We made it!!!!

Posted Sep 17, 2008 10:51pm

Hello,
Just wanted to update everyone on Jenna's status. Sorry we were not able to get to a computer after she was finished today. Everything went very well, she was only in her procedure for 3 hours, which is great. The doctor originally wanted to go to her left arteries to her lung to help open them up, however when he went in, the catheter led him to the right side. He said that the area which it led him to was different territory which he had never been too before, and it actually had a few narrow areas which he did not know about. He said that since he had made it to this, he wanted to go ahead and work on it, because he was afraid that he may never get back to it since these are very tricky, as he likes to call it. So, he opened up about 6 or 7 arteries which is good. One artery he said was very tough to get open and stay open, so he had to place a steel mesh stent in it. He said that this type of stent can be stretched with her as she grows, so that is good. So we can now add this to the list of her procedures performed. So, after the placement he said that he had used so much dye, that he was not able to go to the left side as planned. So, we will have to come back to do that side in 2-3 months. He wants to give time for the area to heal and be ready to go back in again. He said that we have to be very careful with the vessels in her leg, because going in very often could cause future problems and not allow them to go back in. So, due to the stent being placed and the recent cath done in April and again now, he wanted to place her on a pretty heavy blood thinner (heparin drip) which requires her to be in ICU. He stressed that it is not because she is sick, he just wanted one on one care for her through the night, just in case a blood clot or worse occurred. Which daddy and i did not mind because we wanted extra special care for her.
So, once Jenna came out of anesthesia and was in recovery, she was very cranky and was not happy to be touched. I attempted to hold her, even though she was to be flat, the nurses placed her special in my lap. I attempted to give her apple juice since she had not had anything in over 15 hours, which vomited all over me about 5 minutes later. That was nice. Anyway, we just tried to relax her, which once we went to ICU she went to sleep for about an hour. She did fine lying flat for the most part. She played with her toys, but has rested for most of the evening. She is now able to take milk without getting sick, so hopefully we will be back to a normal diet tomorrow. She will be really happy once she has her IV out.
So, tomorrow the ditician is to come by to discuss diet options to increase her weight since she is only 17 lbs. 7 ounces. She is to have a lung test to measure the percent of blood flow going to her lungs. Right now she is 61 left and 39 right. A normal person is 52-48. So, hopefully since he opened the right more it will increase. We will see. He said that if all goes well, we will be discharged after the test in the morning. Cross our fingers!!
Anyway, so we are scheduled aleady to come back on December 29 for her pre-cath tests (echo, xray, bloodwork, and visit), December 30 for Heart cath, and go home on December 31.
Please be thinking of us tomorrow and wish us well coming home. I will try to let you know as soon as we are discharged. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Love you all,
Jenny, Justin, and Jenna