One Lucky Boy

Today was not anything like I had thought it would be. Going into this week, I really thought that Dr. N was going to come out of the Heart Cath Lab and tell me there was no need to close the hole as it wasn't causing any problems. That is not quite how it went down...

I was extremely nervous and emotional this morning. Much more then I usually am, even on surgery days. I was trying to stay strong for Alex, but I was really worried. We had to leave the hotel at 6:15 for the hospital. We were brought back into pre-op about 7:15 and waited and chatted while multiple people came in to discuss the procedure and have me sign consent. Alex did great. He was a little nervous, but played and held it together. Around 8:45, we were brought down to the Heart Cath lab. Alex had a few tears ( as did I), but he was asleep when I left him at 9:00. They still needed to get him prepped and finish administering anesthesia and getting him intubated. I have to brag on the heart cath lab here as the two nurses were INCREDIBLE about keeping me updated. I got my first call at 9:45 to let me know they were just gaining access to the groin to start. They had told me it would take an hour to an hour and a half to do all the testing and determine if the hole warranted closing. To my surprise the next call came at 10:05 to let us know that they had enough data to close. At 11:00 they told me they were still working and did not have the device placed yet. They finished at 11:45 and Dr. N called us into the conference room. I was shocked with the news. They do a test called the bubble test. They inject bubbles through an IV and if the bubbles cross the ASD and into the brain it is considered positive. Three or more bubbles warrants closing. Alex had about 80 bubbles cross into his brain. They feel we are extremely lucky that we found this and that Alex's previous DVT did not cause a stroke. The other news to surprise us is that the DVT is still present and occluding his femoral vein. When they injected the die it had to use "collateral" veins to get around that spot. We should see hematology tomorrow to discuss this and if any treatment is warranted.

Alex has done okay the rest of the day. Once again he had a seizure while going under despite a loading dose of the medication we use to stop his seizures. The anesthesiologist feels like we need to hook him up to an EEG the next time he has anesthesia to see exactly what is going on and if we can continue to safely use one med. Alex has had a minor allergic reaction to something causing a rash and itching on his back and legs and swelling in his face. Then he had red man syndrome from his antibiotic despite treatment so it is being run four times slower then the norm. He has also been running a temp all afternoon. We are hopeful it is just his "usual" post anesthesia fever. However, we are watching closely as Dr. N was concerned about infection because the end of his central line sits right where they were working.

We are very tired. Alex is already sleeping and I am hoping to join him soon. I will update tomorrow. Thank you to everyone who prayed for us today.
Ali