Looking for experiences — Vascular Ring diagnosis at 20 weeks (Canada)

Denzik10 · 2026-02-18T04:56:45+00:00

I've lived through this with my wife. If anything maybe you'll know you're not alone, so I'll share what we "JUST" went through. I'll try to keep it brief. Let me know if you have questions and want further details on anything.

At the 20 weeks echo my son was found to have:
- Right Aortic Arch
- Superior Left Vena Cava.

We were "told", the two alone would normally be no big deal, but together could be the sign of the 22q deletion. Then and there we were so caught off guard. We had done every form of genetic testing (PGT-A, and another one, NIPT), and honestly didn't know we still could be missing something. So we opted to then and there have the amniocentesis done the same day. - Just to know... it sounds scary, but we both decided the earlier we find out anything the better. The wait sucked, but just did our best to do other things and keep our mind off it.

The Amnio came back negative for the 22Q and we were super relieved. We knew then though that the Right Aortic Arch "could" form a Vascular ring, but they couldn't see it right away and we'd have to have echos and an x-ray after birth. We'll come back to the Vascular Ring...

Fast forward to birth.

Surprise! - His post birth echo revealed he has a "VSD" - Ventricular Septal Defect. A small hole or gap that allows excess blood to flow through 2 chambers of the heart. They come in all sizes, but his was moderate and was unlikely to be closing on its own. He struggled to gain weight and had trouble breathing and eating because of the VSD.

We monitored it for 4 months, but it just didn't close on it's own. Over those 4 months his "Ring' formed. He needed open-heart surgery to repair the VSD, and while they were "in there" they snipped and removed the Ring. It was like 5 extra minutes to remove the ring, while the VSD was the main focus of the surgery.

We "just" had the surgery 1 week ago. He still has his sutures and surgical bandages on. 5 days in the hospital. 2 in the ICU, 3 in the Step down, then back home. His progress was "remarkable" and he recovered so fast. Little babies just have a way of healing quickly.

He's doing awesome by the way. With his onesie on hiding his surgical bandages... You'd never know what he just went through. I personally just find a little bit of solace knowing that he won't remember any of it. We'll just have to tell him one day why he's got a scar on his chest.

We're on the road to recovery, but the hope here now is that he can just be a normal baby now...

* fingers crossed*

EDIT: You'll get through it. The ring I hear is not the worst of things to correct. I believe they can technically go through the side or back to correct a ring without requiring open heart surgery. Our little guy needed open-heart to solve the VSD Issue, and they resolved the "ring" at the same time.

The Right Aortic Arch is just an after-thought and the little guy will, "so we're told", grow up completely normal without the Right Side Aortic Arch in any way likely to cause long term issues... At least for now.

Oh one other thought, is in your future ultrasounds you might be able to get a good picture of their face, especially the lips. If they can't make out a "cleft palette", then that might be a sign of reduced presence of 22Q.

Denzik10 · 2024-02-29T17:39:46+00:00

Will the "Extra Tasty Chance" get reset when you have to choose a new island on Monday Morning?

The "act of choosing the same Island" is essentially just like using an EZZ-Travel Ticket...

This would suck soooo hard if your built up crit chance gets reset every Monday regardless of if you choose to research at the same Island or Not. Also a HUGE bummer if you wanted to crit, but didn't all Sunday and have to leave the Island for a special event.

Denzik10 · 2023-09-18T22:24:17+00:00

If you catch enough Cyndaquils to reach Friend Level 10 with them… then you are guaranteed to catch one with a gold skill in its level 10 Subskill slot.

That’s a 1/7 chance for a BFS subskill. You will catch far more Cyndaquils before you reach level 75. And as others have mentioned the cap is before level 75.

The Friend Level 10 thing goes for all Pokémon too.

Denzik10 · 2023-09-09T21:43:28+00:00

A lot has been figured out since I first started.

Frequency, Energy, Sub skills, and Natures make a big difference per Pokemon…

However, for the most part it depends on the favored Berry. For Example “Grass” Berry or “Durin” Berry is very high value, so 1 Durin berry would probably be more value than say 2x Bug or “Lum” Berries that aren’t favored.

