Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Pulmonary Artery Banding

I love being at home, it's cosy and safe and I don't have doctors and nurses prodding and poking me all the time. Mommy and daddy are still feeding me through the tube, I can only manage to drink about 30ml's at a time, not nearly enough! I sweat and get all breathless so I'm 'topped' up with the rest of the milk, I like going to sleep when they do this, I can feel my tummy getting nice and full. I've been going to lots and lots of appointments. I know when I'm in hospital because I recognise the smell. I'm not thriving so well at the moment so my cardiologist said I should have pulmonary artery banding. This is a band that they put on my pulmonary artery, to restrict the amount of oxygenated blood that goes into my lungs. It'll help me put on weight and I shouldn't be as breathless. Sounds good doesn't it! But think mommy and daddy are a bit worried.

I'm 2 month's old now and ready for my first major surgery. We all went to Great Ormond Street hospital. I had to have lots of blood tests in preparation for the op. They really struggled taking blood from me, they pricked my heal about 5 times, it was sore but I didn't cry. Mommy and daddy were given a room to stay right near the hospital so they could visit me in PICU whenever they wanted, it was nice knowing they were so close. They had a chat with the surgeon who explained what they'd do to me, they had to sign a consent form... not nice to do but if I was to feel better they knew they had to do it. A nurse came to fetch us, she took us to the room where I would have my anaesthetic. I felt so small on the big bed. Mommy and daddy were allowed to stay with me until I fell asleep. They put a mask over my nose, it smelt really odd..

I woke up properly about 24 hours later. I was heavily sedated and on morphine. I had wires and tubes all over me and my eyes were really puffy, I couldn't really open them. I didn't like it in there but the nice nurses kept me comfortable. Mommy and daddy sat with me all the time, talking to me and stroking my forehead. The next day I went to the Ladybird ward. I was glad to be out of PICU, it meant I was getting better. Mommy was allowed to stay with me too, she had a camp bed next to mine. I met another little boy in there called Max, he had open heart surgery, he was 2.. much older than me.

I was allowed home a week later. I was given furosemide and spironolactone to take, they are diuretics and they help to drain excess fluids from my system. They make me wee a lot. I wasn't allowed to get my scar wet for 3 weeks so we had to be really careful at bath times. I'm still feeling quite breathless though and still sweat when I try and feed, wonder if they did the band tight enough?