The Playpen

When Frankie was born three years ago, among other problems she was diagnosed with a defect called ASD, or Atrial Septal Defect. Septal defects are sometimes called a “hole” in the heart. When there is a large defect between the atria, a large amount of oxygen-rich (red) blood leaks from the heart’s left side back to the right side. Then this blood is pumped back to the lungs, despite already having been refreshed with oxygen. This is inefficient, because already-oxygenated blood displaces blood that needs oxygen.

What did this all mean to Frankie? It meant that later in life she “may not be able to keep up with other kids”, as her cardiologist put it.


Symptoms of ASD include:

Severe complications include:

Many people live with ASD in some way every day and never even know. The symptoms and risk of this defect are determined by the size of the “hole”. In Frankie’s case, it was 6mm, which is very large. For females, 1mm or smaller is desirable (smaller than boys due to the strain placed on the heart during childbirth later in life.) It should be noted that this hole is present in all unborn fetuses to allow blood to bypass the lungs, and typically closes at birth. Because the hole may not have closed completely at time of birth, this defect is present in many pre-term babies like Frankie.

An atrial septal defect used to require open-heart surgery. Now, a relatively new procedure has been developed to close the defect without surgery. The procedure involves the introduction of an ASD closure device (such as the Amplatzer device) into the heart through catheters. A tiny incision is made in the groin to introduce the catheters. They are then advanced into the heart, where the closure devise is placed across the ASD and the defect is closed.

This, to us, was still very frightening, as anything foreign introduced into our daughter’s heart could cause complications. So we watched it very carefully, going to the cardiologist every six months for EKG’s and Echocardiograms. Around two years of age, we were fairly convinced that Frankie would have to have the procedure…it simply wasn’t closing.

Then, something amazing happened. On our second to last visit, her doctor told us that he couldn’t see it. He said it may have closed, or may simply have been a bad echo…they are not completely accurate, particularly when the patient moves a lot. So we scheduled another one 4 months later.

Frankie’s last appointment just happened and, to our disbelief and joy, the hole had completely closed! The cardiologist actually told us that he didn’t expect it to; it is fairly rare for them to close at this late of an age. We were absolutely overjoyed and thankful. Once again, our stubborn little bull-headed demon had willed herself to heal against the odds. Frankie, we are so proud of you. When you read this you probably won’t even have a memory of this entire drama in all of our lives, but know that you are an inspiration to us and hopefully to others who have children with the same condition. And thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all of you who supported her and prayed for her…we are truly blessed. Time to celebrate!

Matt & Aline
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1. Jennifer Says:
   May 1st, 2008 at 7:30 pm

   That is wonderful news. Praise God!!!

   Frankie is adorable. It is always comforting for me to see other preemies that are doing so well.

   Thanks for stopping by my blog!



2. Mr Lady Says:
   May 2nd, 2008 at 11:39 pm

   SHUT. UP.

   Guess who has atrioventricular septal defect? YOURS TRULY.

   The docs told my parents I could have surgery at 2 weeks, and maybe die, or ride it out and if I made it to 14, I had a decent chance. They chose curtain B.

   Now, at 33, doctors don’t believe me unless I show them birth records. Those holes are always there (Premed for the dentist, yo!) but already no trace of the hole? Hallalujah!

   Now, btw, you officially have a new stalker.



3. Mr Lady Says:
   May 2nd, 2008 at 11:39 pm

   PS: AVSD is two holes. I should clarify that. One on top, one on bottom.



4. Hilda Says:
   May 6th, 2008 at 1:47 am

   We love our Frankadelick! So thrilled she came through this!

   Love,

   Hilda,KC, Lily and Bella



5. The Playpen » Blog Archive » Milestones Says:
   October 17th, 2008 at 9:35 pm

   [...] life. The first happened back in April, when her cardiac surgeon shook my hand and told us that the hole in her heart had closed unexpectedly. That was a [...]