Hands and house

Hands and house

Friday, September 21, 2012

Stunned - A second heart defect...

    This is not a post that in a million years I thought I would be writing. I am so humbled by God's grace and protection over our little girl.
Tuesday morning Georgia started having a dry cough and feeling a bit punky. I picked her up after an hour of preschool and we cuddled up at home thinking she just had a cold....
 
until she started saying she was dizzy...
 
and the dark circles under her eyes got darker.
 
I threw the pulse ox on her and found that her oxygen was only at 80.
 
It perked up again after a few minutes and she seemed to be ok so I thought maybe I was just paranoid.
 
Then it happened again, and again.
 
Each time her pulse and her oxygen would drop at the same time while she was laying down saying she felt dizzy.
 
So I called the Cardiologist.
 
The nurse suggested we take her to our family practice doctor because surely it was just a cold.
 
Our family practice doctor is amazing.
 
He is a Godly man who loves our family.
 
By the time we got to his office all Georgia wanted to do was lay down.
 
When they put the pulse ox on her the nurse seemed to get nervous.
 
I looked down and saw her oxygen in the 70s and her pulse in the low 50s...
at that point I looked away and focused on comforting Georgia knowing there was no way her heart should be doing these things.
 
What I didn't see was that her pulse dropped to the 40s and her oxygen into the 60s.
 
Dr. Joe came in and spent a long time listening and listening and listening some more to her heart.
 
At one point he asked me to cover the vent in the room with a box because he was trying so hard to listen to her.
 
The he said, " Her heart murmur is so loud this time that I cannot hear her lungs."
 
He called the on call Cardiologist and long story short...after a hospital visit for a chest x-ray and ekg,we wound up in the Cardiologist's office yesterday morning.
 
Before the echo her Cardiologist and I talked. I love that man. He is wise and kind and takes lots of time with families. He gets that Georgia is a, in his words, "bit of a mystery."
 
In talking he just could not figure out how she was getting those numbers.
 
He suggested we may have to go the neurology route again if we couldn't find anything, that maybe she was having seizures.
 
So we went into the "roll, roll, roll" as Georgia calls it (otherwise known as we the echo)
 
All was going along like normal when all of a sudden the Cardiologist said,
 
"Stop! Stop! Go back!"
 
You see the tech had turned the echo wand just right and for the first time caught that she has another hole in her heart!
 
She has a PFO (patent foramen ovale).
 
These are not a huge deal in a 'normal' heart,
 
but in a repaired TOF heart with a failing pulmonary valve they become a big deal.
 
Basically, this PFO is allowing 'blue' unoxygenated blood to flow into Georgia's bloodstream which then causes low oxygen levels.
 
This could be what has been causing her to struggle for the last 2 years!
 
Whether it is or not we are fixing it quickly because it can cause other complications...some of them serious.
 
She bhas been at risk all this time and we did not know it...
but God did.
 
And He has protected her every single day.
 
So October 2nd she will have heart surgery via catheter to close this hole and hopefully once again be on the road to recovery!
 
I am stunned at God's goodness for the protection and the revealing of what He has known all along!
 

14 comments:

Valerie and Jeff said...

wow--Georgia is a beautiful mystery isn't she! I'm So thankful that this second hole was finally caught during an echo! Shannon, I was just thinking this morning, "hmm, I haven't cried in a long time." Well, that's ended. I don't really even know you all, but your words brought thankful tears to my eyes! Just being grateful as a mom I suppose that your beautiful daughter was covered and protected from such a very, very scary situation. And maybe just a little bit that I feel like I sorta know you since I've been following you for 2+ years on this journey to your Georgia. I'm SOOO hopeful that this will be the mending you have been praying for for so very long. You guys deserve a medal for hanging in there and not giving up or chalking it up to a cold or such. Hugs to you all and praying that the surgery will go FABULOUSLY!

