The next day I put on a bright smile and took Sadie to the specialist, convinced it would turn out to be nothing.  After a very expensive Ultra Sound, the diagnosis was confirmed: she had a severe case of Ventral Septal Defect, or VSD as it is called. Basically how it was explained to me was as follows: there is a hole between the chambers of the heart, and with each heartbeat a little blood splashes backward through the hole and into the left chamber. The result is that eventually the chamber fills with blood, and the heart can no . . .