Cardiologist report

In God's kind providence, Dr. R, Lilly's regular cardiologist, is working in the hospital this week and came to see her. He was surprised by what is going on with her heart. He hadn't expected it as he didn't consider it a Trisomy 18 thing. It was good to see him and get a couple questions answered.

We first asked about the normal size of Lilly's heart. He said that she normally did have a larger heart. (Though it definitely is much larger now.)

We next asked about "heart failure." He explained there were at least two meanings. In one, the kind of problem for which Lilly was treated in Florida, the heart is pumping strongly enough but blood flow is improperly distributed. The kind of heart failure Lilly is facing now stems from her weakened heart's inability to pump enough blood. (especially the left side of her heart)

The two most probable explanations for the current weakened state of Lilly's heart are: (1) a general infection (especially affecting her lungs) has so impacted her breathing that her heart has been forced to overwork in compensation; (2) an infection in her heart has swollen and shocked it into inefficiency. The recovery is longer from the latter. Only time will tell, in regards to both the cause and solution of Lilly's current condition.

Dr. R ordered another echo for this afternoon. We haven't heard the official results yet but the tech doing the echo did comment that it looked much better than the one he did on her yesterday morning.

Lilly made progress this afternoon by being able to tolerate the move from the C-PAPP to a high flow nasal cannula (sp?). In other words, instead of having air forcibly pushed into her lungs, she now has oxygen provided at her nostrils but must breathe it in through normal respiratory efforts. (So goodbye fighter jet face gear! it's just a small tube with prongs in the nose now.)

The shift over from forced air was a little traumatic, but about two hours later she seemed comfortable. And now she's sleeping happily in her daddy's lap. Ooops ... spoke too soon. She's my energizer bunny - those eyes always seem to be open.

Here's another good scripture for Lilly: "You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance." Psalm 32:7