Karlie’s heart had been monitored very closely ever since she was born. While I was pregnant, we were told that she would likely need heart surgery at some point. She had a VSD, a narrow aortic arch, and her heart was titled about 45 degrees. Her severe pulmonary hypertension earned her weekly echocardiograms while in the NICU. We were in close contact with the cardiology team during Karlie’s NICU stay as they kept a close eye on her heart. Once Karlie’s pulmonary hypertension began to get better, so did everything else. The VSD actually healed itself! While I was pregnant the VSD appeared to be very large. After Karlie was born it actually proved to be quite small. The cardiologist said it was actually helping her too. Eventually it just closed itself up which I think is just remarkable.

Karlie had two cardiology appointments after coming home from the NICU. The first was maybe a month or two after she came home. We were introduced to Karlie’s new cardiologist and comforted Karlie as she received yet another echo. An echocardiogram isn’t painful, it’s basically just an ultrasound on the chest. Karlie was just a bit uncomfortable being in the doctor’s office and having to lay in one spot for an extended period of time. We tried to distract her with toys and songs. The cardiologist said Karlie’s heart was looking fantastic! There were no signs of pulmonary hypertension and her aortic arch looked great.

The next appointment was in early January, where Karlie got another echo. She was even more upset to lay down and get the echo this time. Karlie had developed some white coat syndrome from all of the not so fun doctor’s appointments she had to go to. She didn’t even want the nurse or cardiologist to come anywhere near her. She cried when the nurse tried to take simple vitals. I held Karlie on my lap while they performed the echo because she was so upset. They had a little show playing and blew bubbles for her and tried to distract her with fun toys. It all worked for a little bit, but she was just going to be upset no matter what. Thankfully the echo didn’t take too terribly long and yielded more good news. The cardiologist said Karlie’s heart looked perfect! No signs of pulmonary hypertension whatsoever and everything else looked perfect too! She said Karlie would no longer need to take Sildenafil. That was the last medication to go! The cardiologist also said she no longer thought it was necessary for Karlie to come in to their office! That was one specialist we could cross off our list. When your child has always needed multiple specialists, seeing them go is really something to celebrate.