We've all been teenagers, crazy over someone or other and remember the days of waiting by the phone (or cell in this day and age) just waiting and agonizing over them to call - because heaven forbid you call them first. Waiting on the hospital to call to schedule Olivia's Fontan is like all of that and more. You want the Central Booking to call so badly, just to know the DAY but you don't because you really want to ignore the fact that this surgery is going to happen. The Fontan is set for Olivia and it's going to happen within the next three months.
Her recovery from the cath is going amazing. Her left thigh had virtually no bruising while her right which was occluded has bruising that runs up into her abdomen but doesn't seem to be bothering her in the least. Her left arm is almost completely healed and the right carotid entry is barely noticeable. Trying to keep her from her normal daredevil ways is already proving to be a challenge, but thankfully her sleep habits have almost gone back to normal so I can still consider it a victory. The medicine regimen is the same as pre-cath .7ml of Enalapril - 2x and 1/2 of an 81mg aspirin daily.
One complication I will cite is that I think there was some damage or irritation done to one of her vocal cords during intubation of this last procedure. Liv's voice is still only a fraction of what she had pre-cath and she's having trouble with thin liquids like water without coughing or gagging. She's also realized that if she really wants to she can make herself throw up. I definitely could have done without her learning that little dramatic effect. At this point I'm willing to wait this out and see if it'll get better on it's own before I call up an ENT to give her a look. The less medical intervention the better for Miss Liv from our collective prospective.
"The Call" should come this week - hopefully someone will be there to field it or the office will call Brian and/or my cells to make sure they get in touch with a parent. I've got an entire list of birthdays and anniversaries for all the family to make sure that we stick with tradition and now it's just a matter of hanging tight.
((hugs)) Thinking of you guys as you wait for the call.
ReplyDeleteSending you hugs!!! Glad to hear she's recovering ok and will be praying for sure! FWIW, you might want to get the vocal cord checked out sooner rather than later, only because VCP (Bodie has left sided VCP) can very quickly lead to aspiration - and aspiration can cause pneumonia. Besides the fact that you don't want to deal with pneumonia ever with our kids, it could definitely screw with Fontan timing if she gets pneumonia. :-( It might be something as simple as either watching it or slightly thickening her liquids just to protect that airway, so she can go into the Fontan in tip-top shape. A vocal cord scope, while not pleasant by any means, can be done super quickly by an ENT...
ReplyDelete