Cardiac cath and such

Just a quick update about Eli's cardiac catheterization on Monday and what became of it.

Eli was scheduled for a routine cardiac cath to get ready for his next open heart surgery, the Fontan. We had scheduled it a month ago and it got cancelled the day before so we finally got in on Monday, April 15th. We got to the hospital at 6:30 for a 7:30 procedure. With Eli's new found hatred of all things and people medical he did require a small amount of sedation (Versed is the drug name) prior to going back into the procedure room.

 About an hour or so into the procedure we got an update that they had found collateral arteries that needed to be coiled. These are like little branches off of the heart that are useless to him and actually make his heart work harder because its pumping blood to a dead end artery. These are common in the heart babies as far as I know and is kind of no big deal. We also found out that the one of the stents he had placed last January had broken. It will need to be watched in the future.

Since he had to have a coil its an automatic overnight stay in the hospital for observation. We did a routine EKG, Echocardiogram and Xray just to make sure everything is good to go. During the xray they discovered he has a paralyzed left diaphragm!!! We then had to go back downstairs to radiology and have a "live action" xray just to see it in action. Rafe and I were able to stand right next to him and the doctor explained everything we were seeing on the xray. I was surprised to see just how drastic the difference was between the right and left side.

The doctor who did his cardiac cath was just as shocked to see this because he has no idea when it happened or how considering he didn't mess around on the left side of Eli's body. (There is a nerve on the left side that if messed with during surgery or procedure could trigger paralysis.) The doctor then wanted to do a CT scan which required some more sedation just to get him to be still. Again Rafe and I were able to hold his hand through it all and help ease some of the fear. Radiation for all of us!!
Dr. Javois was not comfortable with sending us home just yet and wanted us to stay for a 48 hour observation. He wanted to make sure this doesn't mess with his breathing and heart. As usual Eli is perfectly fine and showed no signs of distress or discomfort. We are now home!

I am happy to say both Rafe and I were happy with Eli's ability to adjust to nurses and doctors constantly coming in to check on him. He still doesn't like to have the stethoscope on him or his temperature taken but he will give you about a 20 second window to get your vitals done. He learned many words and the doctors and nurses loved the many kisses and goodbyes they received.

At this point surgery is good to go. He will more than likely require an additional surgery to tighten the diaphragm and we were told it can be done during his next heart surgery. We now wait to hear from the heart surgeons nurse so we can get a date set. We are hoping to get it done and over with as soon as possible.

I think there may be some details I've let out but my brain is pretty fried at this point and I'm desperately looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight. Three nights on a pulled out bed hurts!