Duke Doctor Appointment

This morning we got up and drove 2 hours to Durham to go to Marshall's cardiologist appointment with Dr. Wang at the Duke Center. The office happened to be directly across the street from Southpoint Mall, so when we arrived a little early we were able to hit up the mall's food court for lunch. The appointment ended up being more of a consult appointment than anything and he briefed us on the surgery that Marshall would inevitably need. Marshall's aorta is 44mm where it used to be 39mm. If the aorta expands to 50mm he has to have surgery. They will crack open his chest and replace both his bicuspid aortic valve and part of his aorta that is expanding as a result of his heart murmur. Dr. Wang said they will recheck his aorta with an ultrasound in April and if the ultrasound is unclear they will do a CAT scan to get a clearer image of the aorta. Marshall seemed somewhat better after the appointment, but I'm sure after he thinks about it for awhile he will have a million more questions for his doctor. He was told to not do any heavy lifting but that no dietary or life changes would affect the condition of his heart. He does have to keep an eye on his blood pressure and if it starts to run high he will have to go on medication to control it.

After the appointment, we went across the street to Babies R Us and I got a heart monitor that is good for the 3rd trimester so maybe I will be able to use it to calm me a bit when we get to around week 34. Of course, it isn't as sensitive as the ones at the doctor's office so it could backfire and make me even more paranoid. I guess we will just have to see. Before leaving that shopping center we stopped by REI and Marshall got surfboard attachments for his Thule rack. We also got a couple of attachments for our BOB stroller. We needed the carseat attachment and also got the handle bar attachment for drinks and snacks. I was surprised Marshall even wanted to buy those since he's been so anti-buying anything for the new baby, but he was worried that they might change our carseat or something so we should buy it while we can.

We then headed home to beat the 5pm traffic. We got home around 6pm and Marshall went and picked us up some Thai food for dinner so we could eat at home and watch the X Factor results show.