If you haven't read about Katelyn's previous cardiologist visits, you should read this and this first.
In my last post about this, I mentioned that I was waiting to hear from the doctor. I finally heard back from him, only to find out that he hadn't actually seen the echo. He was going off the other doctor's notes. He told me he would take a look at it on Thursday (this was Tuesday) when he was at Sparrow.
My phone was out of commission for a brief bit yesterday. Apparently the Dr. had tried to call me and couldn't get ahold of me, so he called Joe. He told Joe that he didn't necessarily agree with his colleague's diagnosis (we'd been told it was a "Unique Variation of the Tricuspid Valve"). He said that what he was seeing didn't fit into the 3 categories that he would expect, and that it just looked a little "weird."
He told us that he wanted us to go to DeVos in Grand Rapids so they could do a 3D echo. He said they could get us in same-day, although it wasn't really urgent. We cancelled Katelyn's 9-month physical appointment and headed to DeVos.
The technician was very nice, and so was Dr. Vettukattil. They didn't sedate her for the echo, but they were very patient with her when she got antsy.
Long story short, she does indeed have a mass in her heart. They're pretty confident that it's a Myxoma, and that it is located NEAR her tricuspid valve, not ON it (which is good news if they have to remove it!). The Dr. wants to see her back for another echo in 3 months. They'll check to see if it has grown- if it has, they'll have to remove it. If it stays the same, they'll just continue to monitor it. Dr. Vettukattil seems confident that it won't grow. He ran through the worst-case scenarios with us, including a pulmonary embolism (he said it's small enough that we probably wouldn't even notice, although there's a chance we might notice breathing difficulty, inconsolable crying or coughing up blood) and stroke (she'd have to be EXTREMELY unlucky- this could only happen if the hole in her heart (we're all born with one) hasn't closed and the mass travels backwards through her heart- he said it's almost impossible that this will happen).
They also did blood work and a blood culture to check for infection. He said he doesn't think it is an infection, but he'd hate to realize later that he was wrong, so better safe than sorry! She got quite hysterical during the blood draw, but I don't blame her! It took them a long time and a lot of needle wiggling to get a vein, and then it took a long time for them to get what they needed.
I'm so glad we have some answers. Now we just have to pray for good news when we go back in 3 months!
In my last post about this, I mentioned that I was waiting to hear from the doctor. I finally heard back from him, only to find out that he hadn't actually seen the echo. He was going off the other doctor's notes. He told me he would take a look at it on Thursday (this was Tuesday) when he was at Sparrow.
My phone was out of commission for a brief bit yesterday. Apparently the Dr. had tried to call me and couldn't get ahold of me, so he called Joe. He told Joe that he didn't necessarily agree with his colleague's diagnosis (we'd been told it was a "Unique Variation of the Tricuspid Valve"). He said that what he was seeing didn't fit into the 3 categories that he would expect, and that it just looked a little "weird."
He told us that he wanted us to go to DeVos in Grand Rapids so they could do a 3D echo. He said they could get us in same-day, although it wasn't really urgent. We cancelled Katelyn's 9-month physical appointment and headed to DeVos.
The technician was very nice, and so was Dr. Vettukattil. They didn't sedate her for the echo, but they were very patient with her when she got antsy.
Long story short, she does indeed have a mass in her heart. They're pretty confident that it's a Myxoma, and that it is located NEAR her tricuspid valve, not ON it (which is good news if they have to remove it!). The Dr. wants to see her back for another echo in 3 months. They'll check to see if it has grown- if it has, they'll have to remove it. If it stays the same, they'll just continue to monitor it. Dr. Vettukattil seems confident that it won't grow. He ran through the worst-case scenarios with us, including a pulmonary embolism (he said it's small enough that we probably wouldn't even notice, although there's a chance we might notice breathing difficulty, inconsolable crying or coughing up blood) and stroke (she'd have to be EXTREMELY unlucky- this could only happen if the hole in her heart (we're all born with one) hasn't closed and the mass travels backwards through her heart- he said it's almost impossible that this will happen).
They also did blood work and a blood culture to check for infection. He said he doesn't think it is an infection, but he'd hate to realize later that he was wrong, so better safe than sorry! She got quite hysterical during the blood draw, but I don't blame her! It took them a long time and a lot of needle wiggling to get a vein, and then it took a long time for them to get what they needed.
I'm so glad we have some answers. Now we just have to pray for good news when we go back in 3 months!