We had Lia's cath on Tuesday morning as planned. I was a little concerned about doing it because she had some minor congestion going into it, but they gave us the green light anyway. I thought that I was in the back of my head trying to come up with a reason to put it off because I dreaded it so much. It turns out she did end up having some complications probably related to the cold that was brewing before the cath.
The cardiac cath procedure in itself was fine. They did find a minor narrowing in her aortic arch (one of the things repaired in the first surgery). They went in with a balloon and widened the arch. They said it was an extremely slight narrowing, but because of having to intervene they decided to keep Lia overnight for observation. While in recovery after the procedure we had a hard time getting her off her oxygen. She ended up being on oxygen for the majority of her hospital stay...probably because of the viral respiratory infection she had prior to the procedure. Anyway, long story short, we were able to finally come home late last night. She's doing okay, just trying to get over this cold. With most babies, a common cold is nothing. To Lia though, it's a huge deal. If she gets too congested to eat, she gets dehydrated and her tiny shunt can clot off. If she can't breathe well, it lowers her already compromised oxygenation. To say the least, the last few days have been stressful for us.
She went in early this morning to see her pediatrition, mostly so she could get her eyes on her before the weekend. She said she looked fine. Her lungs sounded clear and her oxygen sats are mid 70's which is normal for her. We'll just keep up the humidifier and saline drops until she works this out. Please pray that she gets over this quickly without getting any worse. Also, please pray that she keeps eating well. That's been such a struggle for the first 3 months of her life, she needs to keep it up now even if she feels lousy. The doctors keep telling us that after her next surgery, things like this are alot easier. I hope and trust that they are right.
As usual, I've posted some recent pics of Lia. The first one is of her "playing" with a cute little toy from the recovery room. She looks like a big girl in that one. The next one is of her right after her heart cath as she was waking up. She honestly looked like a little angel.
Thanks for the calls, texts, and emails checking on us. Lia's a little toughie...we'll get through this. My college roommate wanted to change up our blog layout for us...it looks adorable. Thanks, Nikki. Most of all, once again, we are grateful for your prayers. Prayer has become the centerpoint of our lives now. We depend on it. Shouldn't we have always been living our life this way? Thank you Lia. We love you so much.
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