Caden has been off oxygen for about a week and a half and has been doing pretty good over all. The picture on the right shows how much he enjoys being a big brother. He took Levi (9 months this week) for a ride on the slide at the local park this past week.
I have been asked by a few people how things are going with Caden and our family in recent weeks and then I realized that I have not posted an update lately. Things have been busy. Sherry’s mom has been in the hospital for 2 1/2 weeks and I have had to travel twice for work during that time. I left work on Friday February 4th and headed over to Sherry’s parent’s house. When I arrived Caden was watching his grandma being wheeled to the ambulance. He had big crocodile tears streaming down his face and crying about Grandma going in the ambulance. Grandma originally went into the hospital for dehydration and a urinary track infection. She has sense begun to have seizures and just this evening had to be transferred into the ICU. While the ICU move was not emergent, she has been pretty much unresponsive to Sherry or the boys for over a week now. The move to the ICU is to provide closer monitoring of her condition. The doctors have keep her medicated pretty well to minimize the seizures.
Caden’s six month cardiology visit was this past week. Sherry and I talked briefing about me taking Caden to cardiology solo. I am glad we did not take that path. What we learned is that Caden’s heart has been working a little hard and has grown larger than it should be. Both of Caden’s major aerial valves are leaking and the root of his aortic valve is large. The enlarges aortic root is the biggest concern right now. If nothing is done to treat this condition then Caden’s next open-heart surgery could come sooner than later. Original estimates for his next major heart surgery was guessed to come at 10-12 years of age. The enlarged aortic root could cause the surgery to happen in the next two years and will likely require that the aortic valve be replaced. This means that the Ross Procedure performed in September 2008 will end up causing Caden to have foreign tissue or mechanical valves on his aortic and pulmonary arteries. The treatment to slow down the need for the surgery is to put Caden on medication that can lower his blood pressure to the lowest level that is safe for him to minimize pressure on the aortic root. This is a balancing act because low blood pressure can affect stamina and Caden already has low stamina. The cardiologist want to use a beta-blocker or ACE inhibitor to lower Caden’s blood pressure. We asked to consider this treatment and then come back in a few weeks with any questions. That is where we stand at this point.
We will keep you posted when we know more. In the meantime, Caden seems to be healing well form his latest scoliosis surgery. He does still have pain, but it is mostly manageable with over the counter drugs.
Thank you for keeping Caden and our family in your prayers!