Sorry for the lack of posts… things have been going extremely well and we are slowly getting back to our normal lives. John has been busy with marching band and music jobs, the kids are getting ready to start school and I have gone back to work. Andrew is doing extremely well at home and that has been confirmed by a couple of doctor visits.
First, we saw Dr. Pearl, Andrew’s surgeon and Kristen, CV Surgery NP, last Friday. Andrew had a chest x-ray as well. They took a look and listen to Andrew and studied the x-ray and determined that he is healing very well. Kristen removed the steristrips on Andrew’s chest and told him that he could now go swimming. He was so excited to be able to get back into the pool. We don’t have to go back and see them unless there is an issue. Yay!!!
Today was our first post-op cardiology visit with Dr. Lindblade. He also is very impressed with how well our little rock star is doing. His incision continues to heal well and his lungs sound clear. He weighed in at just over 26lbs (12kg) and his sats were in the low 90′s (Yay!!!). Everything else was pretty normal. No real concerns, but also not ready to wean meds yet. So we remain on Enalapril (2.5mg per day), Amiodarone (60mg per day), Lasix (30mg per day), Aldactone (20mg per day), Sildenafil (18mg per day), Digoxin (50mcg per day), Aspirin (81mg per day) and Coumadin (0.5mg). Andrew’s INR was 4.3 today (should be between 2 and 3), so we will skip tonight’s and tomorrow’s doses and restart on Saturday.
Cardiology is going to keep us on a pretty short leash for awhile. Andrew will go back for another INR check on Tuesday and we are hoping to find a happy medium. This is still a scary drug for us… if he hits his head, it is a trip to the ER for a CT scan. For Andrew, a bonk on the head is pretty common… we are starting a pool for how many ER co-pays (only head or bleeding issues count) we can rack up by the end of the year! If you want to take a guess, let me know.
We go back to see Dr. Lindblade in 2 weeks and will have another chest x-ray to check for effusions (fluid leaking into his chest). If all is going well at this time and the x-ray is clear, then we may be able to begin to wean some meds. At that time Andrew may also be released back to school. If so, then he will only miss the first week of school. At that appointment we will also do a Holter Monitor to check on his heart rhythm and make sure that we are still not having issues.
Overall, Andrew is doing great! He has lots of energy and lots of appetite! Thanks for checking in on us!
