Smith Family Journey: Cath results

It's a day like Tuesday, a day where prayer was so specifically answered, that cements for me this: The God of the Bible is a God that cares about the details of my life.

... He keeps a record of my tears {Psalm 56:6}.

... He numbers every hair on my head {Luke 12:7}

... He goes before me and he follows me {Psalm 139:5}

I know I should just jump right to the details of the cath, but I couldn't not share my heart too. God was good to us on Tuesday. He is good today and He is still good if Tuesday's news would have been different.

Tuesday will be a day Roger and I can point each other to — and hopefully point others to — when doubts and fears try to steal what we know to be true. It's so simple, but it changes everything: God cares!

We have spent the last several months praying that God would be clear as we move through these medical tests with Luke ... that HE would help us make good decisions and that HE would direct our paths.

The results of Tuesday's catheterization is one more piece confirming our peace to not move forward with Luke's next open-heart surgery right now.

Ready for some answered prayer?

Luke's cold was completely gone by Monday.
There was so little anxiety (for Luke I should clarify) leading up to the big day. He actually said on Sunday, "I wish it were Monday because then I would be closer to my cath." Granted, his logic included his post-cath pet, but still. What a huge blessing to this mama's heart.
Luke was safe and protected in the cath lab. Anesthesia went beautifully with the amazing Dr. Lord and Dr. Belotti got easy access through the femoral artery and jugular vein.
The numbers were AMAZING! His Glenn pressures were 11-12 which makes him an excellent candidate for the Fontan when we decide to move forward. His filling pressure was beautiful, the squeeze and relax of his heart measured healthy. His pulmonary arteries are a nice, big size and aortic arch gradient was 10, meaning no need to balloon or stent Luke's coarctation.
Dr. Belotti did find a pretty big collateral vessel coming off his aorta and twisting and turning a while until dumping back into his pulmonary arteries (basically a totally useless circuit). He placed two coils in the vessel, which blocks all blood flow. This went well and his late afternoon chest x-ray showed the placement to be just where Dr. B. expected.
NO OTHER SIGNIFICANT COLLATERALS. If Luke had been developing AVMs (arteriovenous malformations), this would most likely move us forward to the Fontan. This is actually pretty astounding and unexpected that Luke has not developed these. He had a few tiny spidery collaterals coming off his aorta, but nothing needing intervention.
So, his recovery. A lot of prayer was said for these four to six hours post-cath. I had one friend text me that she was praying that Luke would come out of anesthesia completely differently than he ever had. It was so clearly God because our experience on Tuesday was so radically different. For the first time ever, Luke slept for two hours after his procedure. He slept through that cranky, irrational, agitated stage. He was able to nod or shake his head and take a sip of apple juice, but then he would go right back to a deep sleep. About two hours into his recovery, he started opening his eyes and asking for apple juice. No thrashing, no crying, no us having to hold his legs down to protect his groin site. It's been a few days and I am still a little stunned with how calm he was. Luke's first grade teacher (and our dear, dear friend) came by to bring us snacks and treats and Luke two new DVDs since we planned on staying the night. He loved having her there, talking about school friends and reading group and the upcoming Flag Day concert (BIG deal around these parts ... Luke is the Bald Eagle in the play). Before we knew it, he was able to raise his bed a little more and he ordered a lunch of chicken nuggets. He played a little on the iPad and we laughed through some Mad Libs.
After Dr. Belotti saw his chest X-ray, he told us he was comfortable letting us go home if we were. I'm pretty sure our anesthesiologist championed this idea for us. This guy is awesome. He even called later that night to check on Luke and to tell us again that he was proud of us for seeking second opinions in Luke's case. So after a second dose of IV antibiotics and the removal of all the leads, wound tape, and IV, we were on our way home by 6pm! Obviously, we would have survived spending one night in the hospital, but to not have to was a huge gift. I'll take my bed any day.

It's Sunday morning now and Luke says he's 98% back to normal :) I'd say. He played outside with the neighbor kids from noon until bedtime last night, coming in only for pizza. He's back to school and except for a little post-cath heartburn, his recovery was as smooth as can be.