On January 28th Mason, Daddy and I traveled to Albuquerque to visit Dr. Goens, Mason's cardiologist. His 02 level was 85%. This is an improvement to what he had been running and we were glad to hear it! It is funny that the sat monitor will beep/alarm at a set point that most normal people would be in serious trouble! Yet, for Mason 85% is really pretty good. Since we were running late to the appointment we had to call and make arrangements with Dr. Fahl, Pediatric GI, to re-schedule us for a later time. Fortunately, he was glad to make time to see us the same day and told us just to let them know once we got in. Mason's condition sure gets some attention; unfortunately, it's not the kind we would wish on anyone.
After a review of his echo, Dr. Goens commented that it wasn't the best function that she had seen but that it was "fair." This is better than severely dysfunctional, so we will take it. Dr. Fahl suggested that we reduce the amount of calories per ounce of formula for Mason to 24kCal. Other than that, his G-tube site looked great and he praised us on doing such a wonderful job.
Dr. Goens eliminated the Aldactone from his medications which is great since this was causing him extreme gas and nausea. Since we have eliminated it, he has been doing wonderful. She also asked that we keep him on 1/2 litre of oxygen 24/7 until May. This should help heal his heart and get him through any congestion he may get from any viral illnesses. Having to carry around oxygen tanks everywhere we go is a bit inconvenient to say the least. I imagine Mason is a little tired of that tube being in his nose as well.
On antoher minor note, after many complaints/calls/emails to Dr.Etheridge regarding Mason's bowel movements (poop) he agreed to test it. So we collected a sample and got it sent off and low and behold it tested positive for C-diff. It looks like he hasn't gotten over it from being at the hospital. We are treating with Flagyl again and hopefully we can get it taken care of.
His current medications are:
Captopril 3 mls 3 times a day (increased from 2mls)
Reglan .8 ml 3 times a day
Digoxin .6ml 2 times a day (new med)
Lasix .9ml 2 times a day
Omniprozole 3 mls 1 a day
and baby aspirin 1/2 tablet 1 a day
I asked for his Captopril to be flavored and he loves it! It has actually gotten to be a treat for him to take his Captopril/Reglan/Digoxin/Lasix and baby aspirin as they taste great! The next time we get the omniprozole we will have to request flavoring as well. Since everything had been previously going through his G-tube, no one was concerned about taste.
It is probable that the medications have somewhat "masked" his ventricle function but we truly believe that there are forces that are allowing his heart to mend. God has gotten him this far, he can't back away now, we are counting on it.
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