We’re Home!

Mary Clare’s catheterization went exceptionally well yesterday! So well, in fact, that by the time we were leaving for lunch around 1, they paged us from the lab to tell us she was in recovery!

They didn’t have to balloon her aorta or shunt, so it only took about 3 hours total! The echos usually overestimate measurements, so the catheter, which is a much more accurate reading, saw that the narrowing of her shunt is simply from her growth, and nothing significant at this point. The aorta looks fine now and they will continue to watch it. It may be that she will have to balloon it in the future, but now it isn’t necessary at all. They also told us that they “put in a surgical request” for her next surgery, the Glenn. It will be sometime within the next four weeks. We’ll find out next week.

When we went into recovery, she was sleeping. She was extubated, had an IV and a small O2 mask, and only her leads stuck to her chest (reading stats) That’s all! What a difference. I don’t know what we were expecting, but she looked great.

They discovered that blood flow to her lungs is a bit off, in layman’s terms. This is somewhat common in Hypoplastic babies, after the Noorwood. During her next surgery, Dr. Bradley will “patch” her pulmonary arteries to balance blood flow to her lungs. Currently, her right lung receives more blood, than her left. Nothing to worry about, they said. (Easier said than done!)

She also weighs about 12 lbs 10 oz, which is only about a 2 oz wieght gain in two weeks. This may be a result from her heart working a bit harder, as her shunt is getting tighter for her growing heart. She also expends more calories as she is breathing a bit harder from lower O2 levels. Again, all of this will be resolved after her second surgery.

Yesterday afternoon, she was a bit swollen and had bright red cheeks for several hours. She also had a newborn night last night (up every 2-3 hours eating) I guess she was catching up from yesterday! This morning, she is back to her usual self, smiling, laughing and cooing. She isn’t on any new meds, and only has a bandage aound her thigh. I’ll be able to remove it today. We just have to watch the hemotoma at her thigh!

On to better things…Like Halloween! Happy Halloween!

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