Post Op Cardiology Appointment

Owen had a post op cardiology appointment this morning. It has been so long since we've been down to Phoenix Children's. The new hospital is done on the outside.. just like that. They were just breaking ground last time we were around.



We ran into NP Schaffer at cardiology and she hasn't seen Owen since he was just a few months old. How time flies. We also ran into one of our favorite nurses who used to work out of the east valley office, where we normally go. It's always fun to see familiar faces.



Dr Stock checked out Owen's post-op echo and said "WOW!" Owen's successful valve repair and recovery are really amazing. He is still on his super human doses of medications and we'll leave them for now. I am playing around with his diuretics at home to find a balance, but I think I found it. Dr Stock sounds confident that Owen will be a Fontan patient very soon! That is HUGE!!



For those of you that don't know... there are three palliative surgeries for Owen's diagnosis of HLHS. Owen had the first surgery at 7 days old, the second at 3 months, and the third is the Fontan. Owen has never been a candidate for the Fontan, which is why we were led to Stanford two years ago for transplant. Over time, his pressures have significantly dropped. As of September, talks of a possible Fontan were back on the table. In December, we met Dr Hanley and had a cardiac MRI done to further evaluate. If this valve repair is successful (and it is!) AND Owen's heart function remains only slightly decreased, then the Fontan will happen!



We will watch him closely through echos and a possible MRI or/and Cath in the next 4-6 months. It appears from post op echos that his function might be slightly better, which leaves me speechless. If things continue on this path.. then Owen will have the third stage surgery (his 4th) in the coming months!!



I had a lot of free time to talk to the nurses while at LPCH this past week. I picked their brains about post Fontan patients to get an idea of length of stay, how they recovered, ect. They said the chylothorax is what keeps them in the hospital the longest. It is not uncommon after the Fontan procedure and is basically fatty pockets of fluid around the lungs that can only be drained using diuretics and chest tubes. Owen dealt with this for 3 weeks post Glenn and it was not fun! They put him on a fat free formula/diet for six weeks following.



This leads into my question for Dr Stock today... what if I put Owen on a fat free diet PRIOR to the Fontan? Will it help decrease the chance of him developing Chylo or will it at least decrease the amount of fluid buildup? He really didn't have an answer but said that is something to really consider. He is going to look into it and ask around. Has anyone tried this or asked their cardiologist?



Owen still has a few sutures around his sternum that need cut and pulled out. The surgery team at Stanford said they pull them on day 11 post op. Since we are 800 miles away, they said to figure it out when we got home. Dr Stock is not the guy to pull sutures from Owen, so I walked over to Dr Pearl's office and set up an appointment for Wednesday. Dr P was Owen's surgeon for the first two surgeries. He's such a cool surgeon and I'm sure he won't mind pulling out another surgeon's stitchwork.



After suture removal, we'll head over to the hospital for another chest xray to make sure there aren't any pleural effusions building up in Owen's lungs. Then he'll have another echo and visit with Dr Stock on March 1st.



Whoa. That was a lot of medical talk.



Owen is healing up nicely.. still tired and SO sore. He's only 8 days post op so that is to be expected. I'm sure I'd still be in the hospital with a morphine pump if it were me.



It's nice to be back in a routine at home. I missed packing lunch for Kamryn and dropping her off at school. Owen wakes from his nap and says "time to get Bobo!!" His only outings are car rides and doctors' appointment for a few weeks until he heals up.



I missed having a warm body in my bed and a quiet house. It's good to be home.