Sydney's second annual heart check-up...

...and everything is fine!

Last Friday, Sydney and I ventured into Minneapolis for her annual heart follow-up appointment. As a refresher, Sydney, at one time, had a VSD (ventricular septal defect) and an ASD (atrial septal defect). After she was discharged from the NICU, we had follow ups with her pediatric cardiologist. At her one year appointment, her echocardiogram showed that the VSD had closed on it's own. We weren't surprised, as it was quite small. Her ASD, however, was still open, and quite a good size. We were told that at some point she would need to have it surgically closed, but they wanted her to get bigger first. This was the first time we were told about a device called an Amplatzer, which is a device they use to close the hole in the atriums. They said at that point, she looked like a good candidate. If we didn't want to go that route, they would have to do open heart surgery.

We had two more follow ups and in 2005, her cardiologist decided it was time to have it closed. Her echocardiogram showed that she was still a good candidate for the Amplatzer. We were amazed by this technology and felt very comfortable with the doctor performing the procedure. The Amplatzer was developed by a local company and some of the clinical trials were done right at the same hospital that Sydney would have it done at.

Two years ago, we headed off to the hospital in the early morning. I was in awe that the procedure would only require an overnight stay. Lindsey was staying two nights at her aunt and uncle's house while we were at the hospital. Sydney was a champ. I think the hardest part for me was going back with her while they put her to sleep. They had told me to just hold her face and look in her eyes, and I began to sing, "Lullaby, and goodnight...go to sleep, little baby.", a song I sang every night to her. It was a very emotional few moments and then she went out. The procedure only took about an hour. Here are some pictures from two years ago.





And back to last Friday and our appointment...first off, it was quite a lot of drama to be going to the appointment without her sister, Lindsey. Syd wasn't happy about it and cried that she'd miss her so much! Look at those watery eyes! I tried to get her to smile.

We dropped Lindsey off with dad and they did some fun things together while Sydney and I went to the appointment. She got her pressures checked collected her stickers, not without asking for some stickers for her sister. She is always SO thoughtful!

Then it was time for the echocardiogram and she followed all the directions perfectly. Next, we went to another office where we waited for Dr. Bass and two other residents/students (it's a teaching hospital/clinic). Everything looked great! Just a small, inconsequential heart murmur that she'll probably outgrow. And we made our appointment for next year. Then we were off, back to our car and off to McDonald's and then to pick up Lindsey!



Oh, and check out this cool picture of my heart!

What a fun day with mom and Blue Bear! Note Blue Bear in the picture from two years ago. She got this bear from the doctor when she was admitted to the hospital and it has been her special "Blue Bear" ever since!