Cath Results

We are so happy to report that Julianne's cath went really well. Her pressures looked good. There was nothing to balloon or stint. Her function looked good. The ablation seems to be successful and her AV Node was not damaged. They did coil 9 collateral veins. These are extra veins that formed between her last cath and now. Leaving them open can cause additional problems after the Fontan so they closed them off using coils.

Julianne has done well since the cath. It took her several hours to fully wake up. She was a little cranky but her nurse said Julianne's wake-up was very mild compared to others he's seen. She got to start sitting up around 7:30-ish and really starting returning to her old self then. Playing with her "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse People", reading books, laughing and making phone calls. What a joy it was to have her back and happy! She is, however, VERY UNHAPPY any time a nurse or doctor has to come in and do anything. Who can blame her though, right?

We are scheduled to be discharged tomorrow morning. Then she has a few pre-op items before we head back to the DNH for some relaxing. I know Julianne is ready to be out of this bed. Kent's parents will be arriving tomorrow, as well! :)

Today went really well. The cath was very long...it had been almost 7 hours from the time we left Julianne to the time we saw her again. When we did see her again she had 3 IV's...one in her neck and one in each foot and 3 catheter insertion sites...neck and in each side of the groin. As scary as all of this is, I really felt a peace today while she was away from us. We just waited. We talked and laughed and prayed and waited for it to be over. Kent and I passed the time mostly by playing chess on the computer (during which I was defeated over and over again) and eating. My mom and dad were here with us and that was great to have their support and company. :)

We are praising God for a successful cath with good news and no surprises and an ablation that seems to be successful, but definitely wasn't harmful!! We are thankful that our sweet girl awoke from her anesthesia without as much discomfort as she could have. Please continue to pray that Julianne will recover easily and without complication from the cath, that surgery on Friday will be straightforward and complication-free and that her fears would be calmed.

One more thing...I am able to get emails and facebook messages on my phone and it was so great to be able to receive all of your encouraging messages and comments through out the entire cath as you sent them. It really made us feel comforted. :) Thank you!

Finally, here are just a few pictures from today:

Waking up is so very, very hard to do...and this was 3-ish hours into waking up.

Trying to smile while waking up is very, very funny!

Feeling better, playing with "mickey mouse clubhouse people"