The Pre-Fontan Cath

Written October 5th, 2007


We had an early morning as we had to arrive at the Hospital for 7am. We registered and went in so the nurse could check Dominic vitals. His O2 sats were 88, which is very good for him. He did well letting the nurse do everything, except weigh him. I don't know why but he always seems to have a problem with that one. We had to do it where we weighed him with Paul and then Paul by himself and subtract. We gave Dominic a little sponge bath with a special sponge to make sure he was good and clean for the OR. He wouldn't let us put the hospital gown on him though, I think for some reason he knew it meant something. He wanted to leave the room all the time, he kept pointing to the door and whinning. He knew something was up, but he was pretty well behaved considering. I got to go into the OR with him, while they put him to sleep. He screemed as soon as we walked in. It almost seemed as though he remembers from his last surgery. They used a mask and from the time they put it on him, he lost his fight and fell asleep within about half a minute. I left and sat in the waiting room. They told us the procedure was going to take anywhere from 2-3 hours. It was nice because there was three other families there who were pre-fontan and their child was booked for a cath. We got to talk to them and hear their stories. There was actually one boy who had the defect that is Dominic's most severe and it is a very rare defect, Tricuspid Atresia. It was nice to talk to them and he is almost 2, so close to Dominic's age. Anyway the Cath ended up taking 3 hours and 15 minutes, I was getting quite worried and very tired of waiting when they came out to tell us he was done. We we found him in recovery, he was asleep. The nurse told us he had woken up and started having a huge fit, so they sedated him. When they did the cath they coiled off an extra vein and an arterie that have appeared in his heart because of the repairs. I don't really understand this, but the doctor says it happens sometimes and that if they don't coil them, they will get in the way for the surgery. So they put coils (spring like things) around the vein and the arterie to close them off. So that was partly what took them longer, I think. They put the catheters in through an arterie in his neck as well as one in his leg and a vein in the other leg. We were told we would have to stay in recovery for 6 hours. When Dominic woke up he was a little fussy with good reason. He kept pointing to his IV, and his cath site on his neck and whinning. He was really good though, because he never tried to pull the iv off or anything. He just kept taking my hand and putting it on the IV, like he was telling me to take it off. He wanted water, so I the nurse gave me a three once bottle with a straw to see how he would drink it. He just started gulping it down. Then the nurse tells me not to let him drink it too quick because he will throw up. I pulled the drink away and he had almost drank the whole thing already. He did not get sick though. He then ate 6 freezies and then some crackers and arrowroot cookies. He was able to get everything off of him after about 4 hours in recovery and then the challenge was keeping him busy for the next 2 hours. He was not suppose to run around, but I couldn't keep him still. He was running and spinning in circles. He is suppose to take it easy, because of the anestectic and they didn't want one of the cath sites to bleed again. Anyway the doctor came into talk to us before we left and he said that Dominic is ready for the Fontan surgery. We just have to wait now until we get the call, after all the cardiologists have met and discussed Dominic. He told us that this could take a month or 2.

So now we wait......We left the hospital at 6:00 o'clock and Dominic has been great ever since, he isn't even taking any tylenol. I say this was a little preview for the surgery and I think he did pretty well. I can deal with a little fussy, because who wouldn't be fussy. Dominic seems to be pretty calm though, so hopefully this is how it will go for the surgery as well. But it won't be easy I am sure.