Thursday, July 28, 2011

Surgery Avoided!

Well things move quickly in the ranks of Children's Hospital. We really do have the best doctors!

We left our cardiologist appointment at 10am and by 2pm, I was on my way to CHLA since they squeezed us in for an ultrasound on the aneurysm. The ultrasound took some time with this little wiggle worm, but in the end they determined that they could avoid surgery by using another procedure called Thrombolysis. Using ultrasound again (to see his veins), they will inject the bloated artery with a medication that will cause the aneurysm to clot. It will harden and eventually just be absorbed back into the body. He will lose that artery, but the doctors are not worried about that. (He's already down two arteries, but seems that the body makes up for it in other ways.)

So we are pretty relieved. He'll have to be sedated during the procedure, but that's so much better than having to go through a whole surgery under full sleep anesthesia.

Seems that the good vibes you all have been sending have helped relieve us from another pickle. I'm reminded of the time his sternum came un-wired and we thought we'd have to do another surgery then. Somehow it corrected itself and no surgery was needed. Talk about lucky!

So as challenging as it seems sometimes, we count our blessings in so many ways, you have no idea!

4 comments:

absolutebob said...

I think it's time to sit this kid down and tell him this kind of behavior isn't cool! See you soon.

treen+5 said...

What a relief! It does seem like someone is messing with you. Seriously? Tricky, tricky...
Good job Momma!

Valerie said...

I couldn't imagine having to go through everything you've been through in Stephen's first year of life. You're so strong and optimistic! Stephen was blessed with an amazing Mom! You go girl! Keeping your fam in our prayers.

Alicia said...

Oh, man. Jaana-- you guys are amazing.