Emersyn's Heart Surgery.

On October 4, our lives changed. We found out that our sweet, outgoing, and funny baby girl was diagnosed with a Congenital Heart Defect (CHD). We took her to her two year wellness exam, and her pediatrician told us that she heard a heart murmur. She referred us to Cardiology. We had her appointment on October 4. I went into the appointment thinking that "Oh! Its just a heart murmur, they will just have us follow up every year to check on it". Well, I was wrong. He heard a sound on her physical exam that "wasn't normal". He immediately sent us over to get an ECHO. The ECHO showed that Emersyn had a subaortic membrane. That is a membrane that that is sticking out of her aortic valve, which could eventually completely close her valve if there is no intervention. He also noticed that Emersyn had a leaky valve. This means that the blood flow through her valve is uneven and fast. If this does not get fixed the blood will eventually scar the leaflets and cause them to swell closed. If that was to happen, she would have to have the whole valve replaced. Her cardiologist said that this hereditary and that she was born with it. He told us that she will need surgery and he would like her to have it done by the end of the year. He asked us to schedule another ECHO to be done at their office in Tucson. We scheduled it for 3 weeks out. Michael got a call the next day that Dr. Macias wanted us to come in the next day (2 days after her appointment) for her imaging. We went and had that done and she was such a trooper. She is not one to hold still! Dr. Macias wasn't supposed to see us at that appointment but he came in anyway and talked to us and answer all of questions. Her case is going before 30 pediatric cardiologists with 5 of them being pediatric cardiology surgens. When they come with a plan for us, they will call us to schedule her surgery.

This was such a shock to Michael and I. It was A LOT to take in at one appointment. Its been 1 week, and I still haven't processed it. As her parents, it is hard to swallow that your perfect, outgoing, never sits down, monkey toddler is having her chest cut open and her heart stopped. We were completely blindsided by this news. Michael and I are not ones to take handouts and this is hard for us to even post, but we will be in the hospital for AT LEAST 5 days before they will even think about discharging her. We will be out of work for those 5 days, and insurance will not cover the surgery until we pay our deductible. If you can't donate, we will accept positive thoughts and prayers for her. Thank you for all the help and know that we appreciate all of you.