Cardio report ~ the longer version

Friday we took Daniel to his first cardiology appointment here in the states.  As a mom new to the heart world, I went in not knowing exactly what to expect.
We first went over the parts of his medical history that are known with a resident and an intern.  Next I got to hold my little guy while he had an echo cardiogram done.  The echo is truly amazing.  There I sat, watching his little heart beat in front of me on the screen.  Actually, Daniel watched pretty closely too.  He was quite enthralled with the moving picture and sounds.  The technician performing the test was very informative and walked Ian and I (and the resident and intern) through exactly what we were seeing from the blood flow to the opening and closing of valves to the shiny piece of Dacron patch that was put in to repair one part of his heart during surgery.
Then the resident and intern conferenced with the cardiologist about the results of the echo and as a team they came to talk to us.  While everything had looked good on the screen, the last bit of my unease melted away when Dr. F smiled and started with, "Congratulations, on the scale of patients that are post-op with Daniel's condition, he ranks on the very good end."
He went into detail about the surgery itself and how one part of the repair was done in a way that is not commonly used for that surgery in the US, but that it was probably quite beneficial for Daniel and is likely the reason that he is as robust of a little guy that he is.  We did learn that his replaced valve does have a significant bit of regurgitation and Dr. F did allude to further valve replacement in Daniel's future.  But he did say that for now he is one heart healthy little dude and sent us home with absolutely no restrictions.  We don't even have a follow up appointment until July of next year, six months further out than what we had originally anticipated.
So watch out NC ~ he's been cleared for play!

And this little guy leaves it all out on the playing field...