New Cath Date

Chase had his cardiology appointment this morning with Dr. Horne. At his last appointment 2 weeks ago, we were told he had a coarctation (narrowing) in his aorta. We were hoping for good news this morning, meaning the narrowing hasn't gotten any worse. Unfortunately, that isn't the case.

He was originally scheduled for his first heart cath on March 29th. However, his echo this morning showed the coarctation is now measuring 3 mm (it was 4.3 mm 2 weeks ago). His blood pressures indicated the same findings as the echo, as they were lower than before. Thankfully his pulses are still very good, which means his blood is still moving throughout his body just fine.

Based on the findings this morning, Dr. Horne didn't want to wait until March 29th for his heart cath. Instead, they told me it would be March 1st. After we came home from the appointment, I got a call from the cath lab at MUSC telling me his cath has been moved to this Thursday, February 25th! I have SO begun freaking out big time. I'm already scared and nervous for the cath lab procedure since he'll be under anesthesia, but I'm also worried about the coarctation. At his last appointment, Dr. Horne said a balloon procedure to widen the narrow section (during the cath procedure) would probably not work because he felt that it would just return back to its current size. What this tells me, although we'll know MUCH more after next Thursday, is that Chase is most likely going to have his next surgery, the Bi-Directional Glenn, VERY soon... most likely within the next 3 or 4 weeks. They'll need to surgically address the coarctation and that will happen during the Glenn. So, assuming Chase's lung pressures give him the "go ahead" for the Glenn, I'm thinking it's possible we'll do the surgery the week of March 1st. This is just my best guess -- obviously I don't have a medical degree.

This is how I'm looking at this (VERY SCARY) situation: Typically, heart babies have a very difficult time gaining weight, so they usually like to schedule the Glenn around 6 months of age to give the baby plenty of time to grow, put on weight and allow their lungs to develop. Chase is a big boy. He weighs about 14 lbs. and is almost 4 months old. He's VERY good at eating. He's growing. He's thriving. He's putting on weight like nobody's business! This is all very good, except it means that he could outgrow the BT Shunt that was placed during his first heart surgery. SO... (I hope you're able to follow my random train of thought) If we had waited until the end of March for his cath, there's a good chance my big boy could've had a problem with outgrowing his shunt. Perhaps this aorta issue is God's way of having us take care of his next heart surgery sooner than later to prevent possible problems. Seriously, I don't know if any of that makes sense or if it's even overly accurate from a medical perspective, but this is just one sweet little heart baby's mama sharing her thoughts and feelings about her baby boy.

I'm curious and very anxious to hear from other heart moms who have gone through the Glenn earlier than expected. I'm so scared but my hope is in the Lord! He has a perfect plan for my sweet Chase's life and I am fully committed to Him and His will.

Please pray for Chase as we prepare to head back to MUSC for another procedure and very possibly, another surgery. We'll need to work out housing and childcare and all kinds of fun stuff like we did for our previous stay in Charleston, but we've got less than a week versus 18 weeks like last time! Please pray for all the pieces to fall into place and for God to keep His hand of protection around our baby boy. And pray for me. Have I mentioned I'm scared? I hate the uncertainty of what lies ahead, but I know Who sees our future and I'm trusting in Him.