The Heart and Soul Family: October 2011

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

October Update

So things have been rather boring on our end, which isn't such a bad thing. We have pulled Arianna from school and all group activities to keep her healthy for her upcoming heart cath which is scheduled for Oct. 31st.

This was the suggestion from her pulmonologist who knows how hard it is for Arianna to recovery from upper respiratory colds. We did go in for an appointment a few weeks ago and he performed another lung perfusion scan BEFORE having Xopenex and AFTER doing a Xopenex neb and we could see that there is inflammation in her small airways. She's been put on a daily dose of steroid inhalent to help with that and to keep her healthy for her cath. We will reevaluate after the cath to see if the blood flow changes anything.

So for now we just stay home, keep her healthy and wait for the next part of her journey...

Arianna Marie

Arianna was born on 11/26/06. 4 weeks premature, and weighing 4lbs 13ozs. She was born with a congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot, which is actually 4 heart defects, and was later diagnosed with an ASD. She had open-heart surgery on 5/22/06. Her surgery was to patch the VSD, patch the ASD, widen her pulmonary artery, and attempt to fix her pulmonary valve. They created a man-made pulmonary valve out of myocardium to avoid a conduit placement, which would require multiple surgeries. On September 21st, 2012 we got the news that Arianna's right ventricle pressures are too high and she needs a pulmonary valve placed. When we meet with the surgeon we found out she also has pulmonary branch stenosis and a possible defect in her tricuspid valve. He will be addressing all of these issues at the time of surgery. On October 18th, 2012, Arianna had her 2nd open-heart surgery.

At 5 weeks old she was diagnosed with a genetic disorder called 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome, which is caused by a deletion of a small segment of the long arm of chromosome 22. This disorder has many names such as 22q Deletion syndrome, Velo-Cardio-Facial syndrome, DiGeorge syndrome, Shprintzen syndrome, and Catch 22. So far there has been more than 180 anomalies reported in this syndrome, which is highly variable from person to person and no individual has all of the anomalies. Arianna has overcome many obstacles and we find peace in knowing that God is working miracles in her life. We set this site up to share our family journey. We know that God has a special plan for Arianna and our family!

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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

October Update