My Miracle Anniek Who Has Tetralogy Of Fallot: February 2013

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Left With Questions

Anniek's cardiologist appointment today went well. We see them again in 6 months, so I was happy about that. Then I got thinking about the one question that the cardiologist asked for some reason. The cardiologist asked about how long Anniek was on antibiotics when she was sick last fall and on a PICC line with IV antibiotics for a month. She said was looking into it more and said that usual treatment from what she has read is usually a year of IV antibiotics so she wants to look into why the Doctors at the time had decided why they felt that Anniek needed them for only a month. What Anniek had in the fall is pretty rare - Post Strep Reactive Arthritis. It really left me wondering why she mentioned had suddenly realized this. From what I had read in the little information that is out there about this had said a year. So I do not know why out of the blue she asked about how long she was on antibiotics for. She also asked if she could go grab one of the other Doctor's students so that she could listen to Anniek's heart and her murmur.

Anniek's Heart

Tetralogy of Fallot is a congenital heart defect (a problem with the heart's structure that's present at birth). Congenital heart defects change the normal flow of blood through the heart. This is a rare and complex heart defect. Tetralogy of Fallot is made up of four different heart defects that are:

Ventricular Septal Defect

The heart has a wall that separates the chambers on its left side from those on its right side. This wall is called a septum. The septum prevents blood from mixing between the two sides of the heart. A VSD is a hole in the part of the septum that separates the ventricles—the lower chambers of the heart. The hole allows oxygen‑rich blood to flow from the left ventricle into the right ventricle instead of flowing into the aorta, the main artery leading out to the body.

Pulmonary Stenosis

This is a narrowing of the pulmonary valve and the passageway through which blood flows from the right ventricle to the pulmonary arteries. Normally, oxygen-poor blood from the right ventricle flows through the pulmonary valve into the pulmonary arteries and out to the lungs to pick up oxygen. In pulmonary stenosis, the heart has to work harder than normal to pump blood, and not enough blood can get to the lungs.

Right Ventricular Hypertrophy

This is when the right ventricle thickens because the heart has to pump harder than it should to move blood through the narrowed pulmonary valve.

Overriding Aorta

This is a defect in the location of the aorta. In a healthy heart, the aorta is attached to the left ventricle, allowing only oxygen-rich blood to go to the body. In tetralogy of Fallot, the aorta is between the left and right ventricles, directly over the VSD. As a result, oxygen‑poor blood from the right ventricle can flow directly into the aorta instead of into the pulmonary artery to the lungs.

An Extra Heart Condition That Anniek Has Is Left Pulmonary Artery Stenosis

Pulmonary Artery Stenosis

Pulmonary artery stenosis is a narrowing that occurs in the pulmonary artery, a large artery that sends oxygen-poor blood into the lungs to be enriched with oxygen. The narrowing may occur in the main pulmonary artery and/or in the left or right pulmonary artery branches. This narrowing makes it difficult for blood to reach the lungs to pick up oxygen. Without enough oxygen, the heart and body cannot function as they should. In an effort to overcome the narrowing, the pressure in the right ventricle (the chamber that pumps blood into the pulmonary arteries) rises to levels that can be damaging to the heart muscle.

My Miracle Anniek Who Has Tetralogy Of Fallot

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Left With Questions

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