At her last cardio appointment, we decided that since we will be doing some traveling before her Fontan (her third surgery in the fall), we would have her cath before we go on vacation. During Audra's echo, our cardiologist was not able to see the flow in Audra's left pulmonary artery. It doesn't mean that the flow is decreased and Audra has no symptoms that would indicate that the flow is decreased, but we decided - better safe than sorry - and we had to have the cath now.
So here we are. Just two days out from Audra's second cath. This will be the second time Audra has spent the days of July 1 and 2 in the hospital. And we are hoping and praying that she does not have to spend the night of July 2 in the hospital.
When the doctor is doing the cath is when we will find out if any intervention is needed on Audra's pulmonary artery. She may need a shunt or a ballooning of it. If she has either of those, we will stay overnight. The recovery is typically very fast from either one and we should be discharged on Wednesday morning.
What I just found out is that if she has to get a shunt, Audra will be on a blood thinner that requires regular blood draws to monitor levels. If you remember just less than a year ago, we had some pretty horrible experiences with getting Audra's blood drawn. And the time frame for that is six months to indefinitely. Indefinitely?!? That is hard to think about so right now we are hoping and praying that Audra does not need a shunt. Please send your prayers and thoughts Audra's way especially between now and Tuesday!
The pre-op day consists of a chest x-ray, an echo and an EKG. Hopefully it is a pretty easy day.
The cath is expected to last 2.5-4 hours. It will be on the longer side if she needs a balloon or shunt and on the shorter side if not. We will not get our first update until about an hour into the cath. At that point, they should know whether they have to do any intervention. Should being the key word, of course. We will keep you updated.
On a lighter note, we are again fighting with our insurance company. This time it is over oxygen for a flight we are taking in July. Audra qualifies for fully-paid in home oxygen, which includes a travel unit. We do not use it so we do not have either one. We cannot get only the travel oxygen since she doesn't have the home oxygen. But we can get her the full home oxygen to also get the travel oxygen, which will all be fully covered. Make sense? Yeah, I don't think so either. But it is what it is.
We will be updating soon! Thoughts and prayers appreciated!
All the best!
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