Micah had a scheduled cardiac cath (his 4th) with Dr. Kanter this morning to check out his heart and balloon any narrowings in his pulmonary arteries. He also got his PEG tube changed to a "low profile" button (so excited about that!).
Dr. Kanter didn't balloon Micah's right pulmonary artery because it looked nice and large! The left pulmonary artery looked super small. Kanter ballooned it causing the lower left lung to be overwhelmed with the new blood flow. The capillaries leaked into the air sacs and now he needs to recover in the CICU. The riskiest part of this is when the blood flow transitioned from small to large. The pic below shows the before and after - there is way more blood flow toward the lower part of the lung.
Kanter also told us about a pseudo aneurysm about the size of a golf ball growing off the conduit. He suspects that the conduit tore a bit during the cath he had back in January. I don't think it's at risk for bursting but it does change the timeline for his next open heart surgery. We estimate his second surgery to be within the next six months.
Lastly, Kanter coiled off three of Micah's remaining collateral arteries that weren't vital for blood flow to the lungs. Now Micah is collateral free! (Something that happens to most of us shortly after birth).
I feel worried and taken aback at the news post-cath. My biggest fear is another larger tear and/or clotting. And we just found out that he didn't tolerate extubation after the cath so they'll try again in a few hours. If you remember last year's hospital stay, his breathing tube was the main thing that kept us for so long. The next 24-48 hours will keep us on our toes but I have faith that he will get through it so we can bring him home this weekend.
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