Not The Day We Had Planned

Evie had to be admitted to the hospital today, because of the way in which her angiogram was done. Usually, the doctor threads the catheter through one of the large veins in her thighs to get up to her heart and lungs. But after all of the procedures she has been through, those veins are so full of scar tissue that they are not usable. So the doctor had to go through her liver.

We did not know this was even possible! But the liver has a lot of blood coming and going through it, since it is a filter for the body. So her doctor was able to use one of the veins exiting the liver and get to her heart. Unfortunately, doing it this way requires an overnight stay for observation, because there is a small risk of bleeding into the belly. And it is important that she lay very still to minimize the chance of bleeding.

Evie, laying still? Of course she was not interested in this. She started waking up and wanting to sit up, so the doctors gave her a drug to temporarily paralyze her. (We know this sounds scary, but it is only for the night.) Because of this, she had to keep her breathing tube in and also get a bladder catheter.

She did well during the procedure itself, although the doctor didn't find much to be thrilled about. Her left lung is not getting a lot of blood, and only half of her right lung is getting a good blood supply. So this portion is doing most of the work for her body. Also there are areas of high pressure (pulmonary hypertension) as well as some areas of normal pressure.

She also has something called a hemangioma in her left lung. The doctor said it "looks like a can of worms" but said it is basically a cluster of abnormal vessels that aren't doing a whole lot of anything. You can read more about it here. (Evie's nurse told me that these usually occur on the skin.)

Here is Evie playing while we were still inthe waiting room:


Here she is in ICU:

In the morning, the doctors will check her belly and heart, and if there is no bleeding they should be able to extubate her. She should be able to come home tomorrow, barring any other problems. Please keep the prayers coming...it was unbelievably difficult to see her laying in a hospital bed with a tube down her throat, AGAIN, and to not be able to bring her home.