Jacob's heart

Jacob went to the cardiologist this morning. Our pediatrician thought it would be best that he go. He's always had a slight heart murmur. He also has pectus excavatum. Jacob's is not severe. You wouldn't even notice it really unless you were looking for it. His left side of his chest is bigger than his right. Those two things separately aren't a big deal but together could mean something.

We went in and they did an EKG right there. Everything looked normal on that but he said there is about 10% of kids that still have something wrong. He did an echo cardiogram as well to check everything out. Jacob is one of those 10%.

He has aortic stenosis. Here's the medical description of it: The aorta is the main artery leaving the heart. When blood leaves the heart, it flows from the lower chamber (the left ventricle), through the aortic valve, into the aorta. In aortic stenosis, the aortic valve does not open fully. This restricts blood flow.

He also has a bicuspid aortic valve. The medical description of it: A bicuspid aortic valve is an aortic valve that only has two leaflets, instead of three. BUT Jacob's is a bit different. He has three leaflets but they aren't sized equally (which they should be) and two are starting to fuse together (which is not good at all and should not be showing up in a 5 year old).

Jacob's condition is considered a mild to moderate case at this point. Because the doctor has no baseline for him right now, he has to go back in 6 months to have all the tests run again. He has no idea if he was born with it or if it's changed over time.

We really have no idea what the future holds for Jacob at this point. We'll have a better understanding in 6 months to see if there is any change. He will eventually one day need valve replacement surgery. Again, in 6 months, we'll know better when that would be.

As of now, he's not restricted in anything he does. He does have to have antibiotics before any medical procedures including going to the dentist. That will be for the rest of his life. Later on, he will more than likely never be able to do contact sports (and I'm not signing him up for t-ball or football any time soon either). If he receives a hard hit to the chest, it could cause damage. He also couldn't be a power lifter either (sorry Schwarzenegger, who has had three valve replacement surgeries because of this) as this would put too much pressure on his heart. If we notice him getting tired easily while he plays or complaining his chest hurts, he needs to come back before the 6 months.

All the other kids have to go in. This is genetic and comes from either Jamir or I. We both have to go in and get tested as well.

So while we are devastated by the news, we are grateful that we know about it so now he can be monitored. We are praying that none of the other kids have it.

And just because he's so darn cute....