I had the worst night's sleep on Tuesday night. I tossed and turned all night long. I guess I was more anxious about this appointment than I was willing to let on.

Since Jason was unable to take the day off from work my Daddy came with me to my appointment in Tampa. Dr. Huhta goes between All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg and St. Joseph's Women's Hospital in Tampa. This day he was in Tampa so at 8:30 in the morning we started our 3 plus hour drive.

It was fun having Daddy drive me down. We talked and had biscuits from Hardees. Drank lots of water but didn't need to pee surprisingly enough. We made great time. So great in fact we had 2 hours to waste before the appointment. So we called Mom and she set us off on a mission. She needed Flutterbyes for my nieces for Christmas. We found a Toys R Us and even though they had them I knew most places had them cheaper. By almost 10 bucks! So we left there and found a BJs. They had them. We bought them. Mission accomplished! We wondered around for a little bit and then decided to get going.

We drove to the hospital and almost didn't make the appointment. We got lost and no one could tell us where we needed to go. It was frustrating. They couldn't even find Dr. Huhta in the directory. I was getting very annoyed. I didn't just drive all this way for nothing! Finally I called the St. Petersburg office and they told us where to go. As soon as we got back to where we started (the same place the first person told us we were in the wrong place) my dad went straight up to the girl and got on to her about wasting our time. She was apologetic and got us signed in immediately. It was then I realized just how nervous my dad was too. He is usually so easy going and level headed.

Lori the ultrasound tech came and got us and we got down to business. I'm a talker so I was making small talk and then the door opened. It was the infamous Dr. Huhta.

When we would go see Dr. Lacey the tech would perform the sonogram and when done would upload the pictures to Dr. Lacey where she sat in an office and reviewed them and made measurements and notes and then would come in and talk to us.

So, here's Dr. Huhta in the room with us looking over the shoulder of the tech asking questions, looking at the scan as it's happening and you can see his mind working. All the things Dr. Lacey does in her office with the help of pencils and paper and calculators Dr. Huhta is doing in his head. Then he asks "And the atrial septum?" So Lori scans over it again and, under her breath, says "looks OK to me". My dad and I both gasped! I begged my dad to just sit tight and we would talk about it when the sonogram was done. I just knew they were going to look at it from another angle and we would hear "Ahhh, now I see" or something to that affect. And just as soon as it started the sonogram was done. Dr. Huhta (who had introduced himself as soon as he walked in) told us he would meet us in the conference room as soon as I was cleaned up and ready.

The very short walk to the conference room, which was just simply around the corner from the sonogram room, seemed like the longest walk of my life. What was he going to tell me? We sat down at the round table and he began to talk. The room started to spin. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"No need for atrial intervention" (translation - he doesn't see a need for an atrial septostomy)

"Mild atrial restriction"

"I like to see a mild restriction in Hypoplastic Left Heart babies."

And the one that had me in tears.....

"3 out of 4 chance of seeing your son playing in Kindergarten!"

So because of one simple phone call my son's chances at life have gone from 10% (or worse) to 75%. I still can't believe what I heard.

Dr. Huhta explained our son has a mildly restrictive atrial septum. In his mind and experience it is not severally restrictive. He said he actually prefers a mild restriction because in an HLHS baby the atrial septum being completely open would allow blood to over flow the lungs once born and that is worse for our little guy. A mild restriction prevents a blood overflow into the lungs. Our baby was showing him all positive things. As positive as it can be for an HLHS baby.

He went on to explain they perform the Sano Modification to the Norwood procedure which gives babies a 15% mortality rate instead of 20% with the regular Norwood. Their mortality rates on the second and third procedures (the Biodirectional Glen and the Fontan) are in the single digits. More specifically 1-2%.

There were so many other things said in that meeting that I will have to have another post just to further explain everything. Bottom line was ~ Our baby has a chance! Prayers, fasting, Priesthood power! It all works. Miracles can happen! Our baby might just survive this.