Surgery Update

This is just to update everyone that Brielle will be having another heart surgery sometime within the next month. I'll provide more details once I have them.

Home!

Brielle is finally home and seems so happy! It turns out the shunts from her 2nd surgery were severely narrowed, causing her oxygen levels to drop and the fluid in the ventricles of her brain to increase. So they did a cardiac cath procedure where they were able to balloon one shunt and implant a stent in the other. Everything was successful and she is doing so much better now! We're still going to be keeping an eye on her head circumference to make sure that there are no more problems with that. But so far so good! So glad to be home again!

Update Wednesday Afternoon

Just talked to the cardiologist and it turns out Brielle has some narrowing in one of her shunts. This is most likely the cause of her oxygen problems. The plan is still to do the cardiac cath tomorrow and take it from there.

MRI Update

Well we went in for Brielle's MRI yesterday. Unfortunately, after she came out of sedation, her oxygen levels remained low, so we stayed at the hospital over night. The plan is to do a cardiac cath and an echo tomorrow to try to figure out what's causing this, but in the meantime Brielle seems like her happy little self. We did get the results of the MRI back, and the next step is to talk to a neurologist. I'll give an update then, because as of right now I'm not really sure what the results mean, other than there are a few things we need to keep an eye on. So right now we are home to gather a few things and we'll be heading back down there later. I'll try to give updates as I get them!

MRI

Took Brielle to a routine doctor appointment today and discovered that her head circumference has increased quite a bit since she was last measured. Back in December they were concerned about this and sent her for a head ultrasound. The head ultrasound showed that she did have increased fluid on her brain. Well the doctor had just been keeping an eye on things, hoping that the fluid would not increase further. But after today the concern is back again, and Brielle will be getting an MRI sometime this week. If the fluid is in fact increasing, Brielle will probably need to have a shunt put in place to basically help drain the fluid from her brain. So needless to say we would appreciate your prayers during this time.

December 27th (Reflecting on this year)

Today our sweet little Brielle turns one! What an amazing year it has been. In some ways it feels like only yesterday we were driving to the hospital for the c-section, and yet when I think about all of the the events of this past year it feels like a lifetime ago. There were times I'll admit I was afraid, and times where there were no words to describe my feelings, only tears. But getting to know this precious little girl has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. And while she is not afraid to let you know when she's upset, she has such a gentle spirit. Her smile just lights up the room, and to look at her, you would not know all that she has been through. I thank God for every day I get to spend with her, and I'm thankful that He has heard all of the prayers that have been lifted up on her behalf. I know I've said it before and I'll probably say it a million times more...thank you to everyone who has prayed for her! Words can not express the joy I felt watching her enjoy her first bithday cake. So here's to many more! Happy 1st birthday Brielle!

Love,
Mommy :)

Happy 1st Birthday Brielle!

Brielle received an excellent report from her cardiologist and celebrated her 1st birthday this week! Congrats baby girl :)