So the rest of the afternoon was spent signing consent forms with the anaesthetist and the cardiologist and getting an understanding of what they would be doing. It was mentioned that the Left Pulmonary Artery (LPA) still looked narrow and a decision would be made during the catheter what to do next with it.
Cameron was the 2nd child on the list for the catheter the next morning and did remarkably well with no drink or food during this time. His last drink was about 3.30 am. At about 10.00am he was given a pre-med as he was VERY hyper, running around, and up and down the corridors. The anaesthetist decided upon seeing all this that I might be a good idea to calm him down to get his heart rate down a bit but the med didn’t work and he pretty much just the same. We distracted and played with him in the Hospital Play room.
Then at 11.00am Chris and I both went down to the catheter lab with him and the nurse talked away and blew bubbles for him (which he loved and squealed away at) until it was time to take him in. I donned the shoe covers and other garb and took him in, and about 10 – 15 seconds after I held the mask near his nose he drifted off … At 2.45pm we got a call from Dr Clare O’Donnell (Cameron’s cardiologist) and she told us that they didn’t coiled anything but they did have to balloon the PA and that we could come and see him in recovery in about an hour.
After the final catheter for the day the cardiologist came and talked to us in HDU – where Cameron was for recovery as he was very upset upon waking and his sats were in the low 70’s. She outlined that they did have to balloon his PA (as expected) as it was moderately Hypoplastic (& in fact it had a real kink in it) as was 5mm, then 3mm, then 5mm, so a fair amount has now been ballooned to 8mm & they hope with the increased blood flow the rest will grow to this size. There were also a large number of collaterals but at this stage they are going to leave them. She said if they were doing the Fontan next month say, they would coil them now. but because it is not this year they will leave them, then do the fontan at the end of 2006, or early 2007, and following this, check to see what effect the colls & anything else have on the pressures & fix them afterwards ...
We had a real good talk about what was done, to be done & she showed me all the angiograms & showed me a slideshow of the LPA being dilated & the RIMA where there are collaterals & the LIMA (which was coiled last time & showed me the effect on the colls (as in none there anymore) & a few x-ray pictures, & the sonographer went thru the echos with me. She also sat down and went through all my questions I had after the Catheter & then the next morning went through my general questions I had about HLHS.
The only bad thing that happened was that Cam had really really bad swelling in the face the morning (about 3am) after & so had to be observed for most of the morning & afternoon ... we don't know if it was because of the increased blood flow through the PA or whether an artery in the neck got pressed or nicked when they did the angiogram or whether it was a reaction to the dye/meds ... but we stayed close to the hospital overnight so if it happened again he would be re-admitted, but it looked fine this morning so Cam and I were able to fly home EARLY in the morning 6.15 bus & 7.30 flight ...
Chris had his flight the night before but because we got ours booked late by the hospital we missed out, as it was the start of school holidays.... so we got to stay at RMH in Auckland.
We were pleased to be home, and we think Michael was more excited to see Cameron then he was us - they were being really funny hugging each other & pointing to each other & kissing ... ooohhhh!
We also met 2 other HLHS families - both whose babies are either coming up to the Glenn. (& also heard of another family just around the coast from where we live) - so they were interested to see how well Cameron looked & have a chat & ask questions.
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