May 9, 2007 - Echocardiogram results

Matt and I went to see a pediatric cardiologist yesterday who did a fetal echocardiogram for us. It looks like the initial diagnosis of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome wasn't exactly correct. Angeliyah does have a hypoplastic left ventricle but that is only one of the many problems with her heart. Her heart defects include a double outlet right ventricle (with a large ventricular septal defect), hypoplastic left ventricle, underdeveloped mitral and tricupsid valves resulting in moderate regurgitation, and anomalous pulmonary veins which are probably infracardiac - it looks like they come down around the heart and into the bottom right side of the heart instead of the left side, through the ductus venosis which typically closes up within a couple days after birth. So basically, that's all a bunch of medical mumbo-jumbo for a messed up heart. The cardiologist's best guess is that she'll be born alive (assuming she doesn't develop other problems in her body) and live for about 2 days until the pulmonary veins get obstructed (when the duct they go through closes). He said after that it she would go pretty quickly. Matt and I have been doing pretty well with everything. We've been trying to read our Bible, including a Psalm every night and pray together often and we have several Christian books we're reading right now that have been a big encouragement for us. We're still praying and hoping for a miracle, but also trying to prepare ourselves for the worst as well. It's hard to find a balance between those two things and ultimately we're just praying that God's will would be done in this situation, no matter what the outcome. We know that we can trust Him and are choosing to do that each day. Please continue to pray for a miracle for Angeliyah and for us as we work our way through the next 2 or 3 months.