Oakes had the Broviac catheter put in yesterday and the surgery went very, very well. The Broviac is a more permanent line they actually insert directly into his artery under his clavicle. It lasts a very long time and they can draw blood, give blood or give him medicine through it. While they were inserting the Broviac, they did an echocardiogram and Dr. Huddleston told me that it showed that the balloon angioplasty was more successful than they had thought as it appeared the pulmonary veins were passing more blood through than before. This doesn’t change the fact that these veins will eventually get narrower again, but at least it tells us that we can do another balloon angioplasty at some point if we need to buy more time on the wait list.
Shockingly, Dr. Huddleston told me he hadn’t entirely ruled out a surgical fix to the stenosis before resorting to the transplant. He very much downplayed this and I could tell he really didn’t even want to tell me because he truly hadn’t made up his mind. It could take a few days of tests and discussion to figure this out.
Today, Oakes had a “profusion scan” which will tell us the percentage of pressure between the lungs. Typical is 40-60% each lung, so they’re curious if this is the case (not likely) or if the right side is bearing 80% or more of the pressure. We should get the results tonight or early tomorrow at latest. This is just more information for them as they determine course of action.
Oakes has been weaned all the way down to 14 on his vent, which is tied for the lowest it’s been since his second heart surgery (5/28). He is comfortable and really doing well.
More later.
Love,
G,B,I,O
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