Three-week post-op report

This morning, Grammy, Keane and I went to the Children's Hospital for our three-week follow-up with Dr. Kelly, Keane's cardiologist. We've learned now... although the appointment was at 930a, we budgeted until noon to be on "the hill." Yep, we were there until 1145a! It's such an event.

I have virtually no bad news to report for once! Hooray. Everything is great, or better than anticipated. First, Keane had two chest x-rays to assess his heart size and make sure he had no fluid in his lungs. He passed this test with flying colors. Next, we say Dr. Kelly's medical assistant to check oxygen saturation (= 100%), blood pressure (great), heart rate (also great) and an EKG (just ok). The EKG showed that Keane basically has an irregular heart beat. The electrical conductors that tell the heart muscles to contract are not really firing correctly on the right side. As a result, the right ventricle is not being told to contract by the right electrical current in the heart (those medical brains out there will recognize this as RBBB -  right bundle branch block). For Keane, this is his new normal. It's not anything that needs treatment - the left ventricle current travels to the right side and like a Sunday drive in wine country, allows for the right ventricle signal to contract on a detoured current.

Keane will continue to take his Viagra for the next three months - until the beginning of December. However, the dose will not be adjusted for his weight gain. Consequently, he will be getting a decreasing dose over time. Dr. Kelly was not totally convinced that Keane has pulmonary hypertension; the RBBB can make the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension less certain, he may just have a RBBB. The first or second week of December, Keane will return to Doernbecher for another sedated echo (which seemed like a big deal the first time, but a cake walk after surgery). Hopefully, he will get another gold star in December, wean off of the Viagra completely, and be an annual check up with the Cardiologist kind of dude.

Oh, I don't want to forget -- for those who have ridden the weight roller coaster with me..... Keane weighed 14/1 today. Yes, I did not mistype; he weighed 12/6 at discharge, that's about 0.75 lb gain per week since discharge. I'll make sure to post a picture tomorrow of his chubs!