Mary Clare’s Heart Catheterization

Mary Clare was admitted at 7AM and was 2nd case, which meant lots of waiting.  To help us pass the time, she had her EKG and echo before she was taken back to have her cath.  This was the first time she was somewhat calm during her EKG, so I snapped a photo!  (And she has had many EKG’s!)  Usually, I’m helping keep her still by counting her chest leads, singing and attempting to distract her.  (Trying to keep a 2-year-old distracted and still with 15 long leads stuck to her chest can be tricky!)

Mommy had to help with the echo.

After a while, Kacy joined us to help keep Mary Clare entertained!  A great surprise and a huge help to Mommy and Daddy!

After books, Barbies, strolls, singing, playing…

…coloring, cartoons, hair-dos, and more Barbies, she was given Versed around 12:00 to help relax her before they took her back.  It all happened so fast once they gave her the Versed.  One minute, we were all rolling at how silly she was and laughing with her, then the next minute the cath docs came in to play with her and just check on her, so I thought.  They picked her up and said, “Lets go out here to ….,” which is all I remember.  My heart dropped, time stood still and I was heartbroken, relieved and terrified all at once.  I will never get used to that.  I was so happy that she wasn’t crying for me (which is my biggest fear), but I said nothing to her before she walked out of the room without me.  I didn’t have a chance.  But then again, what do you say to your 2-year-old who is being taken away by a group of scrubbed doctors and nurses she doesn’t know?  I had complete trust and admiration for each and everyone on her cardiology team, but she didn’t understand who they were or what they were doing for her.   That is one of the hardest parts of all of this.  Looking back, I know why they scooped away my little blueberry so quickly and I’d love to go back today and thank them for it.

Around 3:00, we got the page that she was extubated and heading to recovery!  She slept for a short while and woke up  with a vengeance, ripping off her oxygen mask and demanding her, “Papi!”  She was supposed to sleep for most of the 5 hour, post-cath observation, but we all quickly realized that she was not a happy camper, was wide awake and ready to get out of MUSC! It was tough trying to explain to her that she had to keep her pusle Ox on, IV in, leads attached and her leg still.   Her cardiologist came by around 6:00 PM, saw that she was certainly holding her own and doing well, other than being tethered to the wall, and said we could go home an hour early!

By this point, Mel was completely out of it, but we managed to be discharged by 7PM!  Her cath results were great and she is “Fontan ready.”   She had two catheter insertion sites, one in her groin and one in her neck.  Her pressures and function looked great and nothing extra was done, nothing to balloon or stint.  They typically coil off extra collateral veins during these kiddos’ caths, and hers weren’t significant enough to even do that.   (The  growth of the extra veins are the body’s way of responding to lower O2 levels, an attempt to increase oxygen flow to the heart.)  Her cath yesterday was simply a diagnostic cath!  Although, Dr. Bradley, her surgeon, would like her to be closer to 15 Kgs, it looks like we’ll definitely be back down here in 3-6 months for her Fontan.  I’m hoping all of the birthday cake this month will add a few extra pounds!

And guess who was starving and ready for noodles once we walked out of MUSC? So in her new mermaid costume, barefoot and bandaged up, we headed to Fleet Landing, of course!

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