Thaddeus 70

Thaddeus hams it up with his cardiologist.

Thaddeus (aka Yoda) in front of the fish tank at the hospital back in January.  Thaddeus gets ready for the blood draw.

This past Friday, Dede and I met with Thaddeus’ cardiologist to discuss the results of the MRI. Let me go back to January when Thaddeus’ had his last appointment. At that time, the doctors did a catheterization with the possibility of inserting a stent into Thaddeus’ artery going from his heart to his left lung. From the angle that the cath gave them, the artery looked a bit larger than they thought it would be. After they closed the fenestration (the extra hole in the heart that they put there to be an overflow valve of sorts) his oxygen levels climbed up as well. As such, it was decided not to put a stent in at the time. However, the doctors were still concerned because the cath only gives a 2D view of the artery. They wanted to get a 3D view. That was why the MRI was ordered. From the angle the cath gives us, the artery looks about ½ to ⅓ of the size of the one on the right side of the body. The MRI revealed that the artery is ribbon like. When we look at it from the other angle, it appears, I’d guess, about ⅙  or more the size of the artery going to the right lung. The Dr. admitted that he was not shocked at how small it was, but he was supprised. As best they can estimate, 95% of the blood from the heart is going to the right lung and only 5% is going to the left lung because the artery is so small. Obviously, this is very inefficient. What is worse is that the body will try and make up for this by creating new, small, arteries to the lung. This sounds like a good thing, but it isn’t because they will not improve the blood flow to the lungs and will increase the strain on the heart. This will also create complications when Thaddeus gets a heart transplant some day. The next step is to go back in and put in the stent after all, maybe. The maybe comes in because there is limited space in Thaddeus’ chest cavity. When they put the stent in the artery, it is possible that this would compress the airway to the lung. Increasing the blood flow to the lung is not helpful if the air can no longer get to the lung. So, the plan is to go into the artery and inflate a balloon to the size of the stent, while also going down the nose with a camera to see what happens to the airway. If the airway is ok, they will put the stent in. If it compresses the airway too much, they will quit the procedure at that point. If that happens, then we are looking at another open heart surgery to move and/or reduce the aorta to make more room for the artery. The doctor said there was no medical reason to rush this procedure, so we are planning on doing it in June when life is a little less complicated. The hospital had some special guests.