Cardio check

Finally 6 months of waiting is over. We were hopeful that ting’s ASD is now closed since Dr Belinda did not hear any murmur in her last visit.

I held my breath as Dr Tan TH (KKH) listened to her. Watching him hearing Ting was unnerving. He listened intently for a good 3 minutes or so and told us that he still hears a faint, occasional murmur. Sigh.. I was disappointed and definitely worried. He explained that he was not expecting it to close so soon. ASD this size (6mm) has a 70% chance of closure and usually only occurs after 1 year of diagnosis. The purpose of having this interim appointment is to make sure that the heart is not having any symptoms of stress (enlargement/murmur getting louder). He assured us that Ting’s heart is totally functional and the ASD will not affect her development in any way for now. There are no signs of enlargement of the heart nor hole.

I asked him what will happen if it still doesn’t close by 1 year. He said then we’ll have to “close it”, by way of surgery or by using devices. He did not elaborate and emphasized that that’s still the least of two possibilities since there’s a 70% chance of closure. He has patients with ASDs that do not close but are left as they are since no distress is caused to the heart. He prefers to give it a chance to close naturally and to closely monitor the child in the meantime.

So, another half a year of anxious wait…. *fingers crossed*