This morning Stephen went in for his first sedated echo. Sixth months ago when he last had one they were not able to sedate him because he had a little wheezing in his lungs. Luckily we had done our job and made him so tired he just slept through the whole thing.
Today was our first experience with Chloral Hydrate, the medicine they used to sedate him. They kind of freak you out with all the warnings like wake them up every 20 minutes, don't let them go into a deep sleep and call 911 immediately if you notice any irregular breathing problems...great. Stephen wasn't allowed to eat any solids or drink milk for 6 hours prior to the procedure and had to stop clear liquids 2 hours before so I thought he would gladly drink whatever they put in front of him...wrong. The poor guy cried it all down. Apparently it can take some kids up to 30 minutes to fall asleep, Stephen fell asleep in 5. He was out. Since I had hardly any sleep the night before I myself almost fell asleep during the 30 minute procedure with the lights down low =0)
Once the echo and EKG were done it was time for him to wake up. This seemed even more cruel. We kept him up late last night and woke him p early this morning so he would be really tired for them. We then drug him to fell asleep give him a 30 minute nap and then wake him up...a little unfair but necessary. He was a crack up. The medicine makes him all loopy and well "drunk" looking. He couldn't control his head or eyes at first but you could tell he wanted to. We gave him some watered down gatorade and heading over to his cardiologist. He was way crankier than normal...but what could we expect. We were supposed to weight 30 minutes before giving him food but we just felt bad for him and caved in earlier. While waiting in our room he desperately wanted down but he couldn't sit himself up so we went back and forth between the floor and our arms and then eventually fell asleep while we were talking to the doctor in the funniest position. He was in my arms facing me and then pushed back as to look at the ceiling, so as I cupped my hand beneath his head he just fell asleep in an instant. It was pretty cute =0)
Onto the best part...Stephen is doing AMAZING!!! The doctor said he couldn't be doing better. It felt so great to hear those words. Such a relief and a praise. He said he has 2 great things going for him, a strong ventricle and a greta family. I love our doctor. But really ventricle and us aside...we all know the greatest thing he has going for him. I know his story could have gone so many different ways, but God has seen him through it all and has blessed him every step of the way.
He did send Stephen home with a 24 hour holter again for some extra monitoring because of the heart block he experienced during his cardiac catheterization before his second open heart surgery. Stephen has 7 giant leads taped onto his chest and surprisingly has only pulled one off! Assuming all is well he won't be seen again until January and he won't need another echo for a year! It can hardly imagine that...I almost want him to have another one just for my own peace of mind =0)
Needless to say today was a answer to many prayers...so thank you for your continued support! We appreciate you all!
Much Love
The Russells
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