Update From The Cath Lab

Well, I bring good news and bad news. First the good news, Carter's catheter tests went really well. The doctor tried to insert the catheter into Carter's right leg, but was having a hard time, so they had to do it through the left leg. By doing that we found out another interesting tidbit about our little boy...he is missing his femoral artery in his right leg. I guess he left that in the womb with his ear, palate, piece of his lip, and gall bladder lol! The doc says that he has a bunch of little branches that make up for the missing piece so there's nothing to worry about. The Cath showed that Carter's Hypertension is a very, very small amount. They don't think that it's anything to worry about, although they will continue to watch it on the echocardiograms that he needs for the mass in his heart. This doesn't answer the question as to why Carter still needs Oxygen, so the doctor believes that we should see a pulmonary (lung) doctor. The docs have always thought that Carter's heart was the reason for his O2 needs, but they're finding that's not necessarily the case. It is possible that his aorta is constricting his airway in one place, but they want to rule out any other possibilities before tackling that one.

Now the not so good news. Carter was scheduled to spend the night at the hospital just in case he needed it. Well, he needed it. Not only did that little stinker decide that he wanted to stay in the hospital, he decided that he wanted to stay in the Pediatric ICU. I guess he felt like he wasn't getting enough attention at home. When they first put him under anesthesia and on the ventilator, his CO2 levels shot sky high but they later evened out. They were at 113 where they are typically in the high 50's or 60's and even those levels always get the docs worried. The docs felt like it was the right thing to do to send him to the ICU. He's off the vent now, but on a high-flow O2 mask which is a step down from what he was on at home. He will definitely be spending the night there tonight, and will hopefully come home tomorrow however it's very likely that he'll be there until at least Sunday. We've played this game before though, and aren't going to get our hopes up. They have given him a blood transfusion since they had to take a lot of it during his test. Hopefully our little guy will feel better soon. Thank you for your prayers, but as always we think that Carter could use a few more.