Moving in the right direction

Just got to talk to the doc and get confirmed details.

Basically, although there was not a dramatic improvement in his pressures, everything is moving in the right direction. Magnus has not grown any new collaterals, and they clamped off 6 today. Most excitingly, there is talk of taking him off oxygen and he gets to stop taking Plavix! And it looks like we'll be going home tomorrow a.m.

Gotta run and see him!

They're done

Iggy just called up and they're finished in the cath lab. We're going to meet up with the head cath Dr. in about 15 minutes to discuss how things went and where we go from here. I may not be able to update for a while, though, because hopefully after that we'll get to go to recovery and see Magnus.

Pretty good news

Just called the cath lab, they said Magnus is doing well, that his pressures are lower than last time (!!!!!) and they are still coiling off collateral veins. I don't know how significant the improvement is, but thank god it's not bad news. They are coiling off a lot of collateral veins and said they'd be in there at least another hour.

Lots of happy tears after getting off the phone, and my heart no longer feels like it's going to pound right out of my chest. But we still have to talk to the docs and figure out where we go from here.

Still no news

Still haven't heard anything from the cath lab. I'm trying not to read into that one way or another. If they finished up really fast, though, that would probably be bad and mean that his pressures were too high for them to be able to do anything. Taking a long time could also be bad, though. Like I said, I'm trying not to read too much into it (and not being very successful).

Iggy and I are hanging out at the library. If you ever need to wait for someone having surgery or something at UCSF, the library is the best place to do it, especially now that they have wireless access here (they used to have it only for students & employees). The library has beautiful views, comfy chairs, it's nice and quiet, and it's right across the street. Yay library.

Just dropped off

We finally brought Magnus up to the cath lab around 1:30, and are now eating lunch.

This morning actually went pretty smoothly, except when they tried and failed (but only once) to put in an IV and when they put him under with gas for the cath. Magnus was otherwise in good spirits and charmed everyone. We were also impressed that he now weighs 10.3 kilos (about 22.5 lbs). At the end of March he had just barely cracked 20 lbs, so that is very good gain.

I am having some trouble with hospital internet access so updates may be sporadic.

We don't expect to hear anything from the cath lab for a while; they said that we should call them if we don't hear anything by 4:30. Will let you know more as I am able!

An update and a plug

So, it's tomorrow. We are second case (ugh), which means he will probably go into the cath lab around noon, assuming the first case doesn't go late again.

Unfortunately, Magnus going into the hospital tomorrow means we are going to miss the sendoff for the Bike4theCHF riders at the Golden Gate Bridge tomorrow morning. This year, our friends Jeni and Nick Busta will be joining Nels Matson in riding cross-country to raise funds for the Children's Heart Foundation. Magnus is featured on their fundraising page and was supposed to be there for the sendoff tomorrow a.m. I know most of us don't have a ton of spare cash these days, but if you would like to donate in Magnus's honor, you can do so here, and it's for a very good cause.

I will do my best to keep everyone updated with news as we get it tomorrow!

Next week

This is the longest stretch Magnus has ever gone without being in the hospital. Not coincidentally, it is also the longest I have gone without updating this blog! But both stretches are now coming to an end.

Magnus's cardiac catheterization is scheduled for June 1. I'm really hoping we'll be first case this time, since last time, frankly, sucked (the first case ran late, so we wound up having to fast Magnus all day until 3 p.m. and keep him entertained in the hospital). But of course, more importantly, we are hoping for good news, or at least, not for bad news.

Magnus has now been on oxygen 24 hours a day for more than 6 months in hopes of controlling his pulmonary hypertension and allowing him to be a candidate for the third surgery he's supposed to have. That's more than 1/3 of his life (he just turned 18 months last week)! This cath is extremely important. We could get either very good news (the oxygen & meds worked & his hypertension is better), very bad news (his hypertension is worse and there's nothing else they can do for him), or, probably most likely, something in between.

From what we can tell from the outside, Magnus has been doing very well. He has been growing and gaining weight, learning new things, and catching up in his gross motor skills (he's getting close to walking). I also feel like he just looks better than he ever has; he looks strong, and doesn't have the puffiness he used to have before. He also has tons of energy, and has been healthy ever since the cold that landed him in the hospital back in January. But who knows? I felt confident that he was doing better at the time of his last cath, right before Christmas, and there had actually been no change. So, we are very nervous.