Written yesterday --
Today started out in a frenzy. The entire house overslept. I'm usually up between 5:30 and 6:00am. If not, at least my wife and I can usually depend on one of our 3 children to wake us up by 6:30. Not today! Today, I awoke at 7:20!! Ahhhhh. I had to be at work (30 minutes away) to supervise a colleague performing a cardiac cath at 8am.
So, I'm in my car stressing out about going to work when I hear a segment on npr that totally floors me.
This was a fascinating segment contained two stories on the treatment of hypoplastic left heart syndrome, or HLHS for short. "In utero, the left side of the heart does not develop properly. The mitral and aortic valves, the first part of the aorta itself, and the left ventricle of the heart are small, underdeveloped or nonexistent."
This was a fascinating segment contained two stories on the treatment of hypoplastic left heart syndrome, or HLHS for short. "In utero, the left side of the heart does not develop properly. The mitral and aortic valves, the first part of the aorta itself, and the left ventricle of the heart are small, underdeveloped or nonexistent."
While the first story was about the amazing success of pioneering physicians performing corrective congenital heart surgery on a newborn. The second story was the one that really got me. Now I'm a balloon guy. I spend my day in the cath lab ballooning open patients coronary arteries. Nevertheless, I was absolutely humbled by the amazing balloon work these docs in Boston were performing. They are sticking a catheter through the moms uterus, into the heart of the fetus and performing balloon valvuloplasty. Oh My Gosh! When successful, they were preventing these kids from being born with HPLH.
After listening to this segment, I totally forgot about being late to work.
Please listen - I think you too will be amazed
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