Not Quite What I'd Hoped For

Levi had his long-awaited cardiology appointment today. The first, and last, time he was seen by the cardiologist, he was about 3 weeks old. At that appointment, the doctor heard a slight murmur, presumeably caused by a sharp turn and the small size in his pulmonary artery. When they performed an ECG (echocardiogram), they found a small PFO (patent foramen ovale) in the septum of his atria. It was so small, there was no real cause for any health concern, as long as it remained small as he grew.

Today the doctor informed us that the murmur has disappeared... Hooray!!

This Boy's Got Heart...

The slightly less exciting news, but not exactly bad news, is that the PFO is still present. It is still just the size of a pinhole, which is very good news. But because Levi is almost 10 months old, the expectation is that it will probably never close. It's possible, but not likely.

The doctor has assured us that approximately one-quarter of the adult population still has a PFO and they have no idea because they've never had any problems as a result, nor other indicators which would warrant any kind of visualization of the heart.

The really fantastic news is that the likelihood of it getting bigger as he continues to grow is even less. So, no more cardiology followups for Levi for two more years. If at almost 3 years of age the PFO still hasn't gotten any bigger, we likely will not any any further followups, despite the lack of closure.

It's not often you get to see your own insides, so I snagged just a little video of our precious little guy's heart while he was being such a good baby - just hanging out on the table and letting the technician get his bare chest all gooped up!

For more information on PFO's, you can click here.