MUSC Cardiology Apt..

Yesterday was a simply stunning day in Charleston!  It was sunny and 65 degrees.  Just beautiful.   Mel and I took off with both girls pretty early for a long day at our favorite hospital.  I wanted to have Mary Clare checked by her cardiologist, Dr. Forbus, before we flew to St. John in a couple of weeks;  just as I did last year before we flew to Mexico and the previous year before we flew to Chicago…She is becoming quite the world traveler, my Mary Clare.

As we walked through the halls of MUSC, McCanless stopped me and asked me to pull her loose tooth.  (It has been hanging by a thread for days now.  I knew she would end up swallowing it as she has done twice before.)  I kneeled down and popped it right out!  More memories at MUSC!

It was time for blood work and that certainly wasn’t fun for Miss Mary Clare (or Mommy, who had to hold her down), but she proved to be a big girl and only cried for a moment.  The dozen or so “DU-DU Dora” stickers that Ms. Francis gave her helped tremendously, however!  Her oxygen saturation levels were in the low 90’s, which is an all time high for her!  (Her norm is usually mid 80’s.)  Her blood pressure was great, her heart size was great and overall health was great!  She is still hovering around 26-27 pounds, so her heart catheterization was scheduled for June, in hopes that she’ll chunk up at least a bit by then.  Her cardiologist just said she is just a petite and short little girl, and will probably always be so.  So, they decided to proceed.

Once Mary Clare has her heart catheteriztion in June, we’ll know exact levels and pressures in her heart.  If everything looks okay, we can schedule her surgery within the next 6 months.  (Unless levels/pressures dictate a sooner surgery date.)  The catheterization will only be an overnight stay but Dr. Forbus told us to expect a 6 week stay for the Fontan, her third staged surgery.  We have so much to consider and so much to prepare for when that time comes.  It’s ironic, though, after waiting over three years, we are finally at the end of this stage of our journey.  I found out about Mary Clare’s fragile heart in February of 2007.  We knew it was a three-staged surgery procedure, and the Fontan seemed so far away.  Here we are in February of 2010 and we are preparing for her third and final surgery.

Others who have asked get a glazed look on their faces or hold their breaths when we talk about her surgery, but we have already accepted her path and are ready for it.  It is a necessity, yet a miracle that we are so fortunate enough to be able to witness.

As the sun set over the harbor, we headed to my favorite spot, Fleet Landing, for an early dinner and then to Market street for everyone’s favorite, River Street Sweets, for pralines and rock candy!

6 Comments