The Cath is DONE!

We are back in our room after a very, very long day down in the cath lab. Everything went very well, once it finally went. There were no nasty surprises with her pressures -- they were what they expected them to be. They were able to take four small cardiac biopsies and we should get some results from those by tomorrow, but full results will take 2-3 weeks. Everything was done with minimum sedation -- meaning no breathing tube or ventilator -- and she tolerated all of the meds very well. They took some blood for more (yes MORE) tests during the cath and decided to give her some blood afterwards (her blood was a bit low going in, from what we were told).

The cath took less time than they told us to anticipate -- it was probably about an hour and twenty minutes or so. We spent the next few hours in recovery with her as she snoozed and got blood and fluids. She has woken up and eaten a little bit, but she is sound asleep in her Mam's arms right now. She has bandages at the top of both legs, in addition to two new IVs. Dr. Smoot said something about sending us home tonight if she continued to do well, but I think we (including her nurse today) are leaning towards staying the night just so we can keep her on the monitors ... and, well, just because. I know I'll sleep better here, given the situation!

I hadn't thought much beyond this procedure and just getting through it. I am, as expected, relieved that it is over and done and that it won't be hanging over our heads anymore. We opened our big mouths, though, and asked Dr. Smoot what to expect in the coming weeks and even months. We'll see her back here in Boston (outpatient basis) in about a month, but we'll still see the cardiologist in New Hampshire between now and then. I expected that. What I didn't expect was the thick booklet on pediatric heart transplants that Dr. Smoot gave us. Wow. That'll knock the breath out of you. We're not there yet, but the reminder that they are putting all of the pieces in place for us to move forward with listing Annie is hard.

On that note, I think those are the only coherent thoughts I have about everything right now. (I can't function on two hours of sleep the way I used to pre-kids! We didn't have a roommate last night, but I wasn't sleeping for other, obvious reasons.) We're relieved that there were no nasty surprises and that Annie tolerated the sedation and procedure so well. We're relieved that this cath is over, even if it is only the first of many. (They are so routine here that people kept commenting that they had forgotten this was our first experience with it. "Oh, right. It's your first one. Um, do you have any questions?") And we're happy -- so, so happy -- to have Annie back in our arms.

Thank you, everyone, for keeping Annie and the rest of us in your thoughts today. Sorry it ended up being such a long day with so little to report!