Dylan's Echo

Dylan had his Echo this afternoon.  It was hopefully his last sedated Echo.  I went into it wondering if they tried doing the Echo with him not sedated if it would work.  Then the nurse laid him on the exam table to get a quick measurement and he cried.  I decided then that it was good they were sedating him. 

He took longer than usual today to calm down after getting the IV for the sedation.  I think it must have bothered him where they had it more this time.  He even complained when they were giving him the medicine.  The nurse did check the site and it was in correctly, so it was just bothering him. 

After the Echo and time in recovery, we met with his cardiologist, who came in carrying a toy car to give Dylan (he hit the jackpot this time...came home with 3 cars, a ball, a new sippy cup and a blanket).  His doctor commented on how happy Dylan was after he went over the results of the Echo and listened to Dylan's heart(he really is getting better about interacting with adults.  He will actually talk to adults now and not cry if they touch him). 

The doctor told us that his pulmonary arteries are getting a little more narrow and so will need to go sometime next month to the cath lab and get that fixed.  Said the main problem with the narrowing is that if it isn't fixed, the vein has a tendency to not grow.  Getting it fixed in the cath lab is relatively simple.  They will take a catheter and go up through a vein in his leg to the narrow veins where they will balloon them open and, if necessary, use a stent to hold them open.  He said that generally it's an overnight stay.  (Not always, but best to plan on it being overnight.)  He obviously still has the leakiness, but his heart is still handling it well.  Russ asked him when we should plan on that needing to be fixed.  He said, "That's the million dollar question."  Went on to say that he would say that the average for it to be fixed would be early teens.  Some earlier, some later. 

After the cath we will talk with his doctor again to see when we need to take Dylan back for his next Echo.  The way he talked today, I assume he will have us come back in about a year.