and so it goes. . .

Jack had his echocardiogram a couple of weeks ago. I just got off of the phone with his pediatrician, who read me the findings. I am currently on hold, awaiting an appointment for Jack to see a pediatric cardiologist.

To make this more interesting, I'm going to provide you with the results from all 5 echocardiograms, starting with the first one.

February 2009, 1 month old: Bicuspid Aortic Valve, possible coarctation of the Aorta and Aortic regurgitation, heart murmur. Decatur Memorial Hospital.
March 2009, 2 months old: normal Aortic Valve, some slight coarctation of the Aorta. Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center, St. Louis.
March 2009, 2 months old: slight aortic valve stenosis, slight pulmonary valve stenosis, heart murmur, "aortic valve might have 3 valves, which is normal, but we can't quite tell." St. Louis Children's Hospital.
September 2009, 8 months old: heart murmur. slight PFO (hole in heart). St. Louis Children's Hospital.
April 2010, 15 months old: bicuspid aortic valve. small PDA. hard to see aortic arch so unable to rule out aortic coarctation. Decatur Memorial Hospital.

The pediatrician wants me to see the pediatric cardiologist in Springfield. This is the doctor that performed and read the perinatal echocardiogram when I was still pregnant with Jackson. She isn't too worried about the bicuspid aortic valve,What is a Bicuspid Aortic Valve?
but has some slight concerns about the PDA (Patent Ductus Arteriosus).
What Is Patent Ductus Arteriosus?
She said that is should close shortly after birth and definitely by 1 yr old. He may need to have it closed. I'm not reading too much into this, but if Jack needs surgery I'll be driving to St. Louis because I'm not very happy, or comfortable, with the hospital in Springfield, which we've discussed in the other blogging application I was using. However, the problem with that is, the echo that was performed in September at St. Louis was poo-pooed by the specialist. They didn't want to see Jack back, ever. They didn't read his recent reports and thought that Jack had a different syndrome. DARN THEM!