Our beautiful daughter Jessica was born in September 2011 with a severe heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. This was diagnosed at her 20 week scan and we were initially told that she was unlikely to be suitable for surgery. However, a pioneering in-utero operation at 28 weeks to enlarge a hole in her atrial septum was carried out and she was able to make it to term and get through her first open-heart surgery at just eight hours old. Jessica underwent five more surgeries during her life. Her final surgery - the Fontan procedure - took place in December 2017. She initially made a good recovery but sadly passed away suddenly on 14th April 2018 at the age of 6. This is the story of a little girl whose half a heart overflowed with love. She was, and will forever be, our little miracle and brought joy to all who knew her.

Friday 24 August 2012

Another check-up




It has been lovely having Daddy back home again this week, and we have been making the most of the sunshine and enjoying trips to the park and Jessica enjoyed celebrating Daddy’s birthday with him yesterday and getting her first taste of birthday cake.


We also had our check-up in Oxford yesterday and Jessica is continuing to do well.  The echocardiogram was reassuring; her tricuspid valve is slightly leaky but we have been told that this is not unusual with the kind of circulation that Jessica has and the amount of captopril that she is on has been slightly increased to help with this.

We also saw Dr Wilson (who performed the in-utero surgery) again which was lovely.  Jessica is due to have another cardiac catheter investigation in October and our next check-up in Oxford will be towards the end of November.

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3 comments:

  1. Unknown24 August 2012 at 14:29

    Wonderful news; we're so pleased.

    x

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    1. Anonymous24 August 2012 at 15:44

      Good to hear all is progressing well. Jessica seems to find more sunshine to enjoy than we've had in Dorset!
      Thanks for keeping us all informed, though the medical details confuse me sometimes.

      Is the "cardiac catheter investigation" in October an invasive procedure? Is Dr Wilson the American surgeon?
      Keep up the good work.
      Elizabeth

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  2. Louise4 September 2012 at 22:54

    The cardiac catheter is the same thing as an angiogram - it is basically passing a catheter and wires through a vein in the groin and taking pressure measurements and things (that's how I understand it anyway!)

    Dr Wilson is the cardiologist who did the in-utero surgery - he is based in Oxford but was away on sabbatical in the USA last year and is now back.

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