Heart Cath

It's been a couple weeks since I've update on Clayton.  The cath lab called and got us in a lot earlier than I was expecting.  It was probably better that way because I didn't have weeks to agonize over Clayton's heart cath.  So anyway, Clayton had his heart cath last Thursday, August 18th, which was also the first day of school.  Oh well.  Everything went really well.  We checked in at 6am.  They started around 8am, and he was out around 10:30, much sooner than I expected.  He was intubated for the procedure.  Although we haven't heard anything official, the cath lab doctor said the pressures in the lungs were fine, which is one of the main measurements they look for before a Fontan.  They were also looking for collateral veins that often develop in his situation, and they only found one worth coiling off, which is probably why they were done so quickly. 

Clayton was pretty cranky coming out of anesthesia and had a little nausea, but once we moved out of the initial recovery room and into a little more private quarters, he did much better.  A huge thank you to the inventor of the portable DVD player.  Clayton had to lay flat for three hours.  Try telling that to any 5 year old boy in a hospital.  The DVD player was a trememdous help with that.  Clayton was discharged at 1:30pm, and we rested most of the rest of the day.  They entered through veins in his neck and groin.  The neck entry went well, but wow, there was (and still is) some severe bruising at the groin site.  I'm thinking this was partially due to him having to be held down by two nurses and a doctor before I could get back to the recovery unit after the procedure.  It will still be weeks before that goes away.

The next morning Clayton felt up for school, so we let him go.  We live about two minutes from the school, and the teacher said she'd call me if she had any concerns.  Everything went great with that, and he even went to his first t-ball practice that night.

The information collected in the cath has been sent to Stanford, and they will get back to us with their recommendations for Clayton's surgery.  I have no idea when it will be, but we're hoping to put it off at least a couple months, as Ryan is in a really busy season with work.  We'll see.

Thank goodness that step is over.  Seeing Clayton thrashing around after the cath and begging for something to drink after being intubated sure does make me dread surgery.  I know it will not be fun.