delta wave" that shows up intermittantly on her EKG.  It's something she's always had, but because of her upcoming surgery, they want to look a little closer at it by doing an EP study.  I had Dr Lemler (Lia's cardiologist) show it to me last time we were there.  Lemler says that she's never shown any signs that it is causing her any problems, and it's possible it never would.  The thing is, once they do the Fontan, it takes away the direct pathway to that area in her heart that they could reach by heart cath.  In other words, if she DID end up symptomatic from this extra electrical pathway as a teenager or later and they needed to do an intervention to fix it, they would have to do another open heart surgery.  As it is now, before the Fontan, they can do an ablation in the cath lab if they need to.  Makes good sense to me...

I am so thankful he picks up on things like that.  Obviously, I'm no pediatric cardiologist (and never would claim to be any sort of heart expert) but I do know my way around an EKG.  I've been an ICU nurse for 15 years...I'm telling you I would have NEVER seen that tiny, minute, extra delta wave.  When he pointed it out, yes I could see it.  But I wouldn't have noticed it on my own...I'm just so incredibly thankful for Dr Lemler. 

So if they end up having to do an ablation or any intervention in the cath lab, we will most likely stay the night in the hospital afterwards.  It's just another safety net they place under us.  I appreciate that.

Ok...now on to the Fontan.  It's scheduled for May 6th.  We will spend the day at CMC on the Friday before to do all of her pre op labs, cxray, and other evaluations.  This will most likely be a long, tiring day.  We are scheduled for Dr Forbess's first case on Monday the 6th at 7:30 am.  We will get there at 6 am.

Many of you have asked us what this surgery will do for Lia.  I've found a video that helps to explain what they've done so far in the first two surgeries, and then what they will do in the Fontan.  Remember, every heart defect is different and they tweak things to individualize the surgeries for each child.  Lia was born with tricuspid atresia, so the part that she is missing is her right ventricle.  This seems to be more rare than those kids born with the left ventricle missing.  She also had transposition of the great vessels, so her surgery is a little different to accomodate that as well.  I still think this video is informative and gives you all a good idea of what Lia is dealing with here.


 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs_D-554YsE

Interestingly enough...Lia chose to wear her "Fight Like A Girl" Dallas Heart Walk shirt yesterday, the day we finalized these dates.  Did she know I was on the phone with Children's lining all of this out?  No.  Coincidence that she picked out this shirt to wear?....I don't think so.  She is going to be just fine....