Reality Check

Today was Zane's cardiology appointment. This time we had to go to the West County office since they were "fitting" us in. This involved a 45 minute drive in rush hour (stand still) traffic, with Zane screaming the whole time. But we got there at 8, for our 8:20 appointment and I had hopes of getting in and out since there was no one in the waiting room when I got there. Of course this wasn't how it went down. Dr. Murphy had been called into surgery and was just leaving Children's at 8:30. So Zane got an echo, which he slept through, I was sad thinking he is probably use to this procedure by now, and Dr. Murphy was there when we got out to tell us the results. I don't know what I was hoping for, I knew going in there wasn't going to be any "good" news in the situation, just news.

I guess some "good" news is that he has gained weight quickly and currently weighs 13 pounds. The oxygen saturation of his blood is down to 93% from 100% just three weeks ago. He looks the same to me, still pink, but this was a clear sign that things are worsening quickly and some of the deoxygenated blood is getting out to the body. The echo showed that the narrowing of his pulmonary valve has worsened and it has moved from just being at the valve portion to also being below the valve. This was not what we were hoping for. Now he will have to have the thickened portion cut out and have a patch placed. After the valve is opened and the thickened portion below the valve is opened the valve will no longer close appropriately. This means the valve basically won't be working. The doctor said that kids do well with this, but he will have to have an artificial valve placed as a teenager verses when he is in his thirties as we had initially thought/hoped.

Now the plan is to meet with Dr. Murphy and the surgeon soon to talk about and schedule his surgery for mid to late September. This came as a bit of a shock since we were originally planning on late October to November. I always knew it could be done sooner but now we are adjusting to the thought of having surgery next month. I left feeling sick to my stomach but at the same time I'm ready to have a surgery date so that we can have an end point in sight. I am trying not to dwell on it right now and just enjoy my last week at home with my little man. I guess this means I will only be back at work for a couple weeks before he has surgery. I am ready for it to all be over so Zane can start living a normal life and I can stop writing depressing blog posts!

p.s. To take my mind off of everything we had a photo shoot in Zane's new OU clothes. He looks really good in Crimson and Cream, don't you think!! BOOMER SOONER!!!!