2nd Cath Procedure

Thank you everyone for your prayers. I think they are working! Today was a pretty hectic day. Early this morning the doctors had scheduled Micah for a cath procedure at noon. At 11:30am the ECMO specialist noticed a small clot starting to form on the arterial cannula (the tube that carries oxygenated blood from the ECMO machine to his body). Clotting (as well as hemorrhaging) is one if the major risks associated with being on ECMO. So the doctors decided they needed to remove the clot and they made me leave the room for the process.

A doctor had come to the waiting room to notify me that they successfully removed the clot. They also mentioned that while they removed the clot, Micah had desatted to the 40s, but only very briefly. This desat just reinforced the importance of trying to find out why this was happening.

The cath procedure was pushed back to 3pm. They took him to another floor in the hospital (which for us presented a scare in itself - Micah doesn't do well with in transport). He made it safely to the cath lab and the procedure was underway. About an hour and a half later the procedure was over and the doctor told us he found severe stenosis (narrowing) of the conduit due to scar tissue. They expanded it with a balloon procedure and now there is much better (but not perfect) blood flow to the lungs. 

Yay!! We were both so relieved and happy and excited that something had actually gone right!

In our moment of happiness the doctor reminded us that the scar tissue could regrow and he could need another cath. We could deal with that because at least we KNOW what the issue is.

Also (drum roll) they said they hope to have Micah OFF ECMO by Saturday!!!!!!!! That was music to my ears. I really hope and pray he is stable enough to come off that machine. As thankful as I am for it's life support, I am terrified of Micah hemorrhaging or having a stroke. 

By the time Micah was situated in his room it was 7pm. Ray and I both decided the last two days were enough excitement for us and so we headed home.

About an hour after we left we got a call from another doctor who informed us that there is air in his chest cavity and it caused his right lung to collapse. They'd need to put in a chest tube to remove the air and re-inflate the lung. Thankfully they don't think it'll delay Micah from getting off ECMO.

You win some, you lose some. But I feel like today was an overall success and I'm SO looking forward to getting Micah off the ECMO machine!

Thank you all again for the kind words and messages!!