Both Job's femoral arteries (at his groin - think femur - thigh - bone) were completely occluded (blocked) from previous caths (left side May 2016, right side August 2016) because his arteries were so very small at that time (barely bigger than the catheter).
This has made subsequent caths difficult because that prime cath access was inaccessible and meant a long course of lovenox (anticoagulant) therapy. For certain views and access points the cath team needs femoral artery access or they have to go through the liver. That's no lonher necessary!
I found out today that they did actually get access in one artery in his May 2018 cath but I didn't remember hearing that news because the rest of the news from that cath was so very bad.
Wow!! This is so exciting to me! This means that future cath access is wide open and it means he'll have proper blood flow to his legs! (His body has compensated for the inadequate flow because of the clots by making collateral vessels to get blood to his legs - think side streets instead of freeways).
The ultrasound of his left diaphragm showed (as I expected) no appreciable movement. It's still paralyzed and plicating it (stapling it to the chest wall) back in May 2016 was in fact the right decision (so that it wouldn't hamper breathing). It's been two years, so if it was going to regain function it would have already.
I've been wanting this information for the last 8 months as we've been working so hard on learning to walk and talk. The diaphragm is so integral to the core support, posture and breath support all necessary to, in fact, walk and talk and the left side being paralyzed has no doubt slowed his progress down. I wanted confirmation but to order an ultrasound just for my informational purposes when he still was making (slow) progress in those areas wasn't worth the cost and effort...
But now that we're prepping for a big surgery they ordered this ultrasound to have a more thorough picture of what they're working with for his respiratory recovery post surgery. And, much to my excitement, now I can push speech therapy a bit harder to help Job learn to compensate.
So yay! Femoral artery access and confirmation of continued left hemidiaphragm paralysis!
And another picture of my towhead:
No comments:
Post a Comment