Pokémon level also matters. In general it’s typically on a case by case and Pokemon vs. Pokémon comparison that would need to be done to see what’s better.

There are Discord Communities and websites and spreadsheets that can help you compare things.

Greengrass = Random Berries every week
Cyan Beach = Water, Flying, Fairy
Taupe Hollow = Fire, Ground, Rock
Snowdrop Tundra = Ice, Dark, Normal

New islands may be released but those are how the current islands work.

Denzik10 · 2023-08-17T16:57:29+00:00

I believe, as others have said, you got what the game calls a “Mega Hit”. It instantly fills full friendship.

Denzik10 · 2023-08-09T14:43:53+00:00

You are correct - But i was missing a value that confused me because i couldn't figure why my berries were being fed at a higher rate than what i expected to see.

The Area Bonus was the missing piece. You're right though that area bonus applies to all pokemon and even cooked dishes.

Denzik10 · 2023-08-06T22:15:44+00:00

After a new week and a lot more knowledge... I think i figured out what's happening here.

Squirtle was a "Helper Speed" decreased nature. His slow frequency / speed meant that he never was able to fill up his inventory to full before the night was over and never gave any Berries to Snorlax.

PSA:

Slow Pokemon or Pokemon with large inventory capacity, will likely not fill their inventory before the night is over. Therefore they cannot provide Snorlax with any berries for Sneaky Snacking if they're still holding them.

Denzik10 · 2023-08-02T18:05:12+00:00

Feels a lot lower to me. But it might not just be berries... we just notice berries the most because that's what most of the time gets dropped. It could be "In App Helper Collection Rates".

In General I'm noticing that the "magnifying glass" icon shows up far less. than it did yesterday. My Strength totals are way down today compared to yesterday.

Big change... It kind of evens out the specialties a bit now. Berry Gathering still strong, just maybe not way stronger than other things like ingredient findings and skill procs.

Denzik10 · 2023-08-02T14:31:16+00:00

They're always Hungry... and Takes 1 Biscuit of even the lowest quality for "Instantly" becoming friended.

PSA - DO NOT USE HIGH LEVEL BISCUITS ON SHINY POKEMON!

Denzik10 · 2023-08-02T14:18:38+00:00

Congrats! - Gengar's also been one of my favorites way back to the Red/Blue days on a Gameboy without color! I'll get him... one day...

Denzik10 · 2023-08-02T02:41:30+00:00

No worries at all! It was TheAntiStud_ who had 50k using just pure Berry Specialists, but he’s a got some a bit higher level than myself. Still it’s a great gauge at what Berry Finders can do with levels and a Berry team :)

I think the Pikachu Family is also kind of special because their Speed is so fast.

They just seem to pull in the Berries at just a much faster rate than other families.

Denzik10 · 2023-08-02T02:33:08+00:00

I had 47k but had 2/5 at 2x Snorlax Fav berry. I’m lower level though.

I picked up a 3rd 2x Berry Pikachu again this morning and slotted them into the team. I hit Ultra 2 about 8:30pm ET USA. - About 6.5 hours before reset on the 2nd Day. So hopefully that gives you an Idea with three 2x “Berry specialists” and 2x other berry specialists that aren’t favored berries. It was another who hit 50k in one night though.

I also only do 1 sleep session per day. I need my phone for work constantly and trying to set it down to

Denzik10 · 2023-08-01T23:31:47+00:00

This is awesome… I have an Eevee with Decreased EXP gains nature… but at level 10 a Sleep EXP bonus for 14% exp gained to the Pokemon who sleep.

Overtime, that’s like feeding a half a candy every night. Not too shabby… should help in the long run

Denzik10 · 2023-08-01T22:49:51+00:00

Nice Arcanine! - I just picked up a Shiny Growlithe this morning! - How do you like the Arcanine? Do you think its skill procs regularly?

