On a previous blog post, I described our son Kyle's congenital heart defect, ( called an Atrial Septal Defect), which was discovered as a consequence of a chest x-ray for an unrelated issue,when he was 16. And, how subsequently at the age of 21, on a follow up exam, it was recommended that the defect, which is a hole between the right and left atrium of the heart, be closed. So, it was, at 7:30 am, on March 21st, Kyle was admitted into St. Mary's Hospital, (which is part of the Mayo Clinic complex), in Rochester Minnesota.
The Mayo is a remarkable place, and we got to experience it up close and personal last week. We arrived in Rochester late the evening of the 19th. Kyle had several appointments on Thursday the 20th at different locations on the Mayo Campus. Then on to St. Mary's on Friday morning for a date with Dr. Donald Hagler, (renowned Cardiologist), in the cardiac catherization lab for the procedure. For everyone on staff, it seemed to be a pretty unremarkable and commonplace event. For us, and especially Kyle, it was both emotional and exhausting. However, everything went according to plan. The procedure was characterized as "out patient". The device (pictured above on the right), was inserted into his heart via a catheter threaded up through the femoral vein. Quite a remarkable procedure. We are grateful for the modern technology that allows such amazing medicine to become somewhat commonplace, rather than rare.
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