Cath Rescheduled for March 6th

Caleb will have his cath on Tuesday, March 6th. We'll be at the hospital at 6am and we'll post updates. He still has cold symptoms, but we are really hoping that he will get better so he can have the cath and not have to reschedule. We know the Lord's timing is perfect. May his will be done!

Cath Postponed

Caleb's running a 100.9 fever so they can't do the cath. It has been postponed until early March. Please stay tuned for continued updates. Thanks for your interest in our lives and for your prayers.

Fever?

Caleb is going to the pediatrician today. If he has a fever, the cath will be postponed. We will know this afternoon.

Cath Tommorrow

We will check into Miami Children's Hospital at 6:00am. Caleb has been a little sick, so we are checking with them today to see if it's ok to go ahead with the cath. After the cath, Caleb will be in the CICU. If all goes well we will be able to go home on Friday.

Caleb is a bit older and way more active than he was during his previous hospital stays. So one concern, is keeping him interested, contained, still, etc. Don't think he's going to like being confined to a little bed and hooked up to machines!

Unexpected News

Caleb is 18 months and seems to be doing well. He's on a regular diet now, eating solid foods and drinking regular milk. He was weaned off one of his reflux medicines; he's getting 7 therapy sessions a week instead of 9; he walks all over the place with his push toy and is starting to stand and take a few steps on his own. He's communicating a bit better and he loves to play, climb and explore everything.

All these signs show that his heart must be working well, right? We expected good reports from his cardiology check-up and a "see you in 4 months." But the echo (an ultrasoud of the heart) showed that Caleb has another heart defect called a supra valvar membrane.

My heart sunk.

"...but this one is fixable." My heart sunk deeper.

I know what "fixable" means. It means opening the heart...again.

Basically he has a tissue growing on top of his mitral valve preventing smooth flow of blood out of the left atrium and into the left ventricle. This can cause a back-up and pressure to build up in the lungs and other complications especially since that is the only part of his heart that works.

The doctors were aware of this defect since birth. We never found out about it because it was not "significant", but now it seems to be growing as he grows. The only way to get rid of it is via open heart surgery which means that Caleb may have to have two more heart surgeries instead on one. Dr. Mas also noticed that the part of his pulmonary artery that was balloned during his last cath may have collapsed again. He also has a significant amount of collateral veins that his body has produced to compensate for his low blood oxygen levels but they are competing with the blood flow from his last bypass surgery. One of these or all of them may be the reason why he wakes up with swelling in his face and his arms appear to be puffy.

Caleb will be having a cardiac catherization this Thursday Feb. 5th where they'll do some more investigation and some intervention if necessary and possible. Please pray for Caleb and for Dr. Zahn who will be doing the cath. We are asking God that they can fix any problems via cath so Caleb won't need any extra surgeries. Thanks for helping us bear our burdens =)