Dr.'s appointments

Do you want the good news or the bad news?
I guess I shouldn't say it that way - in the end, I'm sure it's all good.
So, I took the girls to the cardiologist in Peoria today. When Brooklyn was 6 months old, she had a heart murmur and the pediatrician sent us over to the same Cardiology office we use for Olivia. They said to come back in 3 years, which was today. So, they did an EKG and an Echocardiogram on Brooklyn and she still has her murmur, but not one that is concerning - just your normal run-of-the-mill heart murmur.
Olivia had her lab work at St. Jude's again. Her numbers dipped down a little bit, but the doctor said that it was just fine. They stayed "stable" and at "an appropriate level for Olivia," so he seemed pleased. We'll just re-check in a couple of weeks. She also got her Fifth's Disease/Parvovirus results, which happened to be positive. My first comment was that I probably shouldn't have sent Jack to school with those bright red cheeks this morning, huh? However, I do think Jack's is just windburn and it's my understanding that once the rash comes out, the virus is no longer contagious. This diagnosis goes hand in hand with the rash Olivia had and the low blood counts.
The cardiologist did an Echocardiogram and EKG on Olivia and we are looking at another heart surgery. Boo Hoo! I thought we were done with these. Wishful thinking, I suppose. Anyway, she has something along the lines of Sub-Aortic Stenosis. Something is narrowing somewhere, but I haven't had a chance to look it up and learn about it yet. It is apparently more common in people who have had their A/V Canal repaired. Of course, we fit into this category. We seem to fit into all the categories, don't we?
Anyway, the operation would be another open heart surgery, but would be less invasive then her last 2 surgeries - more along the lines of surgery #1. The cardiologist will present her case to all of his collegues and they will help make a decision as to when would be the opportune time to do the operation. He doesn't meet with them until a week from Friday. So, we won't know a definite timeline until then, but he did mention sometime in the coming months. We do need to get her blood problems taken care of before going ahead with the operation.
So, I consider most of Olivia's stuff the "bad news," but when the operation is complete, it may help with her leaky mitral valve, which in turn, may help her pulmonary hypertension. As much as we don't want another open heart surgery and subsequent hospital stay, it could help things in the long run! That's good, right?
We are going to try not to think about it until we have a timeline as to when it might happen. It would be plain silly to dwell on it otherwise!
On a brighter note, we did get to go out to lunch with Grandma. She played hooky from school to help out at the doctor's. Zac is in Atlanta this whole week, so I needed some help. With Zac being gone, I've been trying to find things to keep the kids and I entertained each night. Stay tuned for pictures of our entertainment throughout the week! Ahh, the suspense!