This is Dr. Schneider, the cardiologist who diagnosed Marcella with the congenital heart defect. He visited her when she was at DeVos and will continue to provide care for her as she grows. We went to his office yesterday for Ella's 2-week post operative appointment. Another ECHO was done of her heart to determine how it is healing. Everything looks great!Dr. Schneider explained how complicated the surgery was, even adding information we didn't know. For example, Ella's arteries were very rare and complicated... not at all normal for this type of surgery. During surgery, when her heart was revealed, Dr. Bove found that the VSD (hole in her heart) was bigger than thought. He also found that her left pulmonary artery was smaller than expected. In addition, the coarctation of the aorta was very severe. Even with all of these complications, Ella's heart is now fixed and working really well. We are so thankful that God has blessed our surgeon, Dr. Ed Bove, with skilled hands and lots of experience.
Dr. Schneider removed all restrictions including no more medicine. Marcella is our healthy baby girl now! We rejoice that she is doing so well. And, she is gaining weight and up to 9 pounds! We'll visit Dr. Schneider again in 3 months, and then again in 6 months. After that, she should just have a yearly visit to the cardiologist.
4 comments:
...to those involved in Ella's amazing medical procedure, we salute you and thanks for having the courage and confidence to persevere
-Calvin
Wow! Reading "our healthy baby girl" got me choked up! It's amazing all that Ella's been through and here she is...fixed! All the doctors did a fantastic job with her, but we know who the Great Healer is :)
Love and hugs to the big 9 pounder!
Abby, Kyle, Ashlyn, #2 (nice name, huh?)
PS--thanks for the congrats, Calvin. I've changed the settings on our blog so you can add comments without registering.
...I can't believe that Ella gained a whole pound in 5 days!! You go, big girl!
Abby
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