The first step towards the Fontan is having a cardiac catheterization. It's a procedure where they enter the heart with a tiny catheter and scope, to get images of the heart and even close pesky vessels and veins (collaterals) that have formed and are making the heart work harder.
We took Santi to CHLA for his cath this week. On Tuesday they took care of all his vitals including X-ray, EKG and echocardiogram. We returned early Wednesday morning to check in for the cath. Since they use general anesthesia, Santi could only have water up to two hours before the procedure. He didn't seem to mind. He brought all of his cars and kept himself entertained as we moved from waiting room to waiting room.
This was his third cath and the fifth or sixth time we've had to turn him over to a team of doctors and nurses. Seeing them wheel him away never gets easier. In fact, the more aware he is of what's going on, the harder it is for us. He looks at us with sadness and confusion. His eyes plead, "Why are you letting them take me?" It just crushes us to pieces.
Overall, his cath went well. His heart function is good. They coiled a few collaterals. There were no surprises. Except when it came to waking up from anesthesia. Santi had a rough time waking up. He was disoriented and confused (rightly so!). But he thrashed around so much that he opened up the incision in the artery in his neck. As you can imagine, he bled quite a bit. By the time they allowed Abe & I into the recovery area, Santi had a huge compression bandage around his neck. He also had a terribly sore and scratchy throat from being intubated during the cath. My poor baby was so uncomfortable and upset.
For the next 7 hours we stayed with him in recovery. He had two doses of dilaudid, an albuterol treatment, a steroid shot to reduce swelling in his throat and a dose of Tylenol.
We were transferred to our private room around 7pm. Santi showed little hints of his true self peeking through the pain and medicine. I kept wondering when my baby would be back to his sweet self. He even managed to eat a few bites of his dinner. With the help of more Tylenol and a belly full of milk, Santi fell right to sleep. But not for long.
He was up quite a few times throughout the night. Oh, and it was around 1am when I knew my baby was back! He woke up and wanted to go walk the halls, which we did. He wanted to cuddle on my bed (aka, the couch), which we did. And he insisted on driving all of his cars in the window sill, which we did.
He stayed with me on the parent bed for the rest of the night. No complaints here. I want nothing more than for him to feel safe, loved and comforted. We had a restless night, but we were together and that's all that matters.
The next morning he had a series of Doctors come through to check on him. Once they saw that the morning X-Ray showed no sign of fluid in his lungs we were free to go! Yay! Discharged, the best word you can hear in a hospital.
His Fontan has been scheduled for OCTOBER 16th! Oh wow! That's just a few weeks away.
