11:15 News

Actually just talked to Dr. Waller in person! His part is over. Madeline did great. I won't include all the numbers, but it looks like her pulmonary pressures are elevated. He is considering her pulmonary hypertension to be "MILD" --- very good news! The best would have been to be NORMAL, but we'll take mild!!!!!!!! The mitral valve also looks very good - not stenotic or "tight" (thanks to the ballooning done in Boston exactly 5 years ago!). She does have some regurgitation - which is the blood flowing backwards through the mitral valve. This, he said, is "mild to moderate." Still ok. Good news is during the cath they used 100% oxygen and Nitric Oxide gases to see how her pressures responded. Both gases yielded almost normal pressures. This suggests that she will respond well to medication! We will talk later about which medicine to put her on for the pulmonary hypertension.... She is on some medicine already that helps with the regurgitation. Everything else structural looks good!

So, now, Dr. Wetzel is beginning his portion. He is studying her electrical pathways to see how dangerous/strong/easy to locate, etc... the extra charge that is the "WPW Syndrome" defect. We'll keep you posted. Thank you for the prayers.