Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Cardiac Conference Results

Dr. Young called today with the results of the VQ Scan. Nothing unexpected; just confirmation of what was learned during the catheter procedure and angioplasty.

The measured blood flow to the left and right pulmonary arteries: 70% to the LPA and 30% to the RPA. This will serve as a baseline. Charlotte will have regular follow up echocardiograms. If the TR jet (pressure in the RPA) looks concerning, she’ll have another VQ scan as a more direct measure of the pressure. If the VQ scan confirms high pressure levels, we’ll move to another angioplasty. The idea is to stave off the next surgery for as long as possible, but to continue lowering the pulmonary pressures in the hopes of preserving the pulmonary valve (one of Charlotte's replacement parts).

Exciting news out of this procedure and the Cardiac conference—we’re weaning Charlotte off of the Viagra! We’re thrilled to be losing a medication (she’ll be done with it in about 10 days). This one has been especially difficult because we had to serve it at 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. so one of us had to be awake. We’re down to twice a day and we’ve moved Viagra to the 9 a.m./9 p.m. slot with her other meds. We’ll be weaning her off of the Lasix next. Yipee!!

Next Cardiac follow-up should be in about 3-4 weeks.

On the feeding front: Charlotte is eating more and more every day. We don’t know if the tube was causing a problem and she’s now able to eat more comfortably or if the angioplasty is kicking in. I guess it doesn’t matter and is probably a combination of things. Keep eating, kiddo!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Eating with a tube up one's nose has to be annoying and I hope Charlotte will prove this is the case. Go, Charlotte!
S.