No Answers Yet

Summary:
They aren't sure why Grant has regressed a bit. He is actually about 20% better than yesterday morning, but still not good enough to call this little episode just a bump in the road. They are considering a bunch of theories regarding the cause and they'll decide tomorrow what to do. Please pray that Grant's lungs and heart heal and that the doctors have wisdom about what to do next.

Details:
They have several theories about what may be causing Grant's regression...

-An infection, though I think they actually ruled that out.

-A hidden virus that is sapping up the tiny energy reserves Grant has, therefore causing his heart to struggle to do its job. Solution: hang out in the hospital until it clears.

-The x-rays of the lungs aren't horrible...but they aren't as good as they would like and expect at this stage in Grant's recovery. But they don't think it's likely that their condition would be causing the level of struggle Grant is experiencing, but it could play a role. Solution: There isn't one, really. They still hope and expect the lungs to get with the program and heal up completely, but they can't be for sure that they will.

-Just before we left the hospital December 28th, they did a final echogram (similar to an ultrasound) on Grant's heart, and lo-and-behold, they saw another rogue vein staggering off into Nowhereville that they didn't know about when they first did the surgery. They discussed it with the surgeon who argued back that he had Grant wide-open during surgery and made sure there were no naughty veins in places they shouldn't be. He asserted that the echogram must be mistaken (they aren't the most precise tools, understand). There was evidence to support his view--Grant's oxygen levels, heart rate and breathing rate were all in the range of what they expected at the time. So, whether the vein was there or not mattered little because if it was there it was small enough to not cause much of a problem anyway. They surmised that it may never cause a problem and could just be left alone (kind of like an appendix). They would plan to do some more tests down the road to see if it was really there and to just keep an eye on things.

While I love our surgeon's conviction (and trust and respect him completely, by the way), it appears from the new echogram they did today that the infamous vein does indeed exist. However, from what they can see, it still doesn't seem like it would be to blame for Grant's current condition, either. But they can't be for sure from just an echogram. Solution: They'll do a heart catheterization (that's where they shove a tube up a vein in his arm or leg into his heart so they can examine it). That'll give them the data they need to determine if the weirdo vein is causing any problems. If it is, there is a chance they can do something about it right then and there with no extra invasive surgery required (whew!). They would prefer to wait a week to do this so they can rule out the virus theory 100%, but they may do it tomorrow anyway; they're just not sure yet.

So, there you have it. Shannon is doing fantastic and I'm so thankful for that. Thanks for being faithful readers and pray-ers!