About a month ago Jere had an Echo done on his heart as normal monitoring of his heart. During his doctor visit a week later the doctor was acting weird asking interesting questions. They found a hole in Jere's heart but because they never have seen it before and Jere has no signs or symptoms they weren't sure if there was one or just the angle of the echo. (The echo tech had made a comment that Jere's heart was VERY photogenic that day. She was able to get the Carotid Artery which isn't easy. ) Because the echo tech made that comment I was sure there was a hole. Friday (June 17th) Jere went in for an MRI of his heart. ( He had an anxiety attack at the end of it, poor guy. I've had one before so I totally feel for him) Jere also had a sleep apnea test and his cholesterol checked. Yesterday we went back to get the results for all the test ( we met with a PA not the doctor). Here they are:
SLEEP APNEA: He just had to wear an oxygen monitor for a night. Anything above 90% is fine. Jere's range for the night was 98% - 88%. He was only at 88% for 5% of the night so not bad. That means he is border line sleep apnea. With most people with this result they would suggest losing weight but that isn't an option for Jere. They are just going to test him again if he has more symptoms pop up. Sleep apnea goes with MMD because the muscle walls get weak. I was relieved that he didn't need the CPAP. I was going to kick him downstairs to sleep if he needed one. I don't sleep well as it is that machine would never let me sleep.
CHOLESTEROL:
The numbers:
LDL should be 130-100 or less Jere's 20 something. EXCELLENT
HDL should be about 40 or just above Jere's 23. NOT GOOD
Triglycerides should be about 150 or less Jere's 356 VERY VERY BAD
To get the HDL up we need to get the triglycerides down. To do that he has to quit smoking ( not a problem there), lose weight( from where?), exercise more (started that today. We bought a stationary bike off KSL) and watch his diet ( easier said than done). So as a family we are all going to change our diets, can only make us healthier. I remember when I was a teen hearing my dad's test results from cholesterol and his LDL was low so was his HDL. Cholesterol is part genetics so i might have a tendency to have my numbers go the same way ( mine hasn't been checked yet because I haet needles).
HEART: There is a hole. It is between the right and left atrium. Alot of people have kind of a hole, more two over lapping flaps that don't touch and so blood can go through but not alot. Jere's is less common, it is a straight up hole. He doesn't have any of the physical exhausting that comes with it ( as far as we can tell, MMD cause exhaustion). So there are two reasons they close his kind of hole. First to help with the exhaustion, not an issue. The second blood clots, stroke and heart attack prevention. So the question isn't if they will close it but when. The GREAT news though is it isn't rip the chest open surgery, it is up the femoral artery. He doesn't have to be knocked out, they can do a local anesthetic. That is a huge relief, general anesthetics are dangerous for Jere. He has one more test to see how much blood flow is going through the hole and then we met with the surgeon. The last test is swallowing an ultrasound looking thing and " sitting it on his heart" to get more images and info.
We feel like it was a blessing that Jere's heart was so "photogenic". It is better to get it taken care of while he is still young and can recover fairly quickly. It would've been bad to find out he had a hole by him having a stroke or heart attack.
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