I have been waiting to post when I knew the date of Izzy's heart
catheterization, but we still don't have it yet. Izzy did have her
sedated CT of her lungs last Wednesday. She did really well. So
well, in fact, that she did not need any versed to go back. Dale
and I took her to the CT lab and helped her count the puffs as she
breathed the gas to fall asleep. Here she is just before going
back
Coming out, she was unhappy and screamed bloody murder at the nurse, but since we warned them ahead of time, they gave her zofran in her IV before waking her up. So, no nausea! Here she is as we left Mott. She was not happy that we were making her put on a coat (it was close 0 outside!).
And if you couldn't tell from those pictures, Izzy got her new purple glasses last week!
And she started swimming lessons!
Izzy loves her swimming lessons and looks forward to Sunday morning each week and hopes she won't be sick so she can go. As for the cath, that should be scheduled in the next couple of days. I talked to Izzy's cardiologist this morning regarding the plan following the CT. It turns out that the collaterals are very low in Izzy's abdomin and feed her left lower lobe (lungs). There are two main collaterals feeding the lower left lobe and many smaller ones. The two main collaterals appear to be too small to coil and should not be coiled because they are the only blood flow to the lower lobe of Izzy's left lung. If the docs coiled those, Izzy would have zero blood flow to that portion of the lung and because of that, it is unlikely she is getting overloaded with fluid there.
We learned that Izzy's right ventricle is aneurysmal and dilated and not working or moving, but her conduit is fine. That means, the problem there is with her heart, not the replaceable conduit (as was the case in 2010).
Izzy does have some insufficiency or backflow from her natural pulmonary valve (30%) and the conduit with mechanical valve (6%), but not enough in total (12%) to cause the damage they are seeing. Izzy's left ventricle function is now worsening as well.
Dr. Cutler said that surgery for the right ventricle does not usually give positive results because the surgeon can cut out the damaged portion, making the RV smaller, but the heart still doesn't work there. Which basically means all the risk from open heart surgery without reward.
Dr. Armstrong is going to move forward with the cath to get all of the measurements, including the pressure in left ventricle since that function is decreasing and they need to know by how much. It will only be diagnostic. The cath will be after next Monday though because Izzy's case is being presented to the board of surgeons and cath cardiologists next Monday. Dr. Cutler will participate via video conference. The idea is to make sure that Dr. Armstrong goes into the cath knowing every single question that could be raised so that she gets all of the information necessary to answer every question. The docs are hoping to find something to fix, but are not very hopeful. It is possible all of this is simply the progression of Izzy's disease. We were told this was a distinct possibility when we went to Standard in 2010.
Until we have the information from the cath and the surgical conference, we hold out hope that the collective minds of the cardiology team find something that they can fix to help Izzy.
In closing, I'll leave you with Izzy and her babies (Mickey, Lamby, and Bunny).
Coming out, she was unhappy and screamed bloody murder at the nurse, but since we warned them ahead of time, they gave her zofran in her IV before waking her up. So, no nausea! Here she is as we left Mott. She was not happy that we were making her put on a coat (it was close 0 outside!).
And if you couldn't tell from those pictures, Izzy got her new purple glasses last week!
And she started swimming lessons!
Izzy loves her swimming lessons and looks forward to Sunday morning each week and hopes she won't be sick so she can go. As for the cath, that should be scheduled in the next couple of days. I talked to Izzy's cardiologist this morning regarding the plan following the CT. It turns out that the collaterals are very low in Izzy's abdomin and feed her left lower lobe (lungs). There are two main collaterals feeding the lower left lobe and many smaller ones. The two main collaterals appear to be too small to coil and should not be coiled because they are the only blood flow to the lower lobe of Izzy's left lung. If the docs coiled those, Izzy would have zero blood flow to that portion of the lung and because of that, it is unlikely she is getting overloaded with fluid there.
We learned that Izzy's right ventricle is aneurysmal and dilated and not working or moving, but her conduit is fine. That means, the problem there is with her heart, not the replaceable conduit (as was the case in 2010).
Izzy does have some insufficiency or backflow from her natural pulmonary valve (30%) and the conduit with mechanical valve (6%), but not enough in total (12%) to cause the damage they are seeing. Izzy's left ventricle function is now worsening as well.
Dr. Cutler said that surgery for the right ventricle does not usually give positive results because the surgeon can cut out the damaged portion, making the RV smaller, but the heart still doesn't work there. Which basically means all the risk from open heart surgery without reward.
Dr. Armstrong is going to move forward with the cath to get all of the measurements, including the pressure in left ventricle since that function is decreasing and they need to know by how much. It will only be diagnostic. The cath will be after next Monday though because Izzy's case is being presented to the board of surgeons and cath cardiologists next Monday. Dr. Cutler will participate via video conference. The idea is to make sure that Dr. Armstrong goes into the cath knowing every single question that could be raised so that she gets all of the information necessary to answer every question. The docs are hoping to find something to fix, but are not very hopeful. It is possible all of this is simply the progression of Izzy's disease. We were told this was a distinct possibility when we went to Standard in 2010.
Until we have the information from the cath and the surgical conference, we hold out hope that the collective minds of the cardiology team find something that they can fix to help Izzy.
In closing, I'll leave you with Izzy and her babies (Mickey, Lamby, and Bunny).
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