People you meet along the way...

I was thinking about a friend of mine and her daughter today and that got me thinking about other people we've met over the years too.



Corinna was the first person I found whose child had the same heart condition as Emily. Tis a very rare defect, around 1 in 300,000 live births, and I've not been able to find a child older than Em although I know there are some out there. It was Corinna who introduced me to a couple of online support groups and the friends I've made through them have been with us through thick and thin. Corinna's daughter Nia has been very unlucky in contracting leukaemia (again a very rare strain). She doesn't do things by halves, Nia. At some point over the next couple of weeks she's due to have a bone marrow transplant and they are on my mind alot.

The appointment.

The results of the MRI were inconclusive.



This is more than a little disappointing as it means that Emily has to have a cardiac catheter to clarify what's going on. This issue is with her pulmonary artery which is narrowed where the left coronary passes through it. On echo the pressures are high, the stenosis is graded as severe and would normally require surgery before causing permanent damage to the overworked ventricle. That said, past catheters have shown that the area is difficult to measure on echo and measurements taken once inside have been more acceptable. Just hoping that this is the case now and the cath will just show that ongoing monitoring is required rather than intervention.



I'm trying to be hopeful but my pessimistic side is currently winning the battle going on in my head.