22 Hours

This morning we woke up, and began to get ready to head over to Primary's. We slept very hard, but didn't seem to be very long. We got to the PICU, and were greeted with a distinct cry. Chelsea looked at me and said, "That's Kayden." I walked in, and found out that they were adjusting the picc line (probably the 2nd or 3rd time). He handled it pretty well, especially when Chels and I walked into the room. He seemed to calm down a bit, until they had finished. For how terrified she is of needles, Chelsea was there to support her son. Another x-ray was taken to ensure that the catheter had been pulled enough, and was in a good spot. The resident physician told us that the line would remain until surgery.

After the x-ray came the echocardiogram. We were able to be with him for that, to make sure that he was calm, and stayed still. Every time he fussed, we gave him sweeties to calm him down (glucose solution that he REALLY enjoys). He did really well for that screening. The cardiologist then explained that the measurements they had taken last Thursday hadn't changed much, and that the coartation of the transversal aortic arch would probably be the only issue that needed to be addressed at this time. He also mentioned that he believed the surgeon would prefer to go in through his side, rather than through the sternum because of the location of the narrowing.

I was also able to speak to another cardiologist who Chelsea and I spoke with during one of our visits at Primary's nearly 2 months ago. He explained that he was 99% sure that the coarctation was the only part that needed to be fixed, and that the rest would grow by itself. He also explained that about 10% of coarc repairs need to have extensive work done in the future. He also told us that it is fairly common that because of the coarc surgery, the other valves (mitral/aortic) would grow, and be just fine. That gave us more comfort.

Last, but not least, we were told today that Dr. Kaza would be the surgeon, and that he was anticipating surgery at 16:00 tomorrow. We will be discussing the procedure with him, and signing more consent forms before it commences. I have heard of nothing but great comments about Dr. Kaza, as he recently just performed surgery on a baby with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (Kayden's worse-case scenerio in the beginning). We are hopeful that he will be the best for Kayden's situation.