The Good and the Bad

The findings in the cath lab today were very reassuring that Mason's respiratory distress is not due to anything within his heart. The pressures were all within normal perimeters which also shows that Mason's right pulmonary veins are still nice and open! That was one of my major concerns. I am certainly relieved that there were no surprises in Mason's heart function.

Rejection? There was nothing really during Mason's cath that suggests rejection, but we won't know for sure until tomorrow when we get the results from his biopsy.

The surprise and bad news of the day is that Mason ended up in the CVIVU after his cath on the ventilator!!

When the anesthesiologist placed the breathing tube (which is a normal part of a cath lab sedation) he found that Mason's upper airway was super junky. Which is so strange because he sounded very clear prior to going to the cath lab, although he was working very hard to breath today. The anesthesiologist said he did not feel comfortable extubating him with all the congestion in his airways. He also said his lungs appeared to be very stiff, usually a sign of infection. Placing the breathing tube must have loosened up a hidden pocket of mucous, because for the last 3 hours in the CVICU the nurses have continued to suction out more and more junky secretions.

The plan was to keep him only intubated for a few hours tonight, but after seeing his chest x-ray the docs want to keep him on the vent through the whole night to give his body some rest. . Both of Mason's lungs are very cloudy :( So hopefully after a night on the vent and more suctioning by morning he will be able to lose the breathing tube. Mason is fighter, so I know he will get over this new speed bump sooner than later!!

Thanks for your continued prayers for Mason's strength and comfort