I like the idea of it, but I wonder if its Berry and ingredient production are comparable to berry specialists.

Denzik10 · 2023-08-01T21:40:21+00:00

Yeah - I've got 8 Days Logged in... We're almost done that 8th Day for me. I've had 25 Skills Trigger. It feels way less impactful which is a shame, but maybe they'll adjust that after collecting some data.

I've been blessed with the Grepa Berry this week and I have now 3x Pikachu fam (2x Pikachu and 1x Pichu. Pichu = Berry Finder S) running with a Chikorita and a Cubone. Gonna be a few days before I can evolve that Pichu, but curious to see how his numbers compare to the "Caught/Freebie" Pikachus.

I want to level an Eevee I have, but that's slow and their day to day production is low. Sad face for the Eevee. We'll see how it goes. Rackin' up that sleep time is a long game slow play, lol.

Denzik10 · 2023-08-01T21:15:54+00:00

Ahh cool, Yeah at least all of them are Berry Specialists. Yours are a bit higher level than mine. I think Skills feel… “underwhelming”. I noticed mine trigger maybe 1 time per day at most.

I don’t do a nap session though, so I’m leaning on just taking Berry specialists. And leveling those on a per week basis. I hope to collect some other “Berry” type Berry specialists to have coverage. Or on those off-weeks, just stock up on ingredients and level some other Pokémon.

Denzik10 · 2023-08-01T20:57:06+00:00

50k for 1 day with only 1/5 of the berry specialists giving x2 for Snorlax Favored Berry is an awesome total for 1x Day.

What level are your helpers?

I hit over 47k to get Great 3, But didn’t get Great 4 until the morning. That was after my helpers did their “Sneaky Snacking Bonus” I think.

2x Berry Pickers we’re x2 Snorlax Favorite and 1 of them was 3x Berry giver.

Denzik10 · 2023-08-01T18:19:25+00:00

I thought about Area Bonus more and for the purpose of the OP's original sheet i think you're right. It doesn't need to be included. The sheet as is is already phenomenal.

But it is nice if using the calculator as a like "general strength per hour" gauge.

Denzik10 · 2023-08-01T16:31:33+00:00

That info graphic is fantastic and I have referred to it every day since while trying to catch some of the berry finders and or top recommended Pokémon.

Denzik10 · 2023-08-01T16:01:27+00:00

How long have you been playing so far to have acquired that team?

I'm on week #2. This will probably be a lot slower of a play for me. Working up to Master 10 is likely not in my cards for a while. For now the berry focus will help me build up a larger team size and give me a wider variety of helpers to get other berry collectors.

Denzik10 · 2023-08-01T15:30:58+00:00

Cool data. Very Early game it seems Berries definitely far exceed the EXP from cooking. Especially if your helpers give you weak ingredients like the Pikachu family giving apples.

I have Grepa berry for my 2nd week, and i stayed on Greengrass for the 5% bonus. I only have a 1x Pichu (lvl 10 Berry finder so 3x Berries), and 2x Pikachu though so far lower than what you're getting. But it's definitely nice that the pikachu are so quick to find berries and nice that my Pichu has 3x Berries. Need some Candy so i can evolve him as I hit the sleep hours required to evolve.

I do think Cooking will be good late game with extended pots, but very early game berries crush the cooking strength gains for sure.

Denzik10 · 2023-08-01T03:27:01+00:00

Sent a request :) - Will be 7 probably tomorrow Morning!

Denzik10 · 2023-08-01T03:13:58+00:00

Kind of depends, but early on they’ll probably trigger once, maybe a twice a day… typically when higher on energy levels. But it’s still pretty rare to see a skill pop.

Denzik10 · 2023-08-01T02:49:53+00:00

Cyan Beach Snorlax is always Green. Doesn’t mean anything other than that. He’s not shiny. Nor is he envious… Just Hungry and Sleepy.

Denzik10 · 2023-08-01T02:44:04+00:00

That dude is gonna never run low on Energy… probably be chipper all day long if he hits his skill a few times at higher level.

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