As we get closer and closer to discharge, the rate at which things happen seems to speed up drastically. Everyone that needs to have words with us regarding some matter or another suddenly has a much shorter time period in which to do so, and we end up entertaining groups of doctors in our very small parlor four or five times a day!
Brandt had his PICC line out yesterday, and it looks like he still won't need it, which is lovely. One of the heart failure doctors came by yesterday evening, though, to say that they wanted to try one more medication on him before we leave. Not entirely sure why, because as far as they've told me, it doesn't do a whole lot more than the two heart meds he's already on, and he seems to be stable enough on them. The only real reason they had was that they hadn't seen any improvement in his heart function on the last echo. Improvement can take weeks to be tangible, though, so...I think this is more a situation where they don't just want to sit back twiddling their thumbs from a distance.
So. New meds mean at least a 24 hour watch period, so the absolute earliest that discharge could happen is Sunday. Kind of doubt that'll happen, though. I won't believe it until we're physically walking out the front door and no one is chasing us down the hallway!
There's one more thing on our plate that we can't quite determine the importance of. Brandt's sats have never gotten back to normal, like they were before his cold a little more than six weeks ago. Instead of running 75-85 like a post-Glenn baby should, he's constantly hovering around 68-70. It's hard to tell how they're trending in general, when one spends twelve hours a day watching the numbers, but the heart failure gal thinks that they seem to be trending down, and lately, his profusion (the rate at which the skin regains color after being pressed on, otherwise known as capillary refill) has been a little slow. Closer to four seconds than his usual two. My suspicion is that his Glenn has become slightly pinched off because of the forming scar tissue, which would restrict blood flow to the lungs (causing low sats) and the rest of the body (low cap refill).
I asked the doctors about it, and they didn't have any other ideas to replace mine with...in fact, they actually seemed as though they had been considering the same thing. When I left this evening, they said they would watch his sats overnight, and if they continue doing this, they'll order another echo to be done in the morning, focusing more on the Glenn function. If it shows anything suspicious, we may be in for yet another catheter. But better to fix it here than to get back home and realize something still needs to be done! Considering that it's not really an emergency if he does need one, the earliest he would probably have it done Monday. Then there would be the typical overnight stay, so the very earliest we could get out in that scenario is Tuesday. Oh well. We'll get there eventually, and now that I've got a place to stay, the extra time isn't really a big deal aside from the normal amounts of homesickness.
Brandt had his PICC line out yesterday, and it looks like he still won't need it, which is lovely. One of the heart failure doctors came by yesterday evening, though, to say that they wanted to try one more medication on him before we leave. Not entirely sure why, because as far as they've told me, it doesn't do a whole lot more than the two heart meds he's already on, and he seems to be stable enough on them. The only real reason they had was that they hadn't seen any improvement in his heart function on the last echo. Improvement can take weeks to be tangible, though, so...I think this is more a situation where they don't just want to sit back twiddling their thumbs from a distance.
So. New meds mean at least a 24 hour watch period, so the absolute earliest that discharge could happen is Sunday. Kind of doubt that'll happen, though. I won't believe it until we're physically walking out the front door and no one is chasing us down the hallway!
There's one more thing on our plate that we can't quite determine the importance of. Brandt's sats have never gotten back to normal, like they were before his cold a little more than six weeks ago. Instead of running 75-85 like a post-Glenn baby should, he's constantly hovering around 68-70. It's hard to tell how they're trending in general, when one spends twelve hours a day watching the numbers, but the heart failure gal thinks that they seem to be trending down, and lately, his profusion (the rate at which the skin regains color after being pressed on, otherwise known as capillary refill) has been a little slow. Closer to four seconds than his usual two. My suspicion is that his Glenn has become slightly pinched off because of the forming scar tissue, which would restrict blood flow to the lungs (causing low sats) and the rest of the body (low cap refill).
I asked the doctors about it, and they didn't have any other ideas to replace mine with...in fact, they actually seemed as though they had been considering the same thing. When I left this evening, they said they would watch his sats overnight, and if they continue doing this, they'll order another echo to be done in the morning, focusing more on the Glenn function. If it shows anything suspicious, we may be in for yet another catheter. But better to fix it here than to get back home and realize something still needs to be done! Considering that it's not really an emergency if he does need one, the earliest he would probably have it done Monday. Then there would be the typical overnight stay, so the very earliest we could get out in that scenario is Tuesday. Oh well. We'll get there eventually, and now that I've got a place to stay, the extra time isn't really a big deal aside from the normal amounts of homesickness.
I love your attitude! "Can't change it anyway so deal with what is!" Hugs!
ReplyDeleteI love your attitude! "Can't change it anyway so deal with what is!" Hugs!
ReplyDelete