Richard went to the cardiologist yesterday and finally got some answers as to what is causing his irregular heartbeat. As many of you know, he went in for some surgery to be done on his nose almost a month ago and they refused to perform it because of an irregular heartbeat. He was referred to a cardiologist and they did a scan of his heart and he did the Holter test (wearing a monitor for 24 hours) the other week. Here's what they found.
Richard has an Atrial Septal Defect. But instead of having a hole in the septum, the septum just didn't "thicken" up enough when it was developing when he was a baby. So instead of a wall, it's more like a flap. Now I talked to Richard's mom and apparently his brother was told that he had a hole in his heart when he went in for surgery as a child, so I'm wondering if this is genetic. If it is, it'll be interesting to see if Kyra or Maeve has it. I plan on talking to their pediatrician more about it and having him listen to their hearts very carefully to see if he hears anything abnormal.
The prognosis for this is excellent. Right now, the doctor has Richard on some beta blockers to see if they will help improve his condition. He will go in for a Stress Test next week to see how his heart reacts to some stress placed on it. Up until a few years ago, the only way to repair this sort of thing was to be operated on with an incision. Now they can go in with a scope/catheter and repair it! Eventually, Richard will have to go through surgery to reinforce the septum. We'll just take it one step at a time and see when the doctor recommends that he do this. We just don't know yet.
I'm very thankful that we caught this when we did. At least Richard is aware of it and now is under the watchful eye of a cardiologist. Richard is happy with the diagnosis because it's not something that's too serious. He can still lead a long, healthy life.
I'll keep you posted on what the doctor says next week and the results of the Stress Test.
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2 comments:
I need to have mine checked, too. It's been beating extra, or irregularly every time I lie down this week. Of course, I've had a bit more caffeine this week and it has been more prevalent during certain hormonal weeks before, so...it's all kind of "normal" in that respect...and I've had allergies, lately so I'm sure that's part of it, too.
My mom has always had a heart murmur and nobody every said anything about it...until she changed dentists and they refused to work on her until she'd had it checked out.
I'll definitely be interested to hear how Kyra and Maeve shape up.
(((hugs)))
Glad it was good news
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