Journal entry by Joshua Ruhnke —
Post-op update:
Ollie is back home now so I wanted to give everyone an update on how the procedure went.
Ollie and Annie got to the hospital bright and early at 6:00 on Tuesday to check in so he would be ready to go back to the cath lab at 7:30. The anesthesiologist carried him back to the cath lab and one of the nurses made a comment that he doesn't normally do that but Ollie is just so cute. While in the waiting room, we got updates every hour as to how things were progressing. First they ballooned three narrow spots in his right pulmonary artery branches. There were some narrow spots in these vessels and the ballooning helped open them up. Then on the left side there was a pinch point just past where his conduit splits into the right and left side. In that spot they placed a 8mm stent in the left pulmonary artery just past where his conduit ends. This opened that vessel up to be close to what would be expected for a kid Ollie's age and size. The procedure finished up and he was back in the recovery room around noon.
As the anesthesia wore off Ollie slowly came back to his normally bubbly self, always saying "tank you" and "bye" when medical staff left the room or when Ollie wanted them to leave the room. Annie stayed with him while they kept him overnight for observation and some follow up testing in the morning.
The morning Echo looked good. There was noticeable improvement in the pressure readings due to the stent placement.
The lung profusion test measures the ratio of blood flowing from the heart to each lung. Ollie's split was pretty close to typical values for a non cardiac patient, which is good.
All his doctors were pleased with the results and how well the procedure went. He will continue to be monitored over the next 3-6 months to make sure everything they did this week continues to look the way it does now. Our next appointment will be a CT scan in May to continue to monitor his vessel growth. For now that he is home and looking to get back to playing wih his friends at school (though not too rough the next few days as his is still on some physical restrictions for a few days to recover.)
Ollie is back home now so I wanted to give everyone an update on how the procedure went.
Ollie and Annie got to the hospital bright and early at 6:00 on Tuesday to check in so he would be ready to go back to the cath lab at 7:30. The anesthesiologist carried him back to the cath lab and one of the nurses made a comment that he doesn't normally do that but Ollie is just so cute. While in the waiting room, we got updates every hour as to how things were progressing. First they ballooned three narrow spots in his right pulmonary artery branches. There were some narrow spots in these vessels and the ballooning helped open them up. Then on the left side there was a pinch point just past where his conduit splits into the right and left side. In that spot they placed a 8mm stent in the left pulmonary artery just past where his conduit ends. This opened that vessel up to be close to what would be expected for a kid Ollie's age and size. The procedure finished up and he was back in the recovery room around noon.
As the anesthesia wore off Ollie slowly came back to his normally bubbly self, always saying "tank you" and "bye" when medical staff left the room or when Ollie wanted them to leave the room. Annie stayed with him while they kept him overnight for observation and some follow up testing in the morning.
The morning Echo looked good. There was noticeable improvement in the pressure readings due to the stent placement.
The lung profusion test measures the ratio of blood flowing from the heart to each lung. Ollie's split was pretty close to typical values for a non cardiac patient, which is good.
All his doctors were pleased with the results and how well the procedure went. He will continue to be monitored over the next 3-6 months to make sure everything they did this week continues to look the way it does now. Our next appointment will be a CT scan in May to continue to monitor his vessel growth. For now that he is home and looking to get back to playing wih his friends at school (though not too rough the next few days as his is still on some physical restrictions for a few days to recover.)
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