The Singer Family: Emily's PDA Closure

Emily relaxing before the "fun" beings

We've waited almost 2.5 years for this day to come and we can now say it came and went as wonderfully as we had hoped. On Friday August 13Th (my birthday too - bad scheduling on my part!) Emily had a Cardiac Catheterization procedure to close up the PDA which was causing a heart murmur. I've posted many times about this pesky PDA and while it wasn't causing any obvious heath issues now it could cause long term damage. They did find out the ductus was bigger than expected and it was definitely good that they resolved it now while she still has some lung growth years ahead of her. We went in early Friday morning and were admitted into OHSU. She was in great spirits and didn't seem to mind any of the evaluations or poking and prodding. Then they brought her some medicine to help her relax and she started to get a little loopy, she was slurring her words and just started to look really out of it. Then the tears started. We weren't sure why, but I'm sure it was because she was feeling a little funny. Next came the IV team and of course they had a hard time placing the IV and then when they tried to take blood they couldn't get anything. The IV really pissed Emily off and she was so upset she couldn't ever catch her breath. Our last hour with her prior to the surgery was trying to comfort her. When it was time for the surgery we had to hand her over to this big lug of a guy who looked like he hadn't held a baby or toddler ever in his life. As he walked through the doors with my baby screaming and reaching for me it just broke my heart. Later we found out he played with her a bit in the hallway and they looked at cars driving by. The Dr told me by the time "the big lug" and Em came into the OR they were best buds.

Here's an image of what was wrong. The circled section is an open valve (ductus) that is allowing oxygen rich blood to mix with oxygen poor blood between the aorta and pulmonary artery. This isn't good because one side is high flow pressure while the other is low flow. The high flow was then moving into the lungs putting extra pressure onto the heart and lungs and in time could cause damage to both. To resolve the issue they put a device into the area that is circled to cut off the blood from flowing into the wrong areas.

The Cardiac Catheterization procedure is done through a tiny incision in her groin. A catheter enters in through the femoral artery and is guided into the heart. The devise to be used for closure is inserted up through the catheter and then put into place by the Dr. When I asked if our Dr does this very often the nurse said Dr. Armsby spends most of her time in the Cath Lab.

They said the procedure could take 2-3 hours and it ended up taking about 4. The Dr was very pleased and said it took a little longer because the ductus that was open was larger than they thought. Instead of placing a coil as they originally had planned they had to place a metal cork type device. If it was going to move it would have done so immediately or soon after placement so when they were satisfied they wrapped everything up. When we finally were able to see Emily she was snuggled under her blanket with her favorite Angel bear that she had in the NICU. She looked so peaceful. That lasted about 10 minutes until she started wiggling and squirming and wrapping herself up in all her cords and leads. Turns out they didn't have a diaper on her (really??) so when she wet the bed it woke her up. All heck broke lose after that. She was so delirious you couldn't' calm her down and I could barely hold her. She would scream and fight and then fall asleep for 10 minutes. It was off and on like that for hours. Finally they said she was being moved to the children's hospital and we would be staying the night. The frantic freak out fest lasted for 8 hours. After she wore herself out she'd fall asleep again. Finally at 8pm she fell asleep and stayed asleep until they woke her at 12am to change her diaper. Miss thing was finally somewhat coherent for the first time and wanted to party. She wanted to watch TV, sing songs, play, walk around (she couldn't even stand up yet). I was up with her until 2:30 and I myself was so tired I was almost in tears. Finally she feel asleep again and slept until 5:45 when she got up with Andy. I'm so glad she slept a few longer stretches so that they could give her IV treatments because if she had been awake she would have had no part in that. The first thing she said to me at 12am when she woke up was "Mommy, where is your bra?" I have no idea why she said that. I was wearing it and was completely dressed. It was funny and just what I would expect out of my little comedian.

Before they released Emily on Saturday morning she had to have another EKG and chest xray and luckily all looked great. Emily ran all over that hospital wing bare footed, in a hospital gown that was wide open, with her diaper hanging out. She played in the play kitchen, drove a car all over the courtyard, and went around the place in a wagon. Finally we were released around 11:30am. We realized that Ellery & Emily had just spent their first night away from each other and as soon as we got them back together it was their normal "no Ellery, it's mine" kind of welcome. Honestly looking at her you can't even tell she had just had heart surgery. They said she should take it easy, no running, lifting, or contact sports. Emily doesn't walk...she only runs, so it's been interesting trying to get her to lay low.

recovery

All in all, we are so relieved to have this chapter of our lives be over. Emily proves time and time again to be a miracle and a fighter. On Monday the 16Th my sweet little miracles turned 2 1/2. WHOA! Someone please slow things down!!!

I'm outta here!

As a special treat we took the girls to Build a Bear for the first time. I think they really liked it, but it's definitely something they will enjoy more when they are a little older.