Sam had his heart cath today. We stayed in Atlanta Thursday night since we had to be at the hospital at 630am. The hospital is just 2 years old and is BEAUTIFUL. All of the nurses and doctors were fabulous too! They gave Sam his sedation medicine at 7am and he was sound asleep and in the procedure at 730. They only had to go in one leg and it took less time than expected. They brought him back to us in the recovery room and they did an echo while he was sleeping so that they were sure they had all the photos they needed for surgery.
The cath doctor came in and told us they got beautiful photos of Sam's heart and lungs. He said the lung pressures are perfect and Sam's pulmonary arteries look wonderful. He called the surgical nurse to let her know we were ready to be set up for surgery. The nurse came up and gave us the first available date, which is April 15. Luckily for us, the surgeon just happened to be hanging around the hospital doing paper work, so she called him up to talk to us.
The surgeon was super nice and explained how Sam's surgery would go. The surgery is called the bi-directional Glenn. He said we would come up the day before surgery for several hours of pre-op stuff. He explained what would happen with the surgery, which is too indepth to type...call me if you want details. The important thing to know is that the whole surgery will take about 3 hours, not including prep and closure. He said Sam will be in the CICU for a day or two until they can ween him off the vent. Sam will then spend the rest of a week in the pediatric cardiac step down unit. The surgeon said most babies go home within a week of surgery, and can return to normal activities within two weeks. He will be on minimal medication after surgery that will be weened within a month or so after. There are always chances of infection and complications that will keep us in the hospital longer but the surgeon seemed so relaxed and nonchalant about the whole thing. You would have thought he was just talking about pulling teeth, not open heart surgery. Of course, he does this surgery weekly so I guess it's not such a big deal to him!
They discharged us from the cardiac outpatient unit after Sam drank a bottle, but he never really woke all the way up. In fact, he STILL hasn't woken all the way up and its almost 11pm. He is really cranky at times but never opens his eyes. It's been hard to get him to eat anything because he is still so asleep. I called the hospital in Atlanta and the doctor said to give it the rest of 24 hours and see how he is. She said Sam had a 'big day' and it may take a bit for him to fully recover. That's fine...I just wish they had told us before we left he might be like this.
But all in all, we really had a great day with great staff at a great hospital. We feel really positive about the results of today and about Sam's upcoming surgery. We're just ready to put this surgery behind us! I'll update on how Sam is recovering tomorrow. THANKS THANKS THANKS to everyone for all of the prayers and support! All of the doctors and nurses we encounter always mention how lucky Sam has been with his health and with the outcomes related to his defects thus far...we know it's not luck though...prayer works!
The first photo is Sam before the cath. He was flirting with the nurse. The second one is Sam after that cath, still sleeping from the meds.
~Kathy
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