Just got a call from her pediatrician, with her blood test results. Thyroid fine, iron a skosh low, but fine, but her liver function tests came back a little abnormal.
Our pediatrician was a little puzzled by the liver test results, until I mentioned that one of the things her cardiologist said the other day (and it was the first time I’d heard him mention this) was that he was looking for, but hadn’t seen evidence of, her VSD causing problems with her liver, and causing it to enlarge.
His primary concern previously had been hypertension in the lungs, caused by the increased blood flow, but apparently a VSD can also cause hypertension elsewhere, like the liver, which causes it to begin to enlarge. While her pulmonary stenosis could be protecting her lungs right now, by restricting that increased blood flow, but nothing prevents her liver from getting too much blood flow.
Anyway, my guess is the abnormal liver function test might point to the VSD being a little more severe than we thought. I was just reading that an abnormal liver funtion test result can detect an enlarged liver before it can be felt by physical examination, so maybe we just caught it early.
We’ll see what the cardiologist has to say when her pediatrician forwards him the lab results (which she said she’d do today). Looks like it really *is* time for her surgery after all.
Our pediatrician also agreed with me that it’s possible that her feisty nature could mask some of the signs of tiredness that usually accompany a VSD beginning to affect an infants health and eating, if her inclination is to get frustrated or irritated when she starts wearing out, instead of just getting listless. She really does seem to have two speeds – full speed ahead (whether happy or mad), and lights out.
On the good side, she’s still gaining weight – more by sheer virtue of how many times I try to feed her, and her sleep nursing, than how well she actually nurses. She’s up to 10 lbs, 14.4 oz this morning, which is great. I also think the supplements I’ve been taking to richen my milk may be helping quite a bit (particular the Omega-3’s and Marshmallow root). The more weight she gains before her surgery, the better.
