June 10, 2010: The Diagnosis

Let's get everyone up to date:

It began with a persistent cough... which lead to a chest X-ray... which showed an enlarged heart... which we thought would be no big deal... which lead us to the cardiologist... who gave us the diagnosis. Coarctation of the Aorta.

Coarctation of the Aorta is a narrowing of the aorta (the largest vessel in our bodies). Due to the narrowed portion, the heart must work harder to pump blood to our bodies. Over time, the heart will begin to grow in order to compensate for the added work. This explains why Aidan's chest X-ray was showing that his heart was enlarged. Aidan had been born with the condition, but it was not immediately detected because his symptoms are not severe.

Some of the symptoms Aidan had been experiencing were: headaches (he would tell us "light off, light off... it hurts my eyes" which we now believe it was his 2 year old way of telling us he had a headache), shortness of breath (our doctor thought he may have "activity induced asthma" but the heart defect better explains Aidan's coughing during play), high blood pressure (Aidan's blood pressure has been at 140/75; a normal 2 year old's blood pressure should be 95/65), lethargy (he has/had been taking 3-4 hour naps... i feel guilty now for being excited that i had a kid who napped so well!), and diaphoresis/sweating.

Now that you all have a little bit of background information, I am going to get working on updating you all on where we are as of TODAY. Please be patient, I am new at this and I have a fear of other people reading my writing. =)