John Asher's heart continues to be difficult to tame. His heart rate stayed high today, consistently in the 190's. The medications to control his heart rate have been ineffective. So tomorrow John Asher has been scheduled to have a heart cath done with three primary purposes.
First they want to take pictures, so that they have clearer pictures than can be provided from the echocardiogram. They will also take pressure readings in each of the chambers of his heart and major artery.
Second, they will shoot a dye into his artery and take pictures to see if he has any collateral vascular veins that would have grown as a result of the restricted blood flow to the lungs in his first 12 months of life. This is one of the ways his body may have compensated over time to get more oxygen to the lungs. If he has the veins they will do a particle embolization. In essence, they will block those veins so that they are no longer in use. They believe this could be one of the contributing factors to the irregular heart rate. There could also be long term problems with those veins being there and would need to fix them anyways.
Third, if the pressures are high in his right ventricle, they will put a small hole in his heart to begin to act as a release valve. If there are no high pressures, that procedure does not get done. If the procedure is required they will need to put him back on the ventilator to control and restrict his body movements and he will undergo greater anesthesia.
I am pretty comfortable with them needing to do the heart cath and take the pictures. I want them to figure out what is going on. However, I am not loving the idea of the pin size hole being placed and having to be put back on the ventilator. Having said that, I want what is best for my son. So I ask again, that you please, please pray that the pressures in his heart are not high and therefore will not need the pin size hole put into his heart. That is my main prayer request for tonight and tomorrow.
John Asher is third in line tomorrow for his procedure and it will probably be performed mid afternoon. Please intercede on his behalf and ask the Lord to reduce the pressures if they are there and pray that the hole will not have to be placed. If it has to happen, then it was for the best and I will rest knowing that God is in control of his heart and obviously knows what is best.
Thanks and we love you all!
4 comments:
Continuing to keep you all in prayer Robyn. Love you!
Tam
I will be praying for sure!!!!
I am certainly praying that the cath is not needed as he has already been through so much already! If, however, he does need a cath, Drs. Raviele, Kim, and Vincent in the cath lab are all INCREDIBLE, as are the nurses and other support staff there. Cabell has had 3 caths/biopsies and, while it is always scary, all turned out fine and the recovery time was very, very fast. If John Asher does have a cath today, please know that he is in excellent hands and I will be praying for very successful results!
Amy Stewart
Continued prayers for your sweet boy and his wonderful family!
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