Luke gets an A+ from Dr. S.

This was the longest we have gone in between cardiology appointments (2 months) and I was anxious to have Dr. Stefanelli get his eyes (and stethoscope!) on Luke. I had noticed the week or so before this appointment that Luke's hands and feet were turning a little more "blue" when he was cold than they ever had before. In all other ways, he seemed fine, but I was a little nervous about this change in his coloring.

Before our appointment, we headed over to radiology for a chest x-ray and got to say hello to all our x-ray friends. They are fantastic there, so quick and good with Luke. I zipped Luke back into his jammies and walked over to Stefanelli's. They did the usual tests, ECG, blood pressure, weight and height, and sat's. Everything looked great, and I was shocked to see his sat's the highest they have ever been — between 88 and 90%. I had myself convinced they had dropped.

Dr. S. came in with the news that Luke's chest x-ray was completely clear and dry. This is the FIRST time since his Glenn back in August that he's had no traces of pleural effusions in his lungs. Praise the Lord! Because of his clear lungs, we are dropping one of Luke's Lasix doses. He now gets only one dose per day of Lasix and one dose per day of another diuretic, Diuril. Nothing makes us happier than dropping doses! Luke will continue his same dose of Enalapril (his blood pressure medicine) and his same dose of Spironolactone (a potassium-sparing diuretic). The only other change is increasing his aspirin dose from 1/2 tablet every other day to 1 full tablet every other day. He will be on an aspirin regimen for life.

Dr. Stefanelli quickly reassured me that the slight discoloration in Luke's extremities is completely normal for these single ventricle kids, that even though his heart is fairly efficient at this point, it's still a lot to ask for his one ventricle to pump blood to the entire body while at the same time perfusing his blood with good oxygen all the way down to his toes. This info was definitely a huge relief.

After our check-up, we made our rounds through the office to say hello to our friends on staff at Northwest Children's Heart Care Center. I am so incredibly thankful for that office and their love and care for us. You would be hard-pressed to find a kinder, more capable group of people to care for your child.