Heart Echo

Josh went in for his heart echo today - and for the first time since February 25th we have some anwers! Not that the answers are what we hoped for but they are answers!
We found out that there is a hole in between the upper left and right chambers in the heart.

Apparently it’s a natural hole that all children are born with, however a few weeks after birth it seals shut (for most people). This small hole is [possibly] responsible for Josh's headaches, dizzy spells, shortness of breath (from time to time), sudden and unprovoked fatigue and also his spacey spells (which are being considered silent seizures), and even *drum roll* his seizure in February. Here's why (in short); natural blood clots that form in your legs travel to the heart and are normally broken up, however because of this hole the blood clot can travel to the brain causing a some small amount of damage on the surface of the brain and seizures, headaches, even aneurysms and strokes. From what we were told today it is likely we will have more specific and detailed MRI(s ) to find out the extend of the damage (if any) that was done to his brain during the seizure. Before we go that far however, we are going to do some series of test to measure the exact size of the hole and make sure that a blood clot could have even passed though.

The usual treatment for a hole in the heart, is to have it surgically repaired, however if the cardiologist does not feel the hole is big enough to conceivably fit a blood clot though they may leave it. We were informed that people who do have the surgery often quit having headaches and other side effects. A single blood clot or air bubble that would normally not be an issue in the human body can cause catastrophic problems if allowed to pass to the brain.

The other bit of news here, is that josh will NOT be allowed to stay in the military if he has open heart surgery. (Or most other heart treatments.)

Keep in touch we'll let everyone know what's going on as we know! If you pray say a prayer for Josh, its good we got an answer but it's not the easiest one to get!