We had our first post-op appointment at 9:50 today, followed by an echocardiogram appointment, all at TCH. The first appointment was standard fare, taking vitals... yep, he's still alive. Everything looked great, his saturation was 99%, a number Tori and I still can't get used to seeing. After vitals and a number of questions from the nursing staff, got an X-ray, then on to the echocardiogram. We had Colton with us, this was his first time to join us for an echo. He was a perfect 4-year-old, staying quiet the whole time.
The echos take longer than they used to. There seems to be much more to look at now that Cannon has so much equipment in his heart. I'm amazed that each time we go for an echo, X-ray, or otherwise everyone there seems to be fully aware of his condition and the repairs that were made. No one is surprised when they look at the images and see hardware in place. Our echo tech gave us a hint of why: all the images/information they get from Cannon is put into a report and presented to a number of doctors. I know that it was a team of folks that have been reviewing his case for years. It seems to be a rare set of defects that gets a lot of attention... the attention is because with a rare case that's repairable, everyone wants a chance to study and learn from it. We ran into this years ago when Cannon was two. We found ourselves at TCH for a couple nights, and it seemed every doctor in the hospital came to listen to this rare heart.
The surgeon that performed Cannon's surgery is the Surgeon-in-Chief for TCH. In our eyes, he's a celebrity. I'm more excited to see him walk into the room than I imagine I'd be if the president walked in. Or course, I'm biased. I believe God worked a miracle on Cannon through Dr. Fraser's mind and hands. We have our son, and a good chance to have him for a long time, because of this man's work. I know Dr. Fraser didn't do this single-handedly, he's the leader of a team and a servant of God. But how we got the top heart surgeon at TCH to work on our son is something we can only attribute to God. If you care for a quick bio summary, go here:
http://www.texaschildrens.org/About-Us/Leadership/Charles-Fraser/
Back to today's events: Once we were done with the echo, we went back to our exam room and waited for the results. When we left the hospital Saturday, the big thing we were keeping an eye on was the fluid around the heart. We've been feeding Cannon diuretics, so we expected to see less fluid around the heart with today's echo. And that's just what we got: no fluid around the heart.
There is however fluid at the base of the lungs. Not a major issue, as there's more room around the lungs for fluid to amass, but still needs to be watched. We'll keep Cannon on diuretics and expect this to go away. We'll find out 8/28 when we meet with Cannon's cardiologist for the first time since surgery (if you didn't know, there's a difference between the cardiologist and the surgeon).
The only other items we discussed were Cannon's crick in the neck which is very common after surgery, and the rash on his face from the tape that held his breathing tube in place. All in all, the trip today was a wrap-up to the surgery to ensure all was well. Because all is well, we won't see the surgical team for a long time... if all goes well, Cannon's new hardware should last 5 to 10 years.
I'm going to miss them. But I'm not going to miss their workplace!!
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