Cardiology checkup

Zach's cardiology appointment went well today... except for the part about holding him down to remove... you guessed it --- THE BANDAID!!! The good news is that Dr. Raunikar said that we do not need to keep a bandaid on it anymore. Hallelujah!!!

He weighs 30.3 lbs, is 37.5 inches tall, good bp, good pulse ox at 90-92, EKG and echo looked good. He left him on the same doses of aspirin and enalipril and reduced his lasix to one time a day (Yay!!!). The poor kid gets a lot of exercise running back and forth to the potty after taking that lasix!

The doctor said he can start preschool when school starts but he cannot climb on the outdoor play equipment. I will have to check to see if they can accomodate him in that way. The other issue is that he is still on the fat-free diet until the end of the month, so we will have to provide all his food. You can imagine that this "hovering heart mom" is having a hard time with trusting that someone else will protect him from collisions, climbing, and fat-laden food. I also have to compile a list of symptoms for the preschool staff to look for in order to educate them about his condition. Fortunately, he will be at a preschool about 2 minutes away from my school.

Rebecca will be trying out for volleyball at her school next week. She loves the sport and is pretty good at it, so we are hopeful that she will make the team.

Speaking of school, I can't believe its almost here!!! I have been in my first-year-teacher class this week and will be officially starting next week. I am feeling overwhelmed and anxious but I am really excited to begin this new adventure! We welcome your prayers as we make these adjustments within our family.

Enalapril, Lasix, and Pull Ups

Zach had a follow up visit with the cardiologist this morning. If you'll remember, about 2 weeks ago, we told the dr that we had noticed that Zach had been breathing harder as he plays. We had another chest x-ray done and Dr. R. said it looked clearer (he saw pulmonary vascular congestion 2 weeks ago). Just in the past few days I have noticed that Zach's breathing has been a bit better, so maybe that was the cause.

We are still on Lasix 1x a day. That stuff sure does work quickly! We are diligent about going potty every 20-30 minutes for about 1.5 hours after he takes it and we wear a Pull Up just in case! So now, he is bumping us up from 2.0ml to 3.0ml of Enalapril 2x a day. That is a bigger increase than we have ever had before. He said that could increase tee-tee's too. Lovely. Anyone notice that a dosage increase of Enalapril affects behavior for a few days? We have seen that in the past.

The dr could have gone all day without making me realize that Zach's heart cath is a little over a month away. Yikes! In my mind, April seems like a year away. But I know it will be here before we know it! I am nervous --- it has been so long since we have had to have anything major done. Zach had the Glenn at 9 months and curcumcision at 16 months. Now that he is older, I an anxious about how he will deal with it all. This time, he will be very aware of everything that is going on. How will we prepare him? How have you prepared your Brave Hearts for procedures and surgeries? What worked and what didn't? Please post your ideas in comments.

More from the funny boy:

These boots are made for walking,
and that's just what they'll do.
One of these days
these boots are gonna walk all over you.