Health Updates

Just a quick message to update you on the Gmyr family now that we've both been to the doctors.

Dan's diagnosis came back with two problems. Mitral Valve Prolapse, and Patent Foramen Ovale. Neither of these are life threatening. PFO, is where the foramen ovale, a shunt in the heart of an unborn baby that allows blood to pass between the left and right sides of the heart (since blood doesn't flow through the baby's lungs), doesn't close completely within a year of birth. The mitral valve is what prevents blood from flowing the wrong direction in the heart. In Dan's case the valve doesn't completely shut allowing a small amount of backflow. MVP, while named for the mitral valve in the heart, isn't actually caused by it. Doctors have concluded that the defect is more a physical sign that the problem exists. It is also very possible that the MVP may be the cause of the migraines. At the present the only thing the cardiologist can recommend is a daily aspirin regimen and certain antibiotic should he ever have dental work done.

Karen has checked out fine at the OB/GYN. No complications have been reported. In fact everything seems to be going slightly ahead of schedule. While we were originally given a due date of May 22nd and that has migrated all the way to the 27th, the doctorhas informed us that she doesn't think we will even get that far. Karen is already slightly dilated, Gabriel is head down and pretty low in the abdomen. In other words we may be looking at mid-May rather than late-May. Don't worry, we're still planning on having the baby blessing on the 3rd of July. Let us know how many would like to come so that we can help plan for guests. For more amusing news, Karen narrowly avoided having two baby showers. One surprise shower was planned for the 7th, but when the person holding it received an invitation for the one on the 30th and discovered several individuals were invited to both a decision was made to combine them. We say this is amusing because we hadn't anticipated having even one.

Lots of love to all,

- Dan & Karen