Medical Terminology

It's Olivia time! I was talking to Bone the other day and he was asking about Olivia's medical problems. So, for all your curious/medical people out there...here is the birth defects going on in Olivia's little body:

1. Aortic Coarctation-Coarctation of the aorta is when the aorta has a very narrow area or segment like in an hourglass. Blood pressure increases above the narrow spot and the left ventricle has to pump harder because the pressure is high. The heart may enlarge from this extra work.
They did a small surgery using a catheter to open up the aorta a little bit more. She will need full open heart surgery when she is 6 months old.

2. Tracheoesophageal fistula-A tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF) is an abnormal connection between the esophagus and the trachea.
She had surgery to correct this and now has a feeding tube through her nose.

3. Esophageal Atresia-The esophageas ends in a blind pouch instead of connecting to the stomach.
She had surgery to correct this as well.

So, now an update:

Olivia has been off the vent for awhile now but yesterday she stopped breathing for a short period of time. Thankfully she began breathing again on her own. However, if this continues to happen and she has to go back on the vent, they will do the open heart surgery ASAP. They've been waiting for her to get older and stronger before attempting open heart surgery. In the one month she's been alive she's already had 2 surgeries and multiple minor procedures done on her so they are hoping that she does not need open heart surgery for another 5 months.