Elijah's cardiology check-up with Dr. Gremmels went great. His oxygen sats were at 82%, which is perfect for him at the present time. Dr. G is having us decrease his Lasix dosage from twice/day to once/day. In two weeks if he shows no signs of congestive heart failure, we are to stop the medication completely. If this goes as planned, it will be the first time that he's ever been medication-free! Elijah's next open-heart surgery will occur when his oxygen sats creep down to the 60% mark. His lowering sats will be our way of knowing that he is outgrowing the shunt that is currently acting as his pulmonary valve. Basically, the faster he grows, the sooner surgery will be. He has historically been a pretty fast grower, so this surgery may come sooner than we anticipated. This will be the Big One.
Elijah also has a surgery coming up this winter to fix his hypospadias, another defect he was born with where his urethra did not fully develop. This surgery will involve redirecting the urethra and reconstructing its surrounding tissue. We're hoping to get this out of the way before it's time for the Big One.
Oh and the most exciting part about today's visit? Unless something unforeseen happens, we don't have to take Elijah back for a cardiology visit for THREE WHOLE MONTHS!
p.s. Pepino bailarin....dancing cucumber!....pepino bailarin...dancing cucumber!...pepino bailarin....baila, baila, ya!
Sorry, too much Veggie Tales!
9 comments:
I remember the days when we wished for sats in the 80s....wait until you see 100 on the screen...it will bring tears to your eyes. We will all be here to hug you when the big day comes!
SUCH good news, love. 3 whole months????? YAY!!!!! You guys deservingly get the holidays off.
xoxo.
Thinking good thoughts for your lil pumpkin.
Megan,
Thank you for checking up on Arianna. I took 2 hours and read through Elijah's entire blog. WOW, he is an amazing little man. So strong and has been through so much. I know you all are so proud of him cause I certainly am. I will be keeping Elijah in my prayers. I am so happy to have met another heart family. I look forward to talking with you more.
By the way I really love your blog. I was curious, how do you start a blog? Caringbridge is nice but I can't post many pictures or videos.
God Bless
Wow... exciting news...
but dang, I still think 82% is low..but that's just me...
I'm become so used to being in the 90's...
and I can't imagine going to the
60's... yikes...
Isn't annie so sweet.. she's one of my favs...
Yay on the 3 months....
just wait until it's every 6 months...
you'll really be snoopy dancin...
Hugs you guys...
Yea Elijah! :)
So glad you got a great report from the cardio doc! 3 months is awesome...prayin' that he has a super holiday season!
I think you'll really see some great improvement with the therapies...Kate has been getting PT & OT for a year...and it has made a huge difference...especially in teaching me tricks and positioning tactics! Kate's highest score: "social" I guess these heart kids are just layed back social kids from the get-go!
Hope you and Dan have (had) a great date night tonight!
P.S. Oh, Where Is My Hairbrush??
Right now for Elijah's SAT's to be in the low 80's is best for him. We are weaning him off his Lasix and if his heart has to work any harder we couldn't do that.
For the next several months if he's the 75 - 85 range his cardiologist is happy and so are we. Yes that's lower than normal but his heart has yet to be fully reparied. As he out grows his shunt and his SATs drop (60's range) we will pick a surgery date. After that day his heart and lungs will be ready for %100 O2 saturation. Elijah is right where he needs to be at this point and we are so grateful for our cardioligist and surgeon, he is in very good hands.
Dan
You two will be experts in cardiology soon... maybe it is a career you can look into???
I am glad Eli is doing well...
Sleep is sooooo important to us all... (i say through half shut eyes as I finish my lunch and head back to work..boohoo)
So glad you are getting good news! :) I hope that you have a nice long break before the Big One hits. We'll be praying all along the way.
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