123 ABC ASD ...PFO

Confused already?

My life is filled with acronyms.  Between life as an educator and life as a Down syndrome parent, there are more acronyms than spaces in my memory to store them. 

Luckily there will be some overlap in Cameran's future, so I have a head start over parents who perhaps are not in education or psychology job fields.

SDI, DI, IEP, IFSP, LRE, PLC, RTI...

IFSP, PT, OT, SI, SLP (wish that one stood for sleep)

And then there's the added medical jargon, also chock-full 'o acronyms...

MRI, EEG, ECHO, EKG, ENT, MO, GI, BP, PA, ASD, PFO, BPS...

It's a wonder I don't go crazy with all of these abbreviated terms!

Anyway, Cameran is feeling a little better.  Her fever topped out at 101.6 on Monday night.  I was hoping and praying that we wouldn't need to cancel the cardiology appointment.  Thankfully, Cameran slept through the night and woke up all smiles and fever-free.

I was able to leave work in order to backtrack to C's daycare and then turn back around to trek to Harrisburg for the appointment.  Traffic was horrendous along the main roads in H-burg, and we arrived a few minutes late.  Luckily they didn't mind, and we went back within ten minutes of our 2:00 appointment.

From there, Cameran was weighed (19.6 lbs..the kid won't gain weight) and measured (21 1/4 inches...at least she's getting longer).  We then went back for an ECHO-ultrasoundy kinda thing.  The tech was awesome, and he sang to Cameran while he did his thing.  You know how techs are not allowed to "interpret" images?? Well, this dude rocked.  After singing Cameran's praises for cuteness factor (I agree) and mellowness (a word??) despite feeling sick, he said that things looked good, and things were small enough that he couldn't get a measurement.  We then proceeded to wait for what seemed like an eternity before Cameran was hooked up to her EKG.  Overall she did well, only crying when the sticky tabs were pulled off.  We ended with a blood pressure check and the wait...

We waited and waited.  A PA came to speak with us while we continued to wait for the doctor.  She explained that everything looked fine, and that Cameran does not have an ASD like they first suspected, but instead has a PFO.  Her Branch Pulmonary Stenosis has resolved itself. 

So instead of this...

where an actual piece of tissue is missing and needs to grow shut....

Cameran has this instead...

...which is actually pretty sweet because it was so small (less than 4 mm) that they could not even measure it!

Apparently 1 in 4 people has a PFO, and they often resolve themselves, or cause pretty much benign irregular heartbeats and sometimes mild murmurs.  In any case, it is continuing to improve, and it is AWESOME news that it is a PFO.  Even if they were still thinking it was an ASD, it still would be just a case of monitoring. 

We are very blessed.  This was an excellent early Christmas present!

Sayonara Cardiologist (until next December)!