Texas Children's Hospital

This morning, we were released from Texas Women's and made a bee line for Texas Children's. Our first appointment was the ultrasound. After the tech took various measurements, the doctor came in and talked to us. She had been seeing the pictures from her office. She said there was definitely hydrops present. She said we would know more after the MRI and echo.

Next, we went to have the MRI. I was really nervous about this since I had never had one. And the tech was so adamant about being still that it made me even more nervous. I have never been one to be able to remain still in the first place. But apparently, I didn't need to worry because I fell asleep and didn't move at all. The tech even said when she buzzed me twice and I didn't answer, she figured I fell asleep. She said it isn't too uncommon because of the warmth in the machine.

After the MRI, we were now running a little late for our echo appointment, but the cardiology clinic knew where we were and were ready for us when we got there. The cardiologist who performed the echo told us that she didn't see any fluid in the heart, but did have some bad news for us. She said the fluid in the chest cavity was putting pressure on the heart and not allowing it to expand fully and develop as it should. She noticed some detoriation in the bicuspid valve and one of the walls between the chambers. She felt that it would worsen the longer the baby was submerged in that much fluid.

Then, we met with another physician who would tell us the findings of the MRI. He just told us what we already knew about the edema and hydrops. But he also informed us that Dr. Kirshon had requested our situation be presented to a panel of about twenty pediatric specialists in Houston; and they were going to discuss the MRI, ultrasound and echo in further detail. The panel meets tomorrow morning and afterwards, Dr. Kirshon would contact us.

Of course, James and I are devastated by the news about our son's heart. And to say we are anxious about what the panel has to say would be a severe understatement. We don't know what they will say...and to be honest, at this point, we don't even know what we want them to say...

We didn't get any printed pictures of our baby today, but here is the other one taken by Dr. Kirshon last week.