Six Months after Luna’s Fontan

Yesterday was one of those super-charged days; one of those days where everything seems to happen at once. Mine started with the news of Leslie Nielsen’s death. I’ve watched Airplane at least a dozen times. Learning of someone’s passing; even a celebrity who you have no personal connection to, just gives you that “feeling”. After lingering on twitter too long, I scrambled to get the girls out the door by 8am so we could make it in time for Luna’s 8:45am post-Fontan check-up. En-route to the doctors while the girls sang in unison, “My mother is a baker, a baker, a baker…” I watched a woman cross the street-in a crosswalk-where she nearly got killed by a driver who was texting.

But onto the appointment:

Luna and her favorite dolly sat very patiently and still for the entire 45 minutes echocardiogram (btw, don’t ever criticize this dolly’s hair-which consists of just a few blonde shoots stemming off the top of her head-Luna gets very upset).



After the echo, we moved to the examining room where Luna had an EGK, her blood pressure taken, and a sat check (blood saturation levels). All checked out perfectly.

Then she hopped on the scale, where the digital numbers read an even 28 lbs.

Dr. G even got to try out her snazzy new stethoscope. The ages-old medical instrument has recently been adapted to the 21st century, where now you can record the patient’s heart while you listen. This is pretty amazing stuff. The recording is then imported into the computer where you can track, map, and illustrate a patient’s heart beat. The coolest part is when Luna is twenty, her doctor’s can go back and actually listen to what her heart sounded like when she was two. Hooray for cutting edge medical technology.



We then assessed Luna’s medication, which consists of just half a baby aspirin, and determined she’ll stay where she is. Patients are advised to take the entire tablet when they weigh 35 lbs, so we still have a year or so before we increase it. Otherwise, the appointment was quick and uneventful. Her next scheduled appointment is not until (insert long and extended drum roll please) ... MAY 2011.

Upon my arrival home, I settled back into The Monday After Thanksgiving barrage of emails, and learned that a fellow CHD’er, Steve, who also had a single ventricle, died in the early hours of the morning. What’s stranger is he is thought to have passed on the 66th anniversary of the invention of the Blalock-Thomas Shunt; an operation which paved the way for the survival of all single ventricle heart patients. This of course includes Luna.

Some days it seems that the universe wants to show you how valuable and special life is; and also how fleeting it can be. Yesterday was one of those days.