Great Expectations

Josiah at one month

Sorry for the long delay.  We are in need of more sleep.  We are ever hopeful that Isaac will return to sleeping until a reasonable time in the morning (now that he has recovered from his throat infection and fevers of last week). We are also praying that Josiah will find peace in his crib and not just on his Mommy during the night.

Last Thursday we had another surprise trip to McMaster due to Josiah's high heart rate and low oxygen saturation levels.  The results of his ECG and echocardiogram were positive except that the leakage in Josiah's main heart valve (between his atria and one large ventricle) has increased.  Josiah was taken off his diuretic medication. 

This past Tuesday we were at SickKids, and his cardiologist was very optimistic.  He doesn't expect his pulmonary stenosis to increase and he said that the leakage in his heart valve is mild to moderate but not something that needs intervention now.  Josiah's heart rate and oxygen saturation levels were both good.  The holter monitor report showed that Josiah has a mildly rapid average heart rate with brief episodes of a very fast heart rate.  These are irregular and the heart slows down afterwards.  They'll keep an eye on this but the doctor wasn't concerned.  He asked us to come back to SickKids in two months time and to go to McMaster in one month.  In the meantime, we'll visit the local paediatrician once a week (instead of twice weekly) and continue to monitor his health while praying for his healing.

Isaac at 17 months

When Josiah is three months old, the cardiologist will start presenting him to the surgical team at SickKids to discuss options.  If Josiah needs surgery before he is four months old, it would probably be due to his pulmonary stenosis.  Thus he would need a shunt to keep his pulmonary artery open wide enough.  If he doesn't need surgery until after four months old, he will have the BPCS (Bi-directional Cavo-Pulmonary Shunt) which channels the blood from his two superior vena cava to the pulmonary arteries.  During either of these surgeries, the collector veins that travel from his lungs through his liver would also be redirected to go directly into the heart.  The cardiologist noted that the BPCS would be ideal around 6 months of age but the surgical team may want to do this earlier due to the issue with the pulmonary veins going through the liver.

We are very thankful for this great report and we are looking forward to this upcoming season of fewer visits to hospitals.  This weekend we are going solo without any grandparents around so we are praying it all goes smoothly.  We have certainly been spoiled with all the extra help in addition to the meals, gifts, cards and encouraging words from family, friends and coworkers.  It's great to know we're not in this alone!

Some prayer requests:

• That Josiah remains "balanced" and that his pulmonary veins do not become obstructed.
• That Josiah would sleep in the crib during the night.
• That Isaac's sleep schedule would improve.
• That we would have wisdom in making decisions regarding Josiah's health, and that we would be alerted to any negative changes in his condition.

Thanks again for your prayers.  Happy Victoria Day long weekend!

Blessings,

Graham and Elizabeth