Things Just Became Official

I got a call about 5pm from Arianna's cardiologists, Dr. Barber. They presented Arianna's case to the cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Teodori this afternoon. After reviewing her MRI, echo, cath, and Holter studies he agrees it is time for a pulmonary valve to be placed and he accepted her case! He was at Phoenix Children's Hospital when she had her first surgery so we are very happy to have him at Diamond Children's Hospital now!

 Dr. Michael Teodori

A new question arose today during the consult. Arianna has always had tricuspid regurgitation that has worsened over the years. They are wondering if there is a defect (hole) in her tricuspid valve which is the catalyst for her increased right ventricle pressures. She needs to get a more advanced echo done prior to surgery so they will take a better look at that area. If they cannot visualize it with echo they will do a transesophageal echo during her surgery to see if they can detect any defects with that valve. If they do then Dr. Teodori will address the tricuspid valve as well. I hate to even think of them messing with another valve but if there is something wrong I pray they can fix it and be done with it without causing further issues down the road. As it stands right now if they can place the homograft in her pulmonary valve then she is a candidate in the future for the Melody valve with is done via cath. But if they mess with that tricuspid valve I worry that she will need more work done in the future and that would only be done open chest. No one likes surprises more than me!

The plan at this point is to:

1) Get a consult with Dr. Teodori to go over everything.
2) Continue with her dental procedure that is scheduled this Thursday to fix her cavities and possible   crowns. We must get this done prior to her heart surgery because endocarditis is not something we want to risk with a new valve.
3) See immunology this Friday and get her assessment sent over to cardiology & surgeon. She needs irradiated blood since she has DiGeorge Syndrome so we have to make sure that is ordered for her blood transfusions during surgery.
4) Schedule appointment with pulmonology to get a check-up and make a plan for her pulmonary health prior and after surgery.
5) Schedule a cardiology appointment at the Wilmot clinic to get an advanced echo done and have our last face-to-face with the cardiologist before surgery.
6) Oh yeah and somewhere in there I'm hoping they will call with the actual surgery date. That would be nice!