The News Could Not Have Been Better

On Thursday Cara had a full day of doctor appointments. She started with the cardiologist at Seattle Children's Hospital at 10:15 a.m. We met Dr. Madsen, the cardiologist, who gave us a quick lesson on the workings of the heart. He basically said that he wouldn't know exactly what we were looking at with Cara's heart until they did an echocardiogram. That appointment was at 11:00 a.m. Cara laid on the bed and sat still for 105 pictures of her heart. I couldn't believe it. The lady taking the pics even said Cara would probably be her best patient all day. About 5 minutes after Cara got dressed, we were back in the exam room with Dr. Madsen. He said he had good news. Cara's VSD was in the muscular part of her ventricles, which was still growing and had an opportunity to close spontaneously on its own. He also said it was actually 2, 2mm holes, so they are very small. He said the worst case scenario would be surgery when she was a teenager and to come back in a year. She has no restrictions on any of her activities. He basically said to treat her the same as we would our other two children. We were happily relieved and thrilled with the news. We feel like we can relax a little bit about her heart condition. We will continue to provide her with good nutrition and let her play as hard as she wants and go back for a check-up next December. It was a pretty awesome Christmas present, that's for sure!

At 2:30 p.m. Cara went to see Dr. Davies, the IA doctor. Cara has grown 1 cm in 5 weeks, but has not gained any weight. Dr. Davies didn't seem too concerned about it, though. She eats constantly and chases around everywhere. I'm not surprised she hasn't gained anything; she burns it all off! During the visit I said to Dr. Davies, "when you prepare for adoption, you read as much as you can and prepare yourself for the most difficult situation you can imagine, and I think she's doing pretty well. Is this normal?" His response was, "No." So I guess she's doing even better than he would expect. She goes back to see Dr. Davies in six months. Overall, Cara had a great day.

We did a little Christmas shopping in Seattle and headed home. Now we're just finishing up our Christmas preparations for Cara's first Christmas home with her family.