What is Tetralogy of Fallot?

Well it took me two days to figure out how to pronounce it. (teh-tral-uh-je ov fuh-LOE) I have learned a lot about the heart in the last week and I am still working on mastering all the terms. There are four interconnected problems with the heart: (1) a hole between the bottom 2 chambers (2) a narrowing under the pulmonary valve (3) an enlargement of the bottom right side of the heart (4) the aorta is lined up just over the hole between the bottom 2 chambers. This picture might help.

This all means that not enough oxygen is in the blood that circulates through the body. All this can be fixed with surgery. Ideally Graham would not have surgery until he is a few months old and is bigger and stronger. Graham's blood oxygen levels are high right now but his pulmonary artery is very small and so he may need surgery sooner rather than later. If he has surgery soon it will be a temporary fix and he will have the full corrective surgery later.

 

Isn't the human body amazing?! What a mighty Creator we have. We go to the cardiologist weekly for them to monitor Graham's blood oxygen levels and that will tell us when it is time for surgery. Our prayer is that Graham will continue to eat well and grow and that his blood oxygen levels will remain high so that he can wait for the full surgery.