I have had a really great week. I was worried about saying that because it seems that I sometimes manage to jinx myself and say that things are going well and then something happens and then I’m stuck telling you about something crappy. But so far this week is pretty good – I mean it is only Tuesday, but we take the good things as they come.
I had my heart catheter last week to try and patch up my tiny pulmonary vein. In the end, the surgeon was not able to put a stent in because it’s made of metal and it would have blocked another vessel (which kind of defeats the point of putting the stent in). That was not ideal because the stent really was the best option for my last left vein. In the end, they were able to open a tiny little bit of my vein and it’s helping because my oxygen levels are sitting much higher but it wasn’t really a lot. Now my left lung is only doing about 2% of the work, and my right lung is doing 98%. It’s a lot of pressure on that one lung but hopefully this catheter. procedure will help to keep the pressures in my lungs lower than they were before I went to the catheter lab. Now we just have to hope that it works for way longer than 6 weeks this time. I get to see my cardiologist in 6 weeks and we’ll have a better idea then on how we move forward from here: how they’re going to monitor my veins and what other treatment options there are if my right lung decides that it doesn’t want to do as much work as we’re asking it to do. My cardiologist did say that as long as my heart is good, she has kids who are 6 and 7 years old who just have one working lung so that’s what I’m aiming for!
The doctor’s were so impressed with how I was doing that they decided that I could come off of the ECG monitors completely and off of the oxygen monitor while the mom’s were awake (it goes back on when they’re sleeping so the nurses can track me). I think that’s what made it the best week ever. On Sunday, I had lots of visitors because it was Grandma’s birthday, so she and Grandpa and Uncle Jeff and Auntie Marina came to have something called birthday cake. I got to try a little bit of this icing stuff and I really liked it. But mostly, I liked being able to cuddle with Grandma – she’s so comfy that I went right to sleep. I would have slept for Uncle Jeff but he kept sticking his tongue out at me and trying to make me laugh. I decided then that I like Auntie Marina better.
Then on Monday, I got to eat from my bottle and I did really well. Just as Mama C was attaching my Ng tube to top off my dinner, Auntie CC, Uncle Rico and my Thor came to have their dinner with me!! (And bring Mama C some dinner too). I had so much fun! Mama C put the mat down on the floor for me and my Thor and we hung out and played for so long. He cuddled me and called me his “sweet sweet baby”, and he patted my tummy, sang me songs and then tried to teach me how to hold my feet in the air. I’m not quite strong enough to do it, but if Thor just waits a little bit I bet that I’ll catch up soon.
Then today was G-tube day! Finally, after all of these months of having this stinking Ng tube in my nose, the doctor’s took me to the operating room this morning and put in my Gtube. I still have a temporary Ng tube in, just in case we run into any problems and they need to feed me or give me medicine, but later tonight (12 hours later), the nurse will give me some clear fluids and I’ll start using my new tube! The mom’s are really happy that they’re going to be able to see my gorgeous face all of the time now but they were a little sad when they had to go to the Specialty Food Shop and buy my new G-tube pump, feeding bags, extenders, clamps, clips and doo dads. I don’t know what any of this stuff means, but if it means that I get to eat without throwing up, then I’m all for it. Plus it did come with a cool backpack that made Mama C happy – she says that it’s the perfect size to throw on my stroller.
So, I’m in some pain tonight, because the G-tube does hurt a little bit at first. They gave me some morphine earlier but now I seem to be doing okay just on Tylenol. Mama C asked the nurse to give me a little more morphine around midnight so that I sleep really well and the pain doesn’t wake me up, but hopefully tomorrow it will be even less and I can go back to being the happy, smiley girl that I usually am. Then the doctor’s say that if everything heals well from my G-tube, I could possibly be home before the weekend! I’m not counting on it, but a girl can dream….