The Good, The Bad, and The Unknown

The Good

Hope was awesome at all of her appointments today.  I mean...better than she has ever been.  She didn't throw up on anyone, she hardly cried at all, and she laid still for the entire 45 minute echo.  I told the echo tech to keep taking whatever pictures she wanted because Hope was being so good.  This is the same little girl that is usually heard screaming all the way into the waiting room.  She has thrown up on countless people more times than I can count.  Her weight is really good (she is finally on the charts scoring a 1.07%...WOOHOO).  Her sats were all over the place today.  When she started they were in the 70s (too low).  Then we moved the little thingy (you all know what I mean) to her hand and her sats went to 90 (too high).  Finally, when she was sleeping in the waiting room, they were just right at 84.  Today...AMAZING!!!

The Bad

OK...not necessarily bad because it was expected.  Hope will be having a cath this summer.  She has not been in the hospital for almost 2 years.  Actually...on May 12th it will be two years.  That is the last time she spent the night in the hospital and that was her last cath where they ballooned open her left pulmonary artery.  The good news with the echo pictures they took today is that they got good pictures of her artery and it looks like it is not growing like they want it to.  It also appears that she has some collaterals growing from her aorta and circumventing the pulmonary artery.  This causes her sats to stay good, but it also doesn't help the pulmonary artery grow because the blood is not all going through the pulmonary artery, but through these collaterals.  So...we head to the cath lab sometime this summer (no hurry and we will definitely be bumped for any emergent case).  Dr. Prieto will balloon her pulmonary artery and may put in a stent.  She will also coil off some of the collaterals.  I am guessing her sats will be lower after the cath until the pulmonary artery gets back into the groove of pumping blood like it is supposed to (this is my thought and I forgot to ask Dr. Prieto...so I have no idea if it is true). 

The Unknown

I am not joking...I know absolutely nothing about kidney disease, how the kidney's function, or what it really means for Hope.  Her BUN today was 42...really super, duper high.  I don't really know what this means or if it is bad, but typically anything that is twice what the normal is bad.  I haven't heard from the nephrologist, but I am expecting a call tomorrow.  I really hope it was a fluke and doesn't really mean anything too bad.  Her createnine  was normal and I think that is good.  It is the other number they look at to determine how bad her kidney is functioning.  I will update more when I hear something, but prayers are always welcome and appreciated.