Tomorrow, October 9th, he will be having an exploratory angiogram (heart catherization) to figure out what is going on inside his heart and what is causing him to have even lower o2 than his normal.
Quick recap: Micah has three heart defects - hypoplastic right heart syndrome (hrhs), tricuspid atresia, and pulmonary stenosis (didn't even KNOW that the third defect existed until I read his after visit summary a few months ago after his biannual cardiologist visit). Basically, half of his heart is functioning and is "all there." Hrhs basically means that his right ventricle, which carries the blood to his lungs, is not there. He has a tiny little nub of his right ventricle that does not function at all.
Due to these defects, his oxygen level is not 100% like ours, but was hovering around 83% or so on average. In recent months, since about February (so for about 8 months) I've noticed my son getting out of breath a lot faster and his lips started getting darker, or "blue"(It looks like he has just had a sucker or popsicle all the time), which is showing lower o2.
Back in Feb, he would be out or breath by the time he got to the top of our stairs. Now, he is panting by the time he is to the 4th stair.... he gets out of breath by simply walking (or toddler-running) from one end of the room to the other. It has been breaking my heart....
Anyway, during his cardiologist visit in July, it was discovered that his new average o2 is around 78% :'( I bought a portable pulse ox and he has actually gone as low as 70% at times. Again... it is absolutely breaking my heart.
Because of his even lower o2, Micah was referred from his primary cardiologist to his cardiologist who works in tandem with his surgeon. His other card opted for increasing one of Micah's medications (he is on two medications, one for blood pressure and one for lung pressure) to maximize efficiency in the exploratory cath that they will be doing.
The doctors don't know if they're going to find a blockage, which they will balloon open, or an extra blood vessel, which they'll be closing off. They may find nothing, they may find something that will result in an additional open heart surgery to fix. We simply don't know and will not have answers until tomorrow.
So this is it. This is what we are facing, currently. I'm not going to lie one bit... it has been extremely hard. It doesn't matter that he has had two open hearts or an angiogram before... it has been almost 2 years since he has had any procedure done! This little boy has my heart and is such a big part of my life... I just want him to be safe.
If you're reading this, please pray for my son's safety, and that the angiogram gives us answers and solutions. Thank you.
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