Coarctation of the Aorta

We went yesterday to Scottsbluff for Trevor's Echo. He did a really good job. He had a x ray done and then headed up to Dr. Miller's office. They weighed him and did his height and then his blood pressure. The doctor came in listened to his heart, head and neck. He checked him out from head to toe. Then he did the echo. Trevor thought that was cool. He could see his heart on the screen. After the echo the doctor came back and talked to use about what he found. Well he found two things.

1.Bicuspid Aortic Valve, which is when one of his valves only has two openings instead of three. It is functioning fine and he can live with it that way.

2. Coarctation of the Aorta. Which is when the aorta that goes out of is heart to his legs is narrowed or smaller. The doctor explained it like when you put your finger over the end of a garden hose and pressure builds and the water shots out hard and far. Well that is what his blood it doing. That is what we are hearing in his head. The blood shooting though his aorta. The sad but good thing is that it has to be fixed and it can be fixed. The doctor gave two treatments for this. Surgery is one treatment. They would go in under him armpit and make a four to five incision. They would takeout the bad part in the aorta and put the aorta back together. He would be in surgery for 4 to 6 hours and be in the hospital for three to five days. Thee other option is Balloon Dilation. They would take a catheter though his artery in his leg and follow the artery up to the aorta and then put a balloon though the catheter and blow up the balloon and stretch the narrow area. The only bad thing about this treatment is that he will have to have it done three or four times throughout his life as he grows and his heart grows. This treatment is a one day thing.
It is something that doesn't have to be done right away. But needs to be taken care of. If we don't do anything his legs will ache and cramp a lot and he will have bad headaches for high blood pressure. The doctor said with in a year.
Here is a picture to show you what it looks like.