Mom here, just worrying as usual. To get you up to speed, since being back in the hospital we have had a few developments. After starting the lasix and another medicine to get all of that extra fluid off your lungs it has really helped and got you back down on your oxygen. You really had a hard time keeping down your feeds so we put a special feeding tube down your nose with the help of x-rays that goes a little further than your tummy so we could bypass your stomach all together. It worked for 2 days until you were able to get your little thumb around the tube an yank it out. You are on IV fluids as we speak. All of these measures were to get you in tip top shape for the heart cath study that was done today.
Well, my man, we are back to doing things the hard way. Although I have to remind myself of just where you came from, but we have hit another small bump in the road.
Let me preface with, you are just fine and safe in the very skilled hands in the PICU. We are here for observation because during your cath, the sedation among other things caused you not to breath a deep as usual and you are not expanding your lungs as much as we would like. During the cath Dr. Armsby measured that the pressures in your pulmonary artery were higher than we thought (pulmonary hypertension) but they really improved when she blocked the extra vessel, the PDA. So... She was able to close it... And congratulations Owen Bear, you got the record for the largest PDA she has closed and she has been doing this for a long time. After that happened, you got a little behind on breathing because of sedation and fluids they gave you during the procedure. That made you have a little pulmonary hypertension crisis so the pressure went up for a little while. They felt that you needed some extra help breathing with CPAP overnight and close observation in the PICU.
The nurses remember you (and me) from the last time we were here and have been very accommodating and reassuring to your mom. We are going to do an x-ray and an echo in the morning to see if we fixed all of the things that made your pressures go up, and then go from there.
It's a fight every step of the way, but a fight you keep winning! Thank you for being strong little bear! Love you!
-Mom
