Thursday, March 20, 2014

What A Day! Let's Just Dance in the Spring Rain.....

Mason woke up Wednesday (yesterday) feeling just fine after feeling so yucky on Tuesday. But, we went into see the Transplant team at clinic anyways just to make sure they were comfortable sending him in for his procedures scheduled for today. With how well he felt and looked, and blood work being normal the team gave us the go ahead for today's annual cath/ biopsy and coronary MRI.

We checked in at 6:30 am this morning for his procedures.  Usually Mason is happy to be at Primary's and looks forward to coming, but this morning a little while after checking into pre-op he got really cranky and whiney.  I didn't think much of it at the time but later in the day it all started to make sense. Why? I'll let you know in just a bit, because I'd rather start with good news first.


The good.....
Mason's heart and wedge pressures read during the cath were beautiful!! In fact the lowest and best that they've EVER been. Mason's echo showed great heart function. And drum roll please..... his coronary arteries all appear very normal and healthy!! ( Healthy CA's are always a concern for transplant patients, but even more so those with a history of antibody rejection like Mason.) So hip hip hooray for this great news!! For this we are very grateful!!

The not so good.....
Mason had a rough time recovering from the anesthesia. He was needing oxygen and had a high respiratory rate even two hours post.  Usually he recovers quite smoothly ( but of course, not always), so I was a little concerned. But then my concern heightened when he spiked a fever of 103!! And his lungs were sounding junky when they had been totally clear this morning.  The team ordered a viral panel and sure enough he has a yucky respiratory virus called Corona virus.  So most likely something completely different than tummy bug he'd had, and it hit him fast and hard!! This probably explains the crankiness this morning though. Like I said the other day.....I think I jinxed myself!! He hadn't been admitted in a little over six months and here we are spending the night at the Hotel on the Hill. Hopefully just for the night. I think with this new virus manifesting itself while he still had anesthesia in his system he has struggled to fully recover from today's procedures.

Lastly and sadly I announce that his rejection has crept back. It's not quite as bad as we found last March at his annual biopsy, but it's still not the beautiful '0' rejection he had in November. It is mild rejection (mainly antibody mediated, as usual with Mason) ,but still makes this heart mama sad and concerned!! The score is C2 V3 ISHLT O pAMR 2. While we are staying the night he is getting an IVIg treatment to hopefully help with his antibody rejection. The transplant team had us skip his last 2 monthly treatments to see if he'd be okay without it, but today's results show he most likely still needs them!! As for his steroids, he'll probably have to go up to a higher dose again, but the team wants to wait until he gets over this Corona virus.

With the good news and the not so good news news today we still remain forever grateful for Mason's gifted heart. Mason's journey may bring us ups and downs and continued roller coaster rides, but we'll take it because he's here enjoying life with us each day!! Spring is here so don't wait for the storm to pass, let's just continue to dance in the rain!!



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