Grace's ticking update

Most, if not all of you reading our blog know that Grace was born with pulmonary atresia. Her pulmonary valve was defective and she had a cardiac cath at 4 days old to create a valve by puncturing the membrane or tissue wall that was at the valve site. She had the procedure repeated more aggressively at 4 months and has been checking in at least annually with her cardiologist ever since. Today was a check in at Children's Hospital in Boston involving an EKG, a 30 minute echo, and an initial report from Dr. de Ferranti. We were thrilled to hear good news...no change in the leakage of her valves. She doesn't need to come back for 2 YEARS! I thought my heart was going to burst on the drive home. Grace has taught us to appreciate life and we are so happy that she's got more time with this makeshift valve. Eventually she'll need a new one, but medical advances in this area are coming along quickly and if Grace can hang on to the valve she's got, there's a good chance that when she does need her new valve she'll be able to have it replaced through a cardiac cath rather than open heart surgery. That, and the longer she can wait the fewer replacements she'll need. I asked Dr. de Ferranti about the feasibility study for pulmonary valve replacement using cardiac catheterization that is going on at Children's Hospital right now and she said they should have a report within a year or so and that things look very good. We feel blessed to live so close to such wonderful medical care. We just can't say enough about the cardiology dept. at Children's. From the day Grace was born they have been absolutely wonderful to us and Grace has received nothing but the best care. So...we all squish hugged tonight and said a prayer of thanks before the kids hit the hay. Joy!