Back for a cardiac catheterization Thursday.
The short version:
We’re home, safe and sound, with a decent bill of health from the cardio team, and James is grumpy because he can’t run and play in the snow and has to lie around watching movies all day 🤪
The longer version:
We’ve been able to hold off from procedures for over 2 years, which has been a nice relief, but it was time to do a little poking around to see how James's body has adapted to the Fontan over the last 2.5 years: a fluid test, a nitrous test, and some closer looks at collaterals and valves. Pressures haven't changed, which is good, and means the pulmonary hypertension drugs are working; fluid dynamics show he's not the best at managing fluids, but no interventions needed this time; and they coiled up one more collateral to mitigate future pressure issues. Overall, they tell us James’s Fontan looks clean and about as normal as it did when they did the last cath; so it’s good to know he’s growing into this well, with one Glenn arterial valve pocket to keep an eye on for clotting risks as he continues to grow. So, for the foreseeable future we’ll just be doing regular checkups (EKGs and BP and O2 sats) and imaging (ultrasounds and X-rays) to monitor the usual trouble spots.
And, as always, it’s not the procedure but the post-op that's the difficult part. James hates being still, and a cardiac cath post-op requires a 6 hour session of laying pretty much absolutely still so the femoral artery and vein can close back up. Of course, I don’t know anyone what would be ok laying still for 6 hours straight, and the nurses totally understand, but it means multiple versions of sedation and extended naps, to the point that docs and nurses get a little flustered, extra docs and meds are called in to help, and we almost ended up staying overnight. Grumpier and grumpier. But, we got home late Thursday, with our grumpy 7 year old, and all is well with the world 😁
As an added bonus, we’ve been given the green light to fly! Now we get to debate whether it’s Florida or Seattle first.
Thanks for all of your happy thoughts!
