The Stutzman Family: Ticker Check Up

Mallory had a heart check up Monday afternoon. This is the first time she has been back since August, the longest we have gone between check ups. Yeah Mallory!!!! In August, she was a holy terror. She screamed all through her blood pressure checks, hence no BP readings. Cried and squirmed through the EKG. Then had to be fed and entertained through her ultrasound. Needless to say, we weren't looking forward to Monday. Well, our little girl has changed. She sat on Daddy's lap to get her blood pressure checked. Even though she tensed up a little, there were no tears and the nurse got two good readings in her arm and one in her leg. They showed her BP to be a little high. Not high enough to be concerned, but just high for someone her age and for someone who takes BP medicine. So on to the EKG. She did great! The tears came when they had to pull all the little stickers off her chest. We were 2 for 2 at this point. During her ultrasound, she got to watch Dora. She laid perfectly still and I didn't have to feed her candy to keep her still or try to entertain her. They were able to get really good pictures, fairly quickly!!! So, the results. High blood pressure at this point means her aorta is a little small where they repaired it, most likely because of scar tissue around the repair site. However, the ultrasound showed it is growing. So, we are going to wait until June. They will measure her aorta again. If it's still on the small side and her BP is still high, they will most likely do a heart cath. This will stretch out her aorta at the repair site and allow more blood to get through which will hopefully equal lower blood pressure. This is supposed to be an overnight procedure if necessary. We are so happy with her progress!!!