Better News...

On Monday April 16, we met with Dr. Baschat's office and Dr. Alicia Chaves.  Dr. Baschat was pleased to see that Adriana is growing, and although on the smaller side, she is within the "normal" range for her gestation week.  Her heart still seems to be doing well and pumping beautifully.  We received even better news when we met with Dr. Chaves.  She is a Pediatric Cardiologist who specializes in imaging and was able to draw a better picture of Adriana's abnormalities.  Dr. Chaves is almost 100% positive that Adriana does NOT have heterotaxy syndrome.  This is EXTREMELY good news because the syndrome involves so many complications, not just affecting the heart.  Instead, she believes that only Adriana's heart is tilted to the right (this is called "Dextrocardia") and does not think that multiple organs are displaced.  As we learned before, her right ventricle is smaller than the left, but her Great Arteries are not necessarily transposed.  Adriana has a hole in between her two ventricles (this is called "Ventricular Septal Defect"), as well as "Double Outlet Right Ventricle", meaning that both of her arteries could pull blood from the right ventricle because of the hole.  The tilt in the heart's position may also affect blood travel.  Her Tricuspid valve is  "straddling" both vetricles as well.  It is hard to say exactly how the blood flow will develop, once she grows and is out of the womb.  Only time will tell.  However, in the drawing, Dr. Chaves drew different surgical procedures that could turn out to be very good options for Adriana when she is older.  At 4-6 months of age, she could have a band put around the valve that goes to the lungs to make sure the blood disperses equally to the body as well.  At 2 to 4 years of age she may have to have a Glenn shunt put in.  Like I said, only time will tell and we shall see how Adriana's heart adapts.  Regardless, we have options and the outlook is much more optimistic for Adriana and she will not have to have heart surgery immediately following her birth as we originally thought..  Our little girl won't be able to participate in competitive sports or strenuous activities, but she'll be able to run around and play with her big sisters.  Here is the drawing of Adriana's heart, courtesy of Dr. Chaves:

Now, here is a picture of a normal heart: