Hi everyone,

Happy (almost?) Spring! 🌸

Declan went to his bi-annual cardiology appointment last week and I will be honest and say that this news has been a bit harder to process so I took some time before posting. 

First, the good news:

• Declan is at the 30th percentile for weight. Woohoo! His growth has fluctuated a lot since he was 2 months old so it feels great to not have to worry about that for now.
  
• The leakage of his mitral valve is still in the moderate range and hasn’t changed from 6 months ago. 
  

And now the not-so-good news: 

• The two left heart chambers are slightly more enlarged than last time. 
  
• This is the second echocardiogram that has shown this size increase which indicates that Declan’s heart appears to be getting more tired due to having to work harder to pump blood that has back-flowed from the leaky valve. 
• His blood pressure medication was increased but if it is not effective in preventing additional enlargement, we have no other options medication-wise and will have to talk about surgery to either repair or replace the valve.

Allowing his heart to continue to stretch and fatigue may cause permanent damage so it is about finding the balance between not doing the surgery before it is necessary but also not waiting too long.

We don’t have to go back for 6 months which was surprising for us to hear but his cardiologist said that Declan is “by no means in the danger zone” and that we would have to wait a significant amount of time to notice any changes in his heart size. Declan’s energy is OFF THE CHARTS and combined with his growth and how healthy he has been, those are all positives that we are grateful for but this appointment and the prospect of heart surgery definitely brought back some memories of Declan’s first two stays at Children’s Hospital. Of course, surgery at 3 years old when the heart is the size of a small fist vs. the size of acorn at 2 months old is much more preferred but it would be really nice to not have to go down this road at all. It seems like the last two appointment results might be taking us in that direction so the next appointment in September will be quite nerve-wrecking.

In normal toddler news, Declan is super smart, funny, talkative, loves his new kitty and is jumping and climbing every possible surface. He is taking his 3-year-old role very seriously and will take any opportunity to show us what a big boy he is, such as not crying at the dentist and doing everything himself. Declan is so curious and is frequently asking “what are you doing Dada?” which is almost always followed up with “why?” We could not love this phase of parenting any more than we already do and we are so proud of our boy. 

Wishing everyone a wonderful spring and summer! We will always look back at this time in our lives with such gratitude for the love and support we received ☺️ 

🩷 Chelsea & Mitchell