Jack - Christmas Eve 2004

Jack in April, 2004

July, 2003

My son, Jack was born May 2, 2003, four weeks prematurely and at 2 weeks a heart murmur was detected by our pediatrician. It was heard again at 1 month and at 2 months, our pediatrician informed us that it was getting louder. She wanted us to visit a pediatric cardiologist as soon as possible for an accurate diagnosis.

We discovered that Jack had two heart defects—ASD and PS. Thus far, we are going to watch the ASD and hope it closes before his second birthday. The PS will also be watched at this time and repair will be made via balloon valvuloplasty as soon as it is required. I'll keep this updated as I get more information or we go ahead with the procedures.

February 17, 2004 Update

Jack visited his pediatric cardiologist on Jan. 27, 2004. It was confirmed that his murmur was louder than it had previously been, but that we were not to be too concerned by that just yet. His stenosis is classified as mild, though our pc suspects that the ASD may be getting larger. We are still going to continue to watch and do nothing at this time. We're grateful that Jack is doing so well. Other than being diagnosed with reflux (after failure to gain weight and crying uncontrollably with each feeding) he was placed on Zantac by our pediatrician. He only required that for a few months and is now completely medicine free. He's up to 20 pounds and like his dad, is off the charts in height. He's crawling, walking around furniture and doing everything a normal 9/10 month old would do. He and his sister are our joy.

January 20, 2005 Update

Jack's latest follow up appointment brought many many smiles. Though it is now apparent that there are 2 ASDs, they are small, small enough, in fact, that they are deemed negligible by the pediatric cardiologist. His PS has been declassified from mild to very mild. We are now on the every 2 year plan for follow up visits and Jack is unrestricted when it comes to physical activities. GREAT GREAT NEWS!!!