Christmas cath

Our holiday challenges are out of the way, leaving just relaxation and fun for the three of us to share throughout the rest of Peter's break. James was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday the 26th for a cardiac catheterization. He stayed overnight to be monitored, just a precaution since he's been throwing up a lot while on the tube and needed to stay hydrated for the procedure. At 7am on Thursday, the cath team took him to the cardiology floor, knocked him out with anesthesia, inserted a catheter, and spent a few hours getting detailed images of the blood flow and pressure of the various veins in and out of his heart. The doctor told us afterwards that the cath went great...his BT shunt looks great... his lungs look great... all in all, good news. He looks like a good candidate for surgery #2.

The cath finished up around noon, and James spent the afternoon in a recovery room getting his senses back after anesthesia. He recovered quickly and was discharged around dinnertime. He was a bit swollen, with a bloated face that made us laugh and some bruising on the leg that was bound all day, but he's mostly back to normal by today.

As usual, getting discharge actually in process and completed took a few hours at Weill Cornell, but we're getting familiar with the quirks and inefficiencies of the hospital. An unnecessary overnight just to keep him fed, yet no one fed him for hours after check-in?... no baby formula in stock? ... no nurses on the surgical floor that know how to insert a nasogastric tube? ...no one can find a record of what size tube they themselves had put in him originally?  Next time we go to the hospital, we'll bring our OWN feeding pump and our OWN baby food and our OWN bottles and our OWN nasal tube, and why not our OWN stethoscope while we're at it? sigh...

He got some lovely Christmas gifts though, including an adorable Santa suit from his Aunt Jen. We went to hear the chorale performance at Trinity Church on Wall Street on Christmas Eve, and little Santa got a lot of praise. He wore his suit to the hospital too, and charmed the nurses. After all, if he had to go to the hospital on December 26, he might as well get to take Christmas with him :)

excited to open gifts!

the new suit

elf face under the Santa hat

ho, ho, ho!

posing for a photo with Santa