Post-Catheter Update

The procedure went well! We don't have all of the answers yet, as the final debrief with the doctors will be this afternoon.

What we do know:

-The evil extra vein that showed up in the echogram they did the other week turned out to be a vein that the surgeon had actually closed off! So it is of no concern at all and can be ignored. There must have been some miscommunication/lack of communication between our cardiologists and the surgeon for them to have not figured this out prior to today's heart catheter. But, no matter--this is very, very good news.

-They found that Grant does have elevated pulmonary pressure (the blood that is coming from the lungs into Grant's heart is flowing faster than they want--kinda like when you put your thumb on the end of a garden hose and it makes the water shoot out faster). There is nothing they can do except give Grant time to see of he'll improve. We haven't yet talked about probabilities, long-term impact, etc. We hope to know more soon.

-They discovered that Grant is anemic (he has low levels of red blood cells) which may be contributing to the elevated pulmonary pressure. He had a blood transfusion during his surgery, so this just recently developed as his own blood became a larger and larger percentage of the whole. The short term solution is medication, but we haven't yet talked with them about the cause, how to fix it for good, long term ramifications, etc.

-As Shannon posted, the gut-doctor put Grant on Zantac to treat his bad acid reflux. It is such a relief that Grant's horrific suffering wasn't linked to his heart! He has already gotten quite a bit better. We're going to be taking Grant's nose tube out next week to see if he'll eat enough through the bottle. We think he will which will make our life so much easier, increase the sleep we're getting and will help with the acid reflux.

Our cardiologist that did the cath said "we're not out of the woods yet...". By that he means that if the pulmonary pressures don't improve and the anemia isn't fixed, then worst case scenario is another open heart surgery. Yuck.

As I've been typing this Grant should have awakened from his sedation...but he hasn't. If he doesn't wake in the next 45 minutes then he'll have to stay the night (bummer). And they would then do a blood transfusion while we're here to improve his red blood cell count.

Well, we may not be out of the woods yet, but we certainly see the end of the forest and we're making a beeline for it.

Shannon and I are doing well and are so thankful for all of your love, prayer, care and support.