Slightly Disappointing News

Cara had her annual appointment with her cardiologist at Seattle Children's Hospital last Thursday.  Here she is getting ready for her echocardiogram.

She's fine with going to the doctor as long as there's no blood draw and no shots.  She still looked a little nervous, though, for her echo.

This picture looks like she's interested in what's on the computer screen.  It's misleading.  She's actually watching a Dora the Explorer movie on the tv on the wall.  She can lay really still if she's watching Dora.  The echo takes about 40 minutes to complete.

Then off to another room for her EKG.  She was super excited about the princess EKG stickers.   The EKG is easy.  Cara counts to 10 and they remove the wires.

Then we waited for Dr. Madsen.  Last year he said no restrictions, come back in a year and we'll see if the VSD closes with improved nutrition and exercise.  This year he said there's been no change.  Which means Cara's VSD has not closed or even changed a little.  So we are, in fact, looking at surgery in the future.  He even went so far as to give us a list of symptoms to watch for.  Yikes!  Last year I left her appointment relieved and close to tears with relief and joy.  This year I left feeling disappointed and a little more worried about her heart than I was before we got there.  Looking on the bright side, Dr. Madsen said we most likely wouldn't see any symptoms until she reaches puberty.  So she would be older, bigger, and stronger before she needs surgery.  I had just really hoped to see some improvement in her condition.  So what now?  We watch for symptoms and go back in a year.