1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
A background of my husband's particular type of congenital heart disease, tetralogy of fallot: A little background for those of you who don't know: my husband has a congenital heart defect called tetralogy of fallot. Here is a simple overview of it:
A heart defect that features four problems.
They are:
- a hole between the lower chambers of the heart
- an obstruction from the heart to the lungs
- The aorta (blood vessel) lies over over the hole in the lower chambers
- The muscle surrounding the lower right chamber becomes overly thickened
After Joe's repair at age 3, his pulmonary valve was left with a slight leak. This happens in most patients with TOF. So the leaky valve causes blood to flow into the lower right chamber of the heart, which causes it to get bigger. Obviously, we don't want anything to happen that would compromise his life.
Last year, I mentioned Joe would be having a cardiac MRI to find out how his heart is functioning at this point in time. To our surprise, his cardiologist was very pleased with his test results. The MRI revealed that while one of his numbers is elevated, he does not need surgery yet. And probably won't for some time. To qualify for the pulmonary valve replacement, he has to meet three criteria. Currently he only meets one of three and doesn't really have any symptoms other than occasional shortness of breath.
In the meantime, we get to live life! His doctor suggested getting his cholesterol tested sometime in the next six months. We'll be taking care of that pretty soon after we get done taking care of all of the kids' dental appointments.
Speaking for our family, we very much appreciate all of the prayers and thoughts. This can be a very scary experience for our us, but right now, we get to breathe a little until next year's appointment.
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