Angie & Jim

The Next Few Daysby Jim

The doctors just came and chatted with us.  They talked to us about what they want to do over the next few days.  They are still not sure why her oxygen levels are so low, so they want to do some tests.  The lung doctors can’t do what they normally do because Angie’s plumbing is a little different than usual and the results won’t be very telling.  Instead, they want to do another catheterization and look specifically around the lungs and see if there is blood mixing.  If the reason her saturation levels are so low is that oxygen poor blood is mixing with oxygen rich blood by a shunt, the doctor doing the catheterization has some ability to do repairs and block off the area that is mixing.  One of the doctors this morning said this wasn’t uncommon for fontan patients like Angie.  If they don’t find any mixing blood then they believe it is Hepatopulmonary Syndrome, which is a liver-lung interaction problem and unfortunately, the only thing they can do for that is to put her on supplemental oxygen — the same thing they’re doing now.  We’re hoping that isn’t the case, since she can hardly stand up without having problems.

The doctor that does the catheterizations, Dr. Perry, has been doing them for decades and is very good at his job.  They want him to do it and he’s not in today.  They will wait until tomorrow morning and see if he can fit her into his schedule.  So, the earliest they could do it is tomorrow morning, but it may not be until later in the week.  It all depends on their schedule and availability.

We’re hoping and praying for the best.