So we got home last night around 6:30. Zoe did great. her cardiac cath took around 2 hours. She came out of anesethia great, a little groggy and cranky but not needing much oxygen at all. I got to go back to the recovery room with her because she was so upset- probably due to the tubes and moniters attatched to her. She settled down enough to get moved to the outpatient recovery room where Jason and I sat with her for the next four hours. She did great off oxygen for a while but towards the end of the afternoon she started to get a bit blue so we put her on a whiff of O2 for the ride home and the night. She is still on it this morning and proably will be for a few days. She's never had surgery before when she wasn't on O2 and I think she is still delicate enough that she need a bit of support- especially when she is so exhausted. She was back to her happy, chatty self for the car ride home. The most exciting part of the car trip home was that we stopped to get some dinner at McDonalds and Zoe sucked/ mauled french friesin her mouth for the next hour or so-- SOOOO Exciting! I told her I'd go get her feench fries every day as long as she'll put them in her mouth.
The results of her cardiac cath were pretty much as expected. Her lung pressures are still in the 70's (normal is 30's). The blood flow between the upper chambers of her heart is only going one direction through the home in her heart- this is good- it means pressures are decreasing enough that blood flow is more effective. Her lungs also responded well to O2 and Nitric gas which means that they are still growing and able to expand. There was talk about potentially closing the ASD (upper hole in her heart) but they decided not to because for right now it is still helping her. She also has a shunt right outside of her heart (PDA) that is largerthan was originally thought and might be contributing to the hypertension, so now her cardiologist is thinking about closing that off and seeing if that might help lower lung pressures. We won't know for a few months what the desicion on that will be, but it should be another procedure that can be done through a cardiac cath, not open heart surgery. We'll keep you posted.
Zoe's doing good today, still abit sleepy and snuggly, but nothing wrong with that. She has to be a bit careful for a day or so about too much activity so Zoe and I are going to have a movie day and chill out on the couch- YEAH! Thank you so much for all the well wishes sent our way, we appreciate them so much. Zoe never ceases to amaze us with her strength and will to live.
waiting for surgery
French fries are yummy!!!!
