Cath Day Update #1

I'm here in the waiting room of the outpatient procedure area here at Christ/Hope Hospital in Oak Lawn.  Olivia's been with the medical staff now for about 30 minutes.  It seems like their process has gotten a lot smoother since the last time we had to do this 18 months ago.  They gave her some Versed orally to relax her before they took her back seeing how ferocious she was becoming and she still fought.

The outlook right now is an overnight stay.  For all you heart parents, they are going to try to go in through her arm and use the neck as a last resort entry point.  They want to review and coil off any collaterals they can reach, balloon her LPA and they mentioned some narrowing on the Aortic Arch.  Triple blah if you ask me.  It's not unexpected news but I was hoping for a same day discharge and now she's going to have to endure the overnight stay and up the anxiety a bit.

The doctors set the expectation that this will be about a three hour deal, so we should hear something in another hour or so.  I'll update as information becomes available.  Thanks for hanging in there with us!