Januari 10, 2017
i first arrived atboston children's in 1993 as a pediatrics resident. i just finishedmy medical school. during medical school,i had the opportunity to be around somepediatric cardiologists. and i just thoughtit was fascinating. so, i went looking for the bestpediatric cardiology program in the country toget my training. and i ended up here in boston.
i love being here. i get to do really exciting,interesting things. i get to play with kids. i get to talk to parents. i'm audrey marshal. i'm the chief of invasivecardiology at boston children's hospital. fetal cardiology is thestudy of children's hearts before they're born.
and we have two aspects to ourfetal cardiology program here at boston children's. one is a diagnosticaspect, which consists of ultrasounds that aredone on mothers while they're pregnant to look for heartdefects or possible problems with the heart. and the second component isthe interventional component, which is sort ofunique to our hospital. the fetal interventionalprogram consists
of a team of doctors, nurses,social workers, counselors. and we all worktogether to offer mothers who have beendiagnosed as carrying a child with a diseasecalled hypoplastic left heart syndrome the opportunity tointervene on their child's heart disease beforethe baby's even born. the reason that'sso important is because, when the babiesare born with this disease, it can often be immediatelylife threatening.
so what we'retrying to accomplish is the potential for thebabies to be healthier at birth and have more manageableheart disease after birth. when day by day you're in thepresence of kids with heart disease, and you're trying tooffer them healthier lives, it really drives you to try tocome up with something better. parents of kidswith heart disease, and all parentsreally, are committed to getting the verybest for their kids.
and many families whotravel here from distance come because they've heardabout us through other families and other families'patient experiences. i think our responsibilityis, once they get here, to live up to their expectation. often at the end ofmy day in the cath lab i'm physically tired. i drag myself up twoflights of stairs. and i go find a couple of kids.
and i'm usually happiercoming back down the stairs a little while later. having been hereas long as i have, i have a numberof patients who i met when i was juststarting in my career. and now, some of those kids aregetting their learner's permits this year. i get cards from a lot of mypatients and their families. i frequently get lifeupdates or pictures
from a dance recital or awrestling meet or something. it's just veryrewarding to spend time with patients over years.
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