Cath and MRI Results

We got to see Mason around 5 hours after we left him.  They called with hourly updates which is always nice.  When he was done his cardiologist came in and went over the results with us.  She started by telling us he did really good and all the measurements were where they love to have them.  Just as the echo showed his left ventricle is normal size, music to our ears.  Then she went on to tell us that the left pressure in his heart is a little higher than she likes to see, it isn't alarming but something to watch.  It is at a 12 and ideal would be around 7 or 8.  If it gets higher after surgery, which is a pretty high possibility due to his heart taking more flow, then it can be managed by meds but should be watched closely.  Other than the pressure being slightly elevated with his increased measurements he is in the perfect category for the Biventricular Repair, the repair that will take his half a heart to a whole one. She said she has only good expectations for Mason's recovery.  They had to coil(occlude) some collaterals(new formed vessels in the heart that shouldn't be here and compete with the ones that are supposed to be there) in his heart.  They had to do this last time also so it was nothing new.  With the length of the procedures done and with the coiling he has to stay the night in the hospital tonight.  He isn't very happy about it.  He is pretty puffy in the face from the fluids given and having to lay flat for 6 hours after his cath, which he did amazing at and didn't complain once about having to lay flat that long.  When we got to the floor where we are sleeping tonight and he was able to get up the first place the sent him is to get a chest xray.  He sat still for them to get the pictures and then we took him on a walk in a little car as a reward for being so good.  He had to have an extra pokey tonight to check his hematocrit, blood levels, to make sure he didn't loose any blood during the procedures.  He got to pick out a prize for letting them draw his blood and got to go on another walk in his car.  Surgery is scheduled for 7:30am Friday morning.  The surgeon should be in tomorrow to sign consents and go over the surgery with us.  Thursday he gets the day off from the hospital and doctors which will be nice to spend time together the day before surgery.  Like always everyone is in love with Mason and nurses who aren't even his come by to tell him hi and see how cute he is.  His doctor came back after she left to tell us how big of a fan club he has with all the nurses.  He is a very loved kid.

 

 Right after the cath, he was still kind of out of it

 

 Sleepy boy trying to smile

 

 His first walk in the car, You can see how puffy he is in this pic

 

 Taking Blankie and Aggie for a car ride

 

This picture is "worth a thousand words" as said by his cardiologist when she emailed it to me.  His left ventricle growth is so great.  The bottom diamond was before his surgery in June, Second one was a week after his June surgery, and the top red one is how much big it is now.  It has essentially tripled in size!

His Chest xray

all the little spirals are the coils and the round circles up the center are sternal wires that the surgeon uses to close his sternum after surgery.  All this stays in his body so he gets cool xrays like this the rest of his life ;)