It's been a while -- a medical post

So for folks that have been "enjoying" our light-hearted posts for a while, this one will be serious but thankfully "routine"

Alexis has been followed by cardiology since she was born.  She had a PDA (that closed while she was in the NICU).  She has a PPS murmur (valve that isn't completely formed correctly) and an ASD (Atrial Septal Defect).  If you google ASD, you can find information on it. 
We had been going to the appointments every 6 months and every 6 months they would say the same thing.  Not yet, we'll evaluate at the next visit. 
Well, NOT THIS TIME.  This time they said that they would do the surgery within the next 6-9 months.  It would be the ideal time for surgery (not her birthday, not hospital time during the winter, etc).  So, hopefully we'll get it all arranged for sometime in August.
Naturally, we're professionals at other surgeries for Alexis. 
I tallied this up the other day:
- 1.  Bronchoscopy 3/17/06
- 2.  Fundoplication & G-tube insertion 4/10/06
- 3.  Cleft Palate Repair 11/30/06
- 4.  Tonsils out and ABR 2/11/08
- 5.  Eye Surgery 7/24/08
- 6.  Eye Surgery Part II 4/23/09
And so the catheterization procedure to close ASD and open valve (PPS) will be surgery #7.  Alexis will be 4 in February so it's averaging to be 2 surgeries each year.  Wowza.
And because we have managed to use her CPAP for so long, we have avoided TRACH surgery all together.

I found this on YOU TUBE and I thought it did a great job of visualizing the surgery that Alexis will be having:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPfH-D2O9mA

So, that's the latest news that we know about Alexis-Heart-update.

Take care,
Catherine