Update of her cath....

Hey everyone-

Sorry for the late post, Been a busy few days.  During her cath she decided to throw a curve ball. As I predicted prior to her cath, I knew her left artery with one of her stents would need work. Mama always knows :)  Her doctor came out around 11:30 and said that her heart pressures were worse and she had an artery in her left lower lobe (the one with the stent) which was significantly occluded (blocked) off. The actual size should have been between 10-12 mm and it was about 4mm.  Her pressures in the right heart were back up above to even on both sides close to 80.  Which was higher than her last cath in the summer. He said since she is only getting about 47A% blood flow to her right side this is putting strain on her and he wants to try and balance her as much as possible. So he was very firm about wanting to take care of the issue that day, if possible. He had already accessed her via the neck and groin, and administered Heparin (a blood thinner). Due to him doing so, getting a catheter with a stent through the neck to this area would be very difficult, but he would try.  Otherwise, he would need to bring her back another day because accessing through the liver at this time (because it is so vascular with blood) would be dangerous for her due to the blood thinner. Great.....Jenna of course wanted to show Dr. H who was running this show.  LOL   This was his second cath with her and I knew it would be a little more complicated. He said it would be at least two more hours before he finished and then he would update us.

Sooooo......two hours later he came out, just as he said.  He explained that unfortunately as he expected, he was unable to get a stent to the area needed. However, he was able to balloon (stretch) the area open with high pressure and was able to keep it open to the size needed.  He was very pleased with this and her pressures lowered as well. We were thrilled.  He provided pictures to me to show the change and it was great.  He said her heart function and output was unchanged, which was good. However, at this point he is not sure about if the medication is working for her. So, with that said he does not want to make any changes. He said that because he opened a new area to give better blood flow there, it was not meant to make a difference with the medication.  He said it is a very complicated process, that we are still trying to understand if it will even work on Jenna. He said the purpose of the medication is to "remodel" her arteries to be open and allow better flow to help lower pressures. So the effect of the medication can take time.  So he was happy with just giving her more balanced flow to help with fatigue and he hopes that in time the medication will help also.  He wants to see her in 6 months for another heart cath to see where our next will be.  He performed a lung scan the day after her cath to see if the blood changed from the day before and of course it didn't. She is getting about 57% to her left lung and 43% to her right. He was disappointed I think, but she is doing well and he was pleased that she tolerated the procedure well. That is what matters. He stopped by to see her that evening and played with her legos a little, answered questions and said she did great. So she a fairly quiet evening, she remained on oxygen until the next morning which is her normal after getting anesthesia, she likes to drop in her oxygen levels. She had a great night, loved her nurse because it was a boy (haha-she is such a flirt) and she enjoyed seeing those who love her so much there.  They could not believe how big she was getting and how much she was talking.  At one point in the stay, I was ordering her dinner on the phone and my mom was sitting in the chair reading and next thing we know we hear "can I help you" over the intercom and Jenna responds "yeah, there's something wrong with my tv, can you get my nurse?" I got off the phone and I said seriously Jenna?! She said well you were busy and I needed help. Mind you the nurse had showed her about 30 minutes before this, if you need me for anything, press this red button. Boy, she will regret that soon enough lol! She is hilarious!

So the next day we made the trip home, she slept and relaxed. Thankfully she had gained her appetite back, which didn't take long. When we got home, daddy was there and he was feeling much better, which made her happy since he was unable to be with us. I was very fortunate to have my mom be able to make the trip since he was sick.  She returned to school today and was thrilled. She got lots of homework to make up, which she felt she had to do all tonight, but I told her it was not necessary. She tries so hard.  Mama returned to school today and worked, so I am quite tired.  It is going to be busy, I started my third semester and nursing school and I can't believe it. I want to say thanks to everyone who prayed and thought about her and us during this time, it means so much to us. We can't truly say it enough.  I will try to keep everyone posted on how she is, but know that she will have her next procedure in the summer unless something changes. We love you all!!