Jake had an appointment with Dr. Grenier today and she noted that he seems to be growing well and is in excellent shape. She is thinking that Jake's defect can most likely be repaired sometime between the ages of 2 and 3.
Also, we got some information from Dr. Grenier during our first appointment that a Dr. Vidu Garg, a research cardiologist and professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas has tied atrial septal defects to a specific gene mutation and is saying that there could be as high as a 30% chance that these types of defects are passed on. He has an interesting website at: http://hamon.swmed.edu/~garglab/index.html.
I have been able to talk with Dr. Garg and explain our situation and he would like Jake and I to be part of his research. We will be providing him with some saliva samples for DNA testing. Now that they have linked some of these types of defects to specific genes there is a chance for a cure down the road.
We have also come in contact with an organization out of Houston called, "It's My Heart". Their website is: http://www.itsmyheart.org/. It's an organization of families and parents that have kids who have or have gone through a cogential heart defect. There are some really cool stories and interesting people involved with this organization and hopefully we can in some way help others who have been through or are going through the experience of having a cogenital heart defect.
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