So first thing we did was get his super cute scrubs on...I am not real sure why they even mess with these since he came out in just a diaper and let's be honest the boy usually runs around home in just a diaper. ;)
So of course we had to talk to the doctors and anesthesia about everything that was going to happen and what the plan was. So while we waited they brought in a car for him to play with. He was just about tired of playing in the car and running over all of us when they came in to give him the loopy meds. He got pretty darn funny then. He was laughing at everything and looked like he was high as a kite. He couldn't play in the car anymore and I guess we should have put it in the hall but forgot. He wanted to get down but clearly would have fallen if we had let him. They took him back around 11 am happy as could be. He was having a great time. I told them he would definitely freak out if he woke up and we weren't there so Beth assured me she would come get me as soon as possible.
While Greyson was in the heart cath we got hourly updates as to what was going on. We decided to go get something to eat right after we sent him in, since we knew there wasn't going to be much information for us at that point. They are really good about updating us on small things like he is out and we are getting ready to start. We got this update while eating breakfast. We were really hungry since we couldn't eat since Greyson couldn't eat. I think it bothered me more then him, lol.While they were in they found a 3.5 mm collateral vessel that had grown from his pulmonary artery down to his heart, essentially undoing a majority of what they had done in his first surgery. They put a plug in and sealed that off. His saturation's were up in the upper 80's after the plug was put in. They went in through his neck to put the plug in since his anatomy is a little different then the normal heart. They also went in through his groin so they had to hold constant pressure on his groin for 20 min after the cath came out. While Beth was holding pressure on his groin they start reversing the anesthesia and he may begin to wake up. He did start to wake up and Beth told them they needed to get me so he would not be extremely upset. The boy can throw a fit, and he had to keep his leg straight for 6 hours after the cath to make sure the spot in his groin didn't come open and spray blood every where, yeah I am actually not joking that is what would have happened if it came open. They felt the need to tell us to hold pressure on it, like we would just sit there and watch our sons blood spray the walls, lol. Anyway, recovery decided they would just get him settled and comfortable before they brought us back. We talked to Dr. Jardini who did the cath and he explained things to us. Everything else looked good aside from the HUGE collateral vessel. When they finally came and got us to go back with him he was VERY upset and thrashing around in the nurses arms when I got back there. She handed him to me and as soon as he realized it was me he calmed down. You can see in the picture that his face is very red, our children are both very sensitive to the tape that they use and are always red anywhere there was tape. Our super awesome friend Lindsay told us to request paper tape from now on and hopefully it won't bother them.
After he was nice and comfy in my arms in the recovery area it was time to move him to his room on the floor. Since they had to put the plug in there we had to stay overnight to make sure nothing happened. Plus he would not be able to have his leg bent like in the carseat so going home wasn't a good idea. We had to be a little creative in moving him to the floor since he was NOT getting in the bed so we got a wheel chair and Nate carried him in that to the floor. It was an unconventional transfer but what about Greyson is usually done normally. ;)
We had requested a full size bed since we knew Greyson would not sleep in a baby bed by himself and we were both planning to spend the night with him so we needed the bed to be able to stay in his room. I was pretty much stuck in bed with him all night. He was content if we were laying with him but had no interest in laying by himself. We think his eyes were just very irritated from the tape and he would not open them all night. He did drink from his cup. I had some dorito's and he could hear me eating them and wanted a chip. He at nearly half a bag of dorito's without opening his eyes. Then we offered him some watermelon, which is one of his favorites but he still didn't want to open his eyes. Daddy would fork a piece of watermelon, tell him to open and he would take his bite, then tell us when he wanted another bite. It was actually sort of funny, but we felt terrible for him that he couldn't open his eyes. We had the lights off all evening and he did try to open them a few times, but I think it hurt his eyes and he would shut them again quickly.
So before the appointment when we found out we were going to have a heart cath we had been working on potty training...and it had been going pretty well. We decided to give up on it at least until after the cath but the morning after his cath his diaper was dry so I asked him if he wanted to go in the big potty and he said yes. He went...and went...and went but I was pretty darn proud. (DISCLAIMER: Don't be fooled he wants nothing to do with the big potty now.) He was a totally different kid the morning after. We went down and had an X-ray and got all the big stuff checked out. Then we went back to our room to relax some while daddy got some more sleep.
They came in and took out this IV, poor little guy. Doesn't his hand look tiny with all of that tape and tubing on it :(
This is the bandage he had on his leg from the cath, the one on his neck was just a cottonball taped on. Dr. Jardini said we could take the bandage off and Greyson wanted to do it himself. He pulled the tape right off.
This is the spot where the cath went in. They put the plug in through his neck and even that hole looked tiny. Just a cars bandaid over it. We got to watch the video of the cath with Dr. Jardini after Greyson was moved to the floor. It was really neat to see everything. They would shoot some dye through there and you could see all the anatomy of his heart. The collateral vessel was very obvious and they showed us when they put the plug in as well. They would put it in place then shoot dye to be sure it blocked it off. When they had it just where they wanted it they unscrewed it and it popped off and stayed in place. It was really neat to be able to see my kid's heart in such detail.
After the bandages were off Greyson and daddy decided to sit down and relax until breakfast got there. Breakfast and our discharge papers were delivered at the same time. So we ate breakfast and headed out.
Daddy wanted to stop by Cabela's on the way home. Greyson got this cool new hat and got to check out the fish and all the neat mounts they have there. Then we headed home to see sissy. See his wrist band in the picture. Mommy, Daddy, and Greyson all got one and we had this thing we would do the whole time we were there where one of us would say "I got one! You got one?" Then the others would say "Yeah I got one, you got one?" Usually Greyson would start this and we would have to answer. It was fun. Anyway the heart cath wasn't too great but we got through it. It is one small step in the Greyson recovery.
