Take Three Averted...For Now

I'm a little delinquent with updating, and I find if I don't update when I'm thinking about it then it gets harder to update later. So, here goes. My last entry was when Sofia was in the hospital (for the second time). She was readmitted Wednesday (5/30) and discharged Sunday (6/3). Her chest tube that was put in that Thursday only drained fluid for about 1 day then petered off. She was playful and active on Saturday and Sunday and seemed to be feeling good. The was in contrast to her roommate, Margaret, the other 3 year old who had the Fontan surgery 2 days before Sofia, who slept a lot and seemed pretty lethargic. The chest tube was removed on Sunday and we were able to go home again. Dr. Lorber was the cardiologist on the floor this week (who I remembered as he the doctor who did fetal echos on me when I was pregnant with Adelaide), and he did an echo on Sofia Sunday before we went home and was satisfied that the pericardial effusion (fluid around the heart) was small and the chest x-ray looked ok.

It was nice to be back home again. This rollercoster of a month (going on two) is not as much physically draining as it has been emotionally draining. That reminds me that today it has been 4 weeks from Sofia's surgery. Wow. Feels like a whirlwind.

Yesterday we were back at the main campus for a surgical follow up. She had an x-ray, echo, and appt. with the surgical nurse scheduled. After the two tests, we waited in the exam room for about 40 minutes before Dr. Stewart (surgeon) came and in and told us there more fluid. He showed me the x-ray, still has fluid on right side, and the echo. He seemed defeated by this. Maybe not defeated, but just a little disappointed that it came back. He had us wait while he and the cardiologist talked things over and weighed the choices of admitting her and putting her on IV lasix or seeing if we could change her at home meds and letting her go home with the condition that she come back for follow up Friday (tomorrow) morning. After discussing with the cardiologist who did they echo, they were satisfied with the decision to let her go. Her heart function is good and the fluid hadn't gotten worse around the heart. They added another diuretic (diuril), which she has to take in addition to the lasix and let her go home. She hates the taste of lasix and gagged and threw it up yesterday. From here on out, we are going to have to only mix with juice to get her to take it. Anyway, I think Dr. Stewart was expecting to see her looking like she wasn't feeling well, but they said that she looks good in spite of the results. And she was very energetic today. Hard to gauge when she's not feeling well because she's not exhibiting symptoms of this fluid accumulation.

Really hoping that something changes by tomorrow morning and that things look good. I'm packing an overnight bag just in case.

Adelaide had her 18 month check up on Tuesday (she turned 19 months old yesterday). She didn't even cry when she got her one shot. She's such a big girl! She is repeating everything you tell her and she's putting two words together. She is 26 lb. 3 oz. and is in the 85th percentile for weight and 87th for height. Growing up so fast. Her hair seems to be turning blonde, but I hope she keeps the strawberry. She definitely has the red headed temperament!