Miracles at play...

Have you ever seen this many smiles on a heart cath day??  I am loving my little miracle man...

Chilling in the pre-op room, waiting for lab draws

 

More smiles!

After some much needed nourishment, smiling and laughing watching new Mickey videos - only 4 hours post op!!

Smiley boy most of the day!

Today was THE best hospital experience we have ever. had. period.  It was a great day...despite what we were here for.  I would say this was a miracle day in many, many ways for us, and I am reveling in God's grace and mercy He has shown us today...thou art Faithful!

First, this morning, before anyone even stirred in our apartment, I was sitting by Liam's beside at 5:30 am about to wake him so he could drink some Pediasure before the 6 hour fast that would start at 6 am...you know the anxious momma syndrome when you plan every last detail into the minutes to be sure your child has the best advantage for a procedure....or is that just me?? Anyways, as I was sitting by his side as he slept, I brushed his hair and softly whispered to him to stir him awake....he turned a few times, but really wouldn't wake.  I sat thinking...what if he doesn't drink this??  He will be SOO hungry later...I really at least want him to have SOMETHING of substance today...worry, worry, worry.  I stopped and prayed and felt like the Lord asked me to surrender those worries to Him and asked me back gently, "so....what if?  Can't I handle that?"  I immediately felt a peace about leaving Liam to sleep some more while I gathered up my bible and went to spend that time in His word, rather than worry about the order of the day.  Miracle #1....Liam woke up around 6:45 (praise God, for I got another 45 minutes of sleep after perusing the Book too!) and he never complained about being thirsty...or hungry before the cath.  He only asked for juice once.  Amen.

Also, there was no traffic on this Monday morning, on a complete construction zoned route to hospital...we can call that Miracle #2 (people in Dallas will here me on this one!).

Once we arrived at the hospital, check in was on time (praise!) and when checked in, NO deductible or co-pay was due today, even after we had already called the insurance to verify the deductible we'd be required to pay for this (beginning of the year especially)....could be a fluke, but I am charging this as Miracle #3.  This stuff just doesn't happen.

They gave Liam the "goofy juice" (Versed, for all my medically inclined friends) and we sent him back to the "special nap room" where the doctor "was going to look at his heart while he slept".  No tears, just big hugs, waves and sweet goodbyes!  Couldn't have been any easier....

Procedure went "better than expected" and Liam's heart looked "better than expected from his recent echo findings".  Huge news for us...Miracle #4.  Doctor said no intervention was required, as all his pulmonary arteries only had mild stenosis and not one warranted any intervention at this time.  So the cath ended up just being a diagnostic, instead of an intervention - YAY!  The only really relevant "finding" for now, was that the pulmonary valve is leaking more than what the echo showed - moderate leakage as opposed to minimal.  And this is what is causing the Echo to show increased pressures (our recent notes showed the echo measured the gradient at 58), however doc said today with his measurements, the actual gradient is closer to 25, only upper range of mild stenosis, instead of being the upper range of moderate stenosis....Miracle #5.

Recovery was pretty much smooooooth sailing.  Liam had his tearful moments, of course, but he was able to communicate so much better than a year ago and that helped TREMENDOUSLY.  Plus, they were able to give him some Fentanyl (pain med) and Zofran (anti-nausea) which did the trick for him.  He only got sick once in the PACU and remained calm after that.  We moved to the pedi floor in record time for us, 1 hour (which is the  minimum PACU stay post-op).  Once on the pedi floor, Liam was calm and relaxed, watched his new Mickey movies and ate and drank like a pro without any sickies....I just can't get over how well he has done today post-op, especially with eating and drinking.  Miracle #6.

We had a nice wagon ride before bed, walking daddy down stairs to go home for the night, came back, watched a show, read a book and now Liam is down and out for the night without a tear or whine.  I am sitting here, totally in awe of today.....just remembering our past and how did we get HERE?  God has done this for us, I am for certain.  We did nothing on our own, except put our trust and faith in Him to takeover the day and make it His own, and boy did He ever.  This momma is humbled and thankful tonight....and finally resting easy. Thank you all for your prayers today, and as you can see, certainly Miracles do happen.