All Heart

I'm not sure how many of you know, but when Evan was sick at 7 weeks old and was in the Children's Hospital, they found a heart murmur.  The doctors did an ultrasound of Evan's heart to check out the murmur and found a hole 8.4 mm big.  As far as holes in the heart go, this is a decent size one for a little guy.  We were told that holes 4mm or less usually close on their own, 4-8mm sometimes close and sometimes don't, and larger than 8mm usually don't close.  So....we have been seeing a cardiologist every 3 months to make sure that the hole isn't affecting his growth or his heart.  If the hole doesn't close by the time he's two years old, they would have 2 options to fix it.  Option 1 would be open heart surgery, where they would sew the hole closed.  Option 2 is they go through his leg and "plug it"....far less invasive!
Today we went to the cardiologist for an ultrasound, the first one we've had since they found the murmur.  We got some great news.  The hole has gotten smaller and is now between 4 and 6mm big (depends on what angle they look at the hole from) and there is no enlargement of the ventricle (which can be caused by having to deal with excess blood flow into the ventricle from the hole).  This is really great news, because it means that open heart surgery has just been taken off the table.  Even if it doesn't close any more...it is now small enough that they can "plug it".  The fact that there is no enlargement of the ventricle is even better news because it means that if the hole closes even more in the next year (under 4mm) , they  might not have to do anything at all, as the heart is not being strained with the extra  blood flow.
Relieved and thankful today.  :)