Our First Meeting With The Cardiothoracic Surgeon

Yesterday we went to Orlando for a meeting with Lu's Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Dr. Q. It was Lu's first road trip, and she slept almost the entire way. Along with Lu, myself, and my husband, my mom and in-laws also attended the meeting. When the surgeon walked in, I think he was surprised at all the people that were there and laughed as he moved through the small room and stood in the corner so we could all see him.

They took her weight and she was 11 lbs.! That is a 7 oz. increase in 3 days! She hasn't been eating a normal volume for a baby of her age and size but since we are adding formula and cereal to the breast milk it seems to be giving her enough calories. That made me feel a lot better about the volume she is taking in and she is having plenty of wet and dirty diapers so I think we have finally found the feeding regimen that is right for her for now.

As for the actual  meeting, we learned a lot about our goals leading up to the surgery and why it is beneficial for Lu to be a little older during her surgery. He explained that the heart tissue in an older baby is tougher than that of a younger baby and it makes the repair a lot easier. They usually want to wait until 3-6 months of age but commonly do the surgery around 4-5 months. The weight issue comes in because, although we want to get her past a certain age for the repair, we also want her to be growing and thriving during the wait. If she doesn't grow properly, there are a few options that are available to us. For instance, if she is losing weight or not gaining over a lengthy period of time, we can feed her through a tube, either at home or in the hospital. Another option we have is to go ahead with the surgery sooner. It is not the ideal time frame to to the repair but it is very possible and is done frequently. But since she showed significant growth during the last week, we will just continue on the current feeding schedule and hope she continues to thrive.

Lu will be 3 months in a little more than 2 weeks and is in about the 60th percentile for weight and height so we anticipate having the surgery sometime in the middle to late November in Tampa.

Overall, it was a promising meeting and everyone loved the surgeon. He was very informative and gave us a lot of confidence in the procedure and surgical team.

We will continue to track her progress and weight twice a week at the pediatrician's office and every 3 weeks at the cardiologist's office. 

On our way to Orlando

11lbs!!!

We took advantage of our trip and visited the FL Mall, after the meeting, where Lu found a sweet hat.