Valerie and Jeff said...

wow--Georgia is a beautiful mystery isn't she! I'm So thankful that this second hole was finally caught during an echo! Shannon, I was just thinking this morning, "hmm, I haven't cried in a long time." Well, that's ended. I don't really even know you all, but your words brought thankful tears to my eyes! Just being grateful as a mom I suppose that your beautiful daughter was covered and protected from such a very, very scary situation. And maybe just a little bit that I feel like I sorta know you since I've been following you for 2+ years on this journey to your Georgia. I'm SOOO hopeful that this will be the mending you have been praying for for so very long. You guys deserve a medal for hanging in there and not giving up or chalking it up to a cold or such. Hugs to you all and praying that the surgery will go FABULOUSLY!

Valerie and Jeff said...

wow--Georgia is a beautiful mystery isn't she! I'm So thankful that this second hole was finally caught during an echo! Shannon, I was just thinking this morning, "hmm, I haven't cried in a long time." Well, that's ended. I don't really even know you all, but your words brought thankful tears to my eyes! Just being grateful as a mom I suppose that your beautiful daughter was covered and protected from such a very, very scary situation. And maybe just a little bit that I feel like I sorta know you since I've been following you for 2+ years on this journey to your Georgia. I'm SOOO hopeful that this will be the mending you have been praying for for so very long. You guys deserve a medal for hanging in there and not giving up or chalking it up to a cold or such. Hugs to you all and praying that the surgery will go FABULOUSLY!

Marci said...

Wow. Prayers for direction and for her safety!

Jean said...

WOW... praise GOD!!

He knew all along and so delicately showed you what was going on... All this time HE took such wonderful care of your precious daughter!

I am feeling so thankful that you are on the right track- that the doctors were wise and now your sweet girl with have this fixed!

Praising HIM!!

Shonni said...

I am praying for you and for your family.

Renee said...

Praying for your sweet Georgia and praising God for keeping your and HIS sweet Georgia safe.

Adrianne in Portland said...

We'll be thinking of you all on the 2nd. Hope this will be the fix she needs!

Such a brave girl with a brave family!

Anna and Bob

Unknown said...

So thankful God allowed you to find this and hopefully she will be on the road to recovery soon! Praying with you as you wait.

Joanna B said...

Oh my goodness, that is so great that they caught this! I have followed Georgie's journey ever since we first thought about adopting our daughter, and he emailed me and reassured me that of course we could handle this, and you were right! I can't imagine life without our little girl, and I am so glad that your little girl will soon be feeling better!

Susie said...

Wow, Shannon! I'm so thankful that the PFO was found! My Guangxi/TOF girl Lizzie also had a PFO they found when doing her surgery and put a stitch in then. I'm so thankful they can do this in the cath lab for Georgia! We're having issues with stenosis- could be overtaxed heart muscle from the late surgery or it could be her pulmonary valve. We just have to wait for her to grow and we have to wait for the numbers to tell us more conclusively and then it will be OHS or a cath. Right now, she has no symptoms thank God! I worry and pray for you when you blog that Georgia is having any "funny boom booms." 2012 has been quite a year for you all! I'm so glad that as it draws to a close you are getting answers and I wish you all much health and happiness in times to come!

1001tears said...

Oh my! What an amazing God we serve. It is so humbling, amazing, awe-inspiring, how he takes care of our kids! She is a walking miracle. Praying he continues to protect her.

Leslie said...

So glad they finally saw this. I am surprised they never saw it before, but hey, I can't tell a thing from those echos! It is amazing to me the Drs. and techs can see what they do see on there.

I'll be praying! Our baby girl has open-heart surgery on Oct. 4, so I'll try to check in before we go in on the 3rd. I have a feeling life is about to get a bit crazy around here.

Heart hugs to you and your family, especially Miss Miraculous Georgia Mei!

Anonymous said...

Just marked Oct 2 on the calendar to pray for sweet Georgia - and of course we will be now and until then too! To God be the glory,and thank you for your testimony to HIM and His grace!! Lerah

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