Good news from the doctors

Jacob's catheter procedure went extremely well. In a previous post, there was a catheter procedure that failed to open his right pulmonary artery. This time Dr. Vincent was able to stent it. The right PA was stenotic. It was only 2.2mm wide. This put the success of the Fontan surgery at risk. If the right PA was to be stenotic, only the left PA would be used in the Fontan. The stent opened the right PA to 6mm. Now both arteries can be used in the Fontan and there will be no more mixing of oxygenated blood and venous blood. This was fantastic news - but it came with a down side as well. Since the stent is new, there is a risk of clotting. Therefore Jacob was prescribed Lovenox again. You may remember that this is the drug that the nurse overdosed him back in late 2011. It is an injection-only drug for thinning blood. This time there is no nurse to get the dosage wrong - only mom and dad. I was squeamish at the thought of sticking my son with a sharp object. I dodged that bullet last time. I was not so lucky this time. After 10 days of giving injections, we all have gotten used to it. It ain't so bad, really.

Bribery works well with Jake 

Today I took him to his cardiologist in Mineola - more good news. She took him off of the Enalipril. His heart is nice and strong and his blood oxygen level is higher. Things are looking up for little Jake.