This week I visited with Dr. Stephen Langley, Doernbecher’s chief of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery.  He’s a guy that you pray you never need, but are grateful for if you ever do.  Dr. Langley showed me (and my wonderful sister who joined me for the appointment) the 3D CT images of Iris’ heart.  The images made our jaws drop.  Not because of her heart defect, but because the images were so detailed … they honestly didn’t look real.  Modern medicine is amazing!  I’ve seen images of pulmonary artery sling online and in medical books, but looking at my daughter’s heart while Dr. Langley described the repair was incredibly helpful.  I feel like I have a solid understanding of her heart condition and the necessary repair.

Her trachea is more complicated.  Here is a photo that shows her trachea coming down and then it branches into two bronchi.  The left bronchus (shown on the right) is significantly narrowed … and that’s an understatement.

This is the tricky part.  There are only a handful of specialists experienced with this type of airway reconstruction.  But the team of doctors looking after Iris has great connections throughout the U.S. and beyond and I’m confident they will direct us to the surgeons that are the best fit for Iris.

Iris’ team includes Dr. Langley (who, interestingly, is involved with a non-profit that provides cardiac care to orphans in China .. Little Hearts Medical), Dr. Henry Milczuk (Iris’ otolaryngologist) and Dr. Laurie Armsby (Iris’ cardiologist .. she’s also involved with Little Hearts).  Words cannot describe how grateful I am to have such a remarkable team of doctors looking after my daughter.  They are reviewing her case again on Wednesday and hopefully I’ll have a better sense of direction at that time.

Thank you for your continued prayers and kind messages.  It means the world to us.