Ethan had his MRI today at Stanford. Everything went very smoothly. He is already back to running around the house and wanting to wrestle with me.
The results came back quicker than we thought. I received a call from the Pediatric Cardiologist at Kaiser about 1 hour ago. The MRI confirmed his suspicions that one of the arteries from the lungs was connected to the wrong chamber of the heart. In addition to that, Ethan also has a fifth small artery (most people only have four) from the middle part of the lungs that is also carrying blood to the wrong chamber. The ratio of blood flow in and blood flow out of the lungs is 1.9 to 1, instead of 1 to 1 as it should be. Our doctor confirmed that even without consultation with the pediatric surgeon open heart surgery is needed to repair the problem. We are waiting to hear back from Stanford to set the date of the surgery.
As you can imagine, this news is not easy to hear. We are still in a little bit of shock that our precious three year old is going to have to undergo such major surgery. At the same time, we are grateful that this problem was recognized early, instead of having to wait until much later in life to recognize symptoms when the damage would have been irreversible. We are also so grateful for those of you who have taken the time to pray and email. You have been a great encouragement. Please continue to pray for Ethan, our family, and the upcoming surgery. Once the date has been set and we know more details I will pass them along.
The results came back quicker than we thought. I received a call from the Pediatric Cardiologist at Kaiser about 1 hour ago. The MRI confirmed his suspicions that one of the arteries from the lungs was connected to the wrong chamber of the heart. In addition to that, Ethan also has a fifth small artery (most people only have four) from the middle part of the lungs that is also carrying blood to the wrong chamber. The ratio of blood flow in and blood flow out of the lungs is 1.9 to 1, instead of 1 to 1 as it should be. Our doctor confirmed that even without consultation with the pediatric surgeon open heart surgery is needed to repair the problem. We are waiting to hear back from Stanford to set the date of the surgery.
As you can imagine, this news is not easy to hear. We are still in a little bit of shock that our precious three year old is going to have to undergo such major surgery. At the same time, we are grateful that this problem was recognized early, instead of having to wait until much later in life to recognize symptoms when the damage would have been irreversible. We are also so grateful for those of you who have taken the time to pray and email. You have been a great encouragement. Please continue to pray for Ethan, our family, and the upcoming surgery. Once the date has been set and we know more details I will pass them along.
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