Bless her dear heart as we head to the pediatric cardiologist this morning…

Updates:

If I could add our grinning mugs to this post I would do so! We had the best news possible; truly a gift, a blessing, a new lease on life.

No, the hole has not closed. But, it’s smaller. Her heart remains perfectly symmetrical. There is no leakage, no congestion, no decline in her growth and development. In other words no congestive heart failure. No effect on her little body from this tiny hole.

I’ve never been tickled to have a doctor start a sentence with, “I’m not entirely confident…” except when that sentence ends with my new favorite phrase, “…that intervention will even be necessary.”

Last year at this appointment, he told us that if she still had a hole this summer, the plan would be to schedule our pre-op with MUSC to have the VSD closed. This year he said, that he honestly hadn’t expected her to grow at all. She remains in the middle of her growth charts. Her color is good. Her breathing is even. Her energy is high. He said there isn’t a pediatric cardio-thoracic surgeon around that he could convince to intervene right now.

Best. News. Ever.

The plan is to continue annual follow-ups and when she is 5 we will re-assess if intervention may be necessary. He said when he met us he couldn’t foresee a future where we wouldn’t be intervening. He thought we would have had to by now. Now, he can see the glimmer of that possible future. He said, and this is speculation; but last fall, when she suddenly became a full-force toddler: smarter, faster, stronger, energetic and motivated; that she probably had crossed a threshold where the impact of the VSD on her system went from significant, to not so much. We didn’t imagine it.

This little bird started flying.

And we’re going to soar with her.

Fly, Quail-ee Fly!

Oh- and Bless Dora the Explorer and her pal Boots along with the folks at General Mills Cheerio factory for keeping our bird still long enough to let us get a good picture of her pretty, pumping heart.

We’re eternally grateful.

And thank you dear Dr. Lucas.