Thursday, May 5, 2011

Post Cath Update

Hey friends. I can't thank y'all enough for your prayers and kind words today! It has been an amazing day, in every aspect.

I'll keep this short because there's a cute and cuddly two-year old I'm planning to bunk with tonight, and it's just about bedtime here in 5325.

From start to finish, your prayers have been felt. I cried proud tears as I watched Ethan wait three hours for his procedure to start. Never once did he complain, cry, or fret. Thank you for praying specifically for that.

Then, when Dr. R met us in the hallway to share the good news, I cried major happy tears and hugged him with all the appreciation I could muster. (It was a lot).

I will say, if you were following along on Facebook today, the news was quite different. It appears the nurse who was updating us wasn't passing along the most accurate information. Either that, or I majorly misunderstood. I reported on Facebook that Dr. R was able to balloon the left pulmonary artery, and put a stent in the right. While that was good news, it wasn't exactly right, and what actually happened was even better!

Dr. R, with his incredible talent, was able to place a stent inside the conduit, at the tip where it meets the branch pulmonary arteries. This opened up his conduit, significantly, and dropped the pressure gradient from the 100's to 45!

Uh-mazing.

It was no easy feat, though. He struck a very fine balance between not interfering with the valve in Ethan's conduit, and not placing the stent into his pulmonary arteries. But, he did it. The stent will be removed with the conduit whenever his next surgery may be, which means it won't stay in his body forever, which is excellent news.

The true test of today's success will be tomorrow's discharge echo. This will give us another reading of that pressure gradient, and the prayer is that it will be just as low as it was in the cath lab today. (There is a thought that the low reading could be attributed to the fact that he was under general anesthesia, and just him being awake tomorrow could make that pressure increase.)

Will you pray that tomorrow's echo will show a pressure in the 45-50 mmHg range?

If ... when all looks good after the echo, we should be free to head home!

Thank you again for loving our son and praying so many prayers for his well-being. This Mama appreciates that more than she can express!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

So glad things went well!!! Praying for your sleep on 5300!
Jenna

Shannon said...

I'm so, SO glad things went well today! It's always great when things went even better than you thought! Lots of prayers still coming your way...always!

Kelly said...

Awesome news! That is the tricky spot with Jack's conduit too, and it is so wonderful to hear that they were able to stent it without going into the PA's. That was my concern when that possibility came up during Jack's last cath (he's got narrowing in the same spot). I will pray that Ethan's echo looks great today and those pressures are in the 45-range. Great, great update!
(is Dr. R, Dr. Rhodes by chance?
I hope you guys had peaceful and restful night...
Kelly (carepage:JacksHeartUpdate)

Anonymous said...

He is an amazing little boy! So very proud of him in every aspect!!

Love Always,
Grandma A.

Jamie Fenley said...

That number gives me a big smile on my face. I'm so glad for the success and that your little guy did amazingly! What a stud.

Tara said...

Yay!! Great news! Will keep praying the pressures stay down.

Jenn said...

This is great news! I am praying for the echo to show great things and for you guys to be heading out SOON! Love you!

Michelle said...

Wow that is so great and amazing! Glad they are able to help our kiddos like that. Alexa also has some narrowing at the site where they sewed the conduit to her pulmonary artery branch. I will be thinking of you, praying for good news on the next echo.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...