Thursday, October 09, 2008
Quickie
A short and sweet update for everyone. Last Thursday, I received a call from MJ's cardiologist. He informed me that all of the cardiologists/surgeons at LeBonheur met the day before and decided that they were going to try to do a heart catheterization on Monday to see if they could open up the conduit and get good enough results with that to lower the pressures in the right ventricle. I was shocked as we were told this was not an option a few months ago...hence the open heart surgery scheduled for Tuesday. Of course we decided to go for it.
On Monday, MJ had another heart cath. During this cath, they were able to open up her conduit to its original size with a gortex covered stent. They also found that she had a pseudo-aneurysm in her right ventricle. They were able to repair that with something that I can't remember the name of right now. The pressures dropped to an acceptable level in the right ventricle so surgery was cancelled! Praise the Lord. Now, she will continue to have heart caths to open up the narrowed areas farther out in her arteries, more towards her lungs. They haven't been able to reach them yet because of the small conduit, but now that problem is fixed so we can begin therapy on the distal arteries, which hopefully will drop her pressures even more. Now, it could be 6 months to a few years before her next surgery. YAY!
We spent Monday night in the CVICU just so that she could be watched and she did great. She finally went to bed around 11pm and slept til 7. Pretty good considering narcotics usually make her wired. Shes done great since being home!! I still can't believe that we are at home and not at the hospital. I keep thinking I am dreaming and about to wake up. Oh how I dreaded surgery this close to the holidays and the delay it would cause in her development. She has come so far! She likes to stand up now, which is a huge blessing considering this is the girl that a few months ago would not put any weight on her feet. Now, we are trying to get the rest of her teeth in....she now has 12 teeth....in 4 months time. She hasn't been gaining very much weight lately because she gets really sick each time she cuts a tooth. She isn't losing though and isn't too far off of the 50th percentile.
I pretty much blocked the month of October off because of MJs surgery, but now that we can live normally I can't wait for the holidays. We are going to hopefully be able to make out trip to Knoxville in a few weeks so that we can go to the pumpkin patch with one of my best friends and her baby and then we are definately taking MJ to the Memphis Zoo Boo. I am still looking for her Halloween costume as well. I know what I want her to be, I'm just looking for the one I like :)
Well, that is all for now. I still have family in town until the weekend so I better get to bed so I can spend time with them!! Thanks for the prayers...they are working and it is amazing to see God's hand on Macy Jane's life.
Much Love,
Bethany