Sam's 12 month cardio check up

OK, Sorry y'all, but the pix loaded in a really weird way and it won't let me move them, so just bear with me and read captions!

So Tues. we had Sam's cardio check up. We'd gotten a phone call telling us to have him stop eating at a certain time, but not why. I was guessing at maybe bloodwork or something? Anyway, when we got there, they sent us off for a chest X-ray, which made me REALLY glad AJ was there, b/c I couldn't go in there with him b/c of Tiger.

Then we all trooped back to Peds Cardio, having been all over the hospital for about an hour and a half by now, and got called back for Sam to get weighed and stuff. The nurse told us they wanted to sedate him for his Echocardiogram. That was a bit of a surprise, and when we told her that they didn't sedate him for his 6 month one, she commented that b/c he was being so good for her, maybe the Dr. would consider not sedating him. But the Dr. came in and told us they had to do some 3D and 4D Echoes and he'd have to be SUPER still, which is not likely for any one year old, much less ours. So they sedated him. OI!! That was a MESS!

First they gave him an oral medication called Chloral hydrate around 1135. The nurses told me it should take about 30 min. or less for him to fall asleep. It's metabolized in the liver and basically affects him like alcohol. AJ took Josh out to play and spend some energy and have a snack, and I sat with Sam. He didn't love the taste of the medicine, but he was ok with it. I was holding him for awhile, and he was all sleepy and laying on my shouldar...and then the meds started kicking in. He was so hilarious!! I sooo wish I'd gotten some video of him... He started playing with his tongue and flirting with the nurses and rolling around and stuff. But 30 min. later, he was still going pretty strong. So around 1205 they gave him a nasal injection of Versed. He didn't like that AT ALL!! I actually was a little afraid he was going to throw up, he kept gagging and coughing at it going down his throat and stuff, and was crying at the same time. But eventually he calmed down a bit. The nurses informed me that it should make him sleep in about 5 min. And about 5 min. later he was much dopier and MUCH grumpier about it!! He was rolling around and freaking out and NOT happy, not happy being held, being on the bed, nothing. I couldn't stop laughing at him b/c he was so upset about being out of control, but it was one of those if I hadn't been laughing I'd have been crying types of things...it was really really stressful, and he's really getting strong!! Anyway, so about 15 min. later he was STILL awake!! Barely...but still fighting really hard, so they brought in the Pentobarbital injection and had to give him a shot in his thigh... OH MAN!! NOT GOOD!! He seriously freaked then. But about 5 min. later he finally fell asleep...WHEW!! Poor kiddo...But they got the echos done...took about 30 or 40 min. maybe? I'm not really sure...but Sam was OUT. And Josh was so good while they were doing all this...and esp. b/c we had to be quiet for most of it.

Anyway, after that, they took Sam over to the same day observation till he woke up. They also did an EKG on him while he was still sleeping. Josh thought that was pretty cool.

After that, Josh and I went and got some lunch and then AJ texted saying that the Dr. was there to talk to us, so Josh and I ran back upstairs, poor kid, and I listened to as much as I could, until Josh insisted again that he needed to go potty RIGHT NOW! So I ran him down the hall to the bathroom and back again, ending up missing another large chunk of the discussion of AJ and the Dr. about stuff. I was kinda irritated and made them repeat it all for me!

Basically my understanding of this rather disjointed conversation was this: Sam's right atrium is still enlarged. They also found a TEENY hole b/t the two upper chambers of his heart, but not big enough either to fix or to be causing the enlargement. He also said Sam's tricuspid valve is shaped and functioning abnormally, but perfectly adequately. So the couple of irregularities they found couldn't be causing the enlargement, and so he's still our little mystery! He's taking 1/2 a baby Asprin a day basically as a precaution, and if he stays the same condition in the next few years, should be able to play sports and all just fine, so that was good to know.

For now they want to keep doing check ups on him. In Sept. he'll be going back in for an EKG so no sedation (yay!), and then probably every 6 mos. again after that.

After we talked to the doctor, it wasn't too much later that Sam finally decided to wake up. He was REALLY groggy still, and wanting to get the heart monitor (on his thumb) off even if it meant chewing it off!! So they put it on his toe...that didn't really help, he kept kicking his feet up and all around till they finally just took it off b/c of course they couldn't get a reading while he was being so crazy! He got some apple juice and water, and did really well with that, so after about 20 min. of him being up they let us leave...around 3:30 or so in the afternoon!! He kept almost drifting off in the car, but refused to actually go to sleep. Finally got him home and he really wanted to get down and crawl around and play, but was still so wobbly and rubbery that he kept falling over, so for awhile we wrestled him on the couch, then put him in the high chair. And finally we just put him in his bed for a little nap, which he needed! He came with us to community group that night and ate a ton, begging brownies from everyone there, and chasing the Rileys' dogs off their bed and stealing their toys! He was still slightly wobbly, but much more coordinated than before. Of course now he's back to his normal self.

So it was a LONG and slightly traumatic day for us, but with pretty good results. We love the nursing staff there, the peds nurses with us for the sedation were awesome! I have a video that I'll post later of one of them with Sam after he woke up a little but was still really loopy.

Josh was kinda tired...this is when they were weighing him and everything before the sedation.
Such a cute little man...and he loves to play with his belly button!
Josh being weird
Sam and AJ were in that room where it says X-ray in use. Josh and I were in the waiting area pictured below... really awesome!!
this was some sort of interactive game
Sam right after waking up
Out cold getting his EKG...wow, that's a lot of wires!!
Josh being really good during the echos.
Sam during the echo...the wires were to monitor his vitals while he was sleeping.
More boy piles of silliness! We sure do love our little mystery boy!!