A Very Happy Appointment

Today, Tehilla went for her appointment with our cardiologist, Dr. Golander.

As soon as we strolled into the cardiology department, Tehilla tensed up. Fortunately/unfortunately, we had a long wait before our appointment and this gave her a good chance to relax and play a bit. She calmed down and started playing with all the cardiologists, as they walked by, and offered to share her pretzels with them.

I weighed her before we left the house and she is 9.100 kg (20.02 lbs). She is going up steadily in weight. They measured her pulse ox which was 81 and her blood pressure. Her blood pressure was a bit high, but not as high as it has been.

Unfortunately, the blood pressure monitor I bought was not the right size for her, and we are in the process of contacting a medical supply company here in Israel to try to purchase one.

Dr. Golander did the echo, while Tehilla watched Elmo's World on my phone and she was very cooperative and happy.

Her heart function is better! Much better!  Dr. Golander repeatedly said how happy he was with her improvement. He said it was both because of the medications that she has been taking, and because her body is just properly adjusting after her surgery. He wants us to measure Tehilla's blood pressure at home, as soon as we can.

He also felt that it was time to make an adjustment to Tehilla's "salad of medications." He is taking Tehilla off of Digoxin. As he said, "It's time to adjust her medications, and the first to go, should be the toxic ones." So he said, "Let's ditch the Dig!" He has also raised her dosage of the newer blood pressure medication, Carvedilol.

At the end of the appointment, I asked him what he thought about me flying with Tehilla to the US, to visit some family. He said that she was stable and post-Glenn and doing well and felt completely confident in us going for a visit. He is preparing a letter in English, for me to have on hand, in case, G-d forbid, there was an emergency.

Thank G-d, her appointment went so well and she has made such big strides! I am teary eyed with happiness. And I can't believe that he approved us to fly to the US.

Tehilla has still not had her MMRV vaccine because she has to be 3 months post surgery for it. That means in two weeks she can get it, and we certainly will not be flying to the US without her vaccinated, especially with the current measles outbreak.

So, now we have some pretty happy and exciting things to plan!