At Mia's 9 mo checkup, I asked the doctor about the results to Kian's echocardiogram. She said that she would have someone call me today and that she was 99% sure the results were normal.
I came home and received a call from the nurse and it went something like this:
Nurse: "I don't know why no one has called you yet to tell you the results."
Me: "ok"
Nurse: "It says here that Kian has a patent foramen ovale vs a small secundum type atrial septal defect. It must not be bad because he would set up another appt with Kian if it was."
Me: "Can you spell that all out for me? What was it again?"
That was about it! I was very confused when I got off the phone. The nurse didn't know what everything meant and was just passing on the info, so I couldn't get any explanation from her. I went to the internet to try and figure it all out. Here's what I think it is: it's a small opening in the atrial septum of the heart which allows a small amount of blood to pass through from the left atrium to the right atrium. It may close spontaneously as Kian grows and should be monitored to see if it is. A few of the symptoms are: shortness of breath, fatigue, lack of growth, sweating. He doesn't have any of these except the sweating (which is this case he is half Hibbard, half Billman-enough said). The one site I said that usually these are repaired if it doesn't close on its own by the time he starts school to prevent lung problems that will develop from long time exposure to extra blood flow.
Kian's however, is small which is good, so I think it's all pretty normal. I will keep checking everytime we go to the doctor for anything and look for symptoms in Kian as well. I was just a little annoyed that they gave me all of these foreign words and gave no explanation except that the doctor didn't schedule another appointment with Kian! I am glad we know now what it is and we will continue to monitor him.
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