Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Heart Cath

Ok, good news and not-as-good news:

Good news - he's off of the oxygen, so maybe he'll get some better sleep! :-)

Not-as-good: His heart didn't do as well as Dr. K had hoped it would do on the oxygen, so Athan will have to have a heart cath before surgery. Katie will be calling us soon with an appointment for that, which will be an all-day (but not over-night) thing at the hospital.

The surgery will patch two holes in Athan's septum - one between the upper chambers (ASD) and one between the lower chambers (VSD). The steps we are taking now (such as the oxygen and the upcoming heart cath) will help tell the doctors what kind of post-op care Athan will need. After surgery like the one Athan will have, sometimes the lungs have a difficult time adjusting to the changes in blood pressure. The information they are gathering now will help them anticipate what specific helps he will need after surgery for his lungs to adjust to a more normal blood pressure.

As to timing, we are still not sure exactly when the surgery will be. We know more a sequence of events than a calendar date. The next step is the cath, which should be sometime in the next two or three weeks. Then the whole cardio team will discuss the results. If they decide the surgery needs to be very soon, we may have to travel to Cincinnati to have the surgery. If he can wait just a bit longer, the surgeon here in Lex will do it.

I always feel like I am leaving out something, so post a comment with any questions I haven't answered.

Thanks for hanging in there with us!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Amber-- no questions at this point... your always very detailed in your postings... and as you know, we all appreciate the updates... we sure miss you guys.... and are sorry for the bad news... but excited as you guys are about Athanias Maxumis getting to kick the oxygen!