Wisdom Heart

Well, we just got home. Sophia did just great with the cath. Unfortunately the news was not at all what we were hoping to receive.
In fact, the news from the cath is really pretty devastating. The left pulmonary artery branches are narrow and will require some attention and the pseudoaneurysm is quite large, but this isn't the really bad news. Sophia's right lung is only receiving 20% of the normal volume of blood flow from the heart. The upper right lobe is receiving no blood flow at all. The problem is, and we won't know this for sure until after the surgeons look at it, there doesn't appear to be many options for improving this situation. The vessels are either not there or very small, we don't know yet if there will be surgical options for restoring the lungs connection to the heart. In the meantime, with the reduced flow to the left lung Sophia is basically functioning on one lung or less.
Here is the situation with the pseudoaneurysm. Please forgive my rudimentary knowledge of the medical stuff. A pseudoaneurysm differs from an actual aneurysm because the hemorrhage is confined between the layers of the arterial wall.
This causes the blood to balloon out, causing a big pouch on the side of the artery. Sophia's pseudoaneurysm is at the right ventricle to pulmonary conduit suture line and is as large as the ventricle itself. Her cardiologist even noted that some of the concern they had been having about Sophia's heart function could have been an error made in reading the echocardiogram. Because Sophia's heart sits at an unusual angle and the conduit is routed slightly differently than the actual trunk of the pulmonary artery would be, it has been difficult for them to find the conduit on the echo. In retrospect, he thinks they may have been mistaking the pseudoaneurysm for the right ventricle. And obviously, it would not be pumping as vigorously as they would expect the ventricle to pump, as it is not a muscle.
Anyway, the surgeon did determine the aneurysm to be present in chest x-rays as far back as fall of last year. This made him believe it would not be necessary to have immediate surgery. So, Sophia's cardiologist is going to present her case at the surgery conference a week from today. This will allow he and the surgeons to discuss possible treatment options for Sophia and get her on the surgery schedule.
My guess is, we will be back in the hospital for surgery within the next month. We'll see.
I will keep you posted.
In the meantime, we are very glad to be home. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.
-Michael