Little Surprises

Yesterday, Daddy and I took lunch break and came back to Mason's bassinet to find a voice specialist around his bed. Apparently, while we were gone, they performed a test to see if there was any damage to his vocal cords. Children who have undergone surgical repairs to the left side of the heart often have their vocal cords damaged. The doctor, with no bedside manner whatsoever, told us that one of his vocal cords was not working. She indicated that is was probably due to surgery and he may have difficulty in swallowing. It was obvious she had never gone to Tact 101 while in medical school-the message was delivered with very little compassion. Fortunately, there was an therapist that was there to visit us who told us she would be performing a swallow study on Tuesday. We pray the cord isn't completely damaged-according to the therpist, Dr. Hanley and several nurses there is a 50% chance that it will repair itself and return on its own. Right now, Mason has a sweet little cry.

Today, Ernie left back home. It is time that the kids know that we still exsist! He hasn't told them he was coming and will be giving them a big surprise. Another big step was taken today. Baby Mason got his RA line out. This is a lijne/lead that goes directly into his heart. He bleda little when they pulled it out and therefore they had to give him some blood. The hurses took this time to change ot his dressings and find another vein for his IV line. I should be able to hold him sometime today. The chest tubes will be one of the last things to go. We also found out that he would be changed over to formula, Monogen, because the fat in the breast milk is going into his lymph nodes and being excreted out. You can see this in the secretions coming from his left chest tube. The clinical term for this is Chylothorax. It is caused due to trauma/nick in the lymph nodes near his heart. This is typically seen in repairs/surgery done to the aortic arch. The chyle from the lymph nodes is leaking out and filling his pleural space (space around his left lung). The condition is expected to heal on its own but I was told it may be undertermined amount of time. This means we will not be leaving the hospital until the drainage has cleared up. That is okay though-it was caught and we are hopeful that his little body can fix itself from this as well.