Gentry’s CHD Update

Just thought I’d catch everyone up who was inquiring about Gentry’s CHD story. After posting Gentry’s CHD story, I received some amazing and wonderful support from my online Mama community; specifically Instagram Mama’s. And continued to receive support from those of you that have been with us since the very beginning. Which lead me to write this post…

I first wanted to thank you all for your kind words and helpful advice today on my Instagram post for tips during Gentry’s echo-cardiogram today! And I am sure some of you are wondering how it turned out… Well… Needless to say, Gentry proved me right. He was a pill to handle on that hospital bed… let me tell you… boy… I got a full body work out. So I thought I would share with you what exactly happened during our visit… 1 EKG + 1 echo-cardiogram + a very active 1-year-old….

{Mitchell (my husband) was unable to attend this appointment with me because he was at work… and boy did I miss him!}

Before we went to our cardiologist office, we stopped by a candy shop and bought the biggest… largest… lollipop on the planet. It was just about a jawbreaker on a stick. It was so heavy that he couldn’t hold it on the stick so he had to grasp the sides of it. I’ll have to post a picture of the thing tomorrow.

So we headed over to the office and he went bananas in the waiting area and this was prior to the lollipop. So I had to double think my decision to throw sugar in this mix but I just thought, whatever makes him STAY PUT. So we get his EKG done and it was a piece of cake… After I gave him my cell phone of course.

We head over to the other room for the Echo and he is already arching his back getting ready throw an absolute fit. So I get into the hospital bed with him, just as I have done every time since. I brought not only his lovey but BOTH loveys (we have two for back up purposes), his lollipop, my cell phone with his favorite Baby Einstein Puppet YouTube show, and his binky. Lights get dimmed and he’s wanting to escape like there is no tomorrow. Definitely not out fear but more of, “get me off this bed so that I can run around like a chicken with my head cut off.”

By the end of the Echo, I was on all fours with one hand supporting me, the other hand holding my cell phone within 2 inches of his face and his legs between my legs – with a tight grip of course. Our stay was pretty much doubled during all the times we had to restart. But…

The good news is that it is DONE! YAY!!!

And better news… the VSD – the hole that was the more worrisome has closed even more since our last visit and the Cardiologist is giving him about 6 more months for it to be finally closed. YAY! #happydance His two other holes… ASD & PDA  – one has closed awhile ago and his other has about a pin drop left to close (so the Cardiologist doesn’t even count those any more!) In addition, I ran through with him Gentry’s past and wanted to know if we should be concerned going forward about any future testing for chromosome defects and if his condition was labeled anything if at all. He told me to stop googling was his answer lol… He reassured me that he doesn’t have any syndrome and we wouldn’t have to even talk about the need for testing unless something significant down the line were to happen such as severe developmental delays. So we are in the clear with that… Something I should have asked a really long time ago, but as you read in my story, I have not been in my right mind since finding out about Gentry’s heart condition. Something as simple as this completely slipped my mind.

So, we received such a great report card today that it was worth allllll the trouble during the Echo. I am so proud of my little CHD warrior and the Cardiologist is too! So in 6 months I shall have another update and hopefully Gentry’s CHD story will be officially closed!

xoxo,