Moving Forward

Last night the nurses started raising Brody's temperature with success. He is currently at 96.4 degrees, and they want him to get up to 98 degrees. Doug and I got to the hospital this morning just in time for all the action. The PICU doctor had just arrived and was already hard at work. All the cardiologists were in today and had a meeting about the plan of action for the week. There first request was to clamp off the ECMO machine, and turning down his arrhythmic medications so they could run a scan of his heart function without the help of those things. It was very scary, but only his blood pressure raised mildly. Dr. Erickson came in and had a meeting with Doug and I about his intentions. He explained how hard this situation is because now that Brody has gone 48 hours in sinus rhythm, it makes him question what he should do. Had he went into SVT last night the decision would have been simple-go ahead with the procedure. He explained the procedure he was talking about. It is called ablation. They would do it via heart cath placement through the leg and "map" out the area that is mis-firing. They would then "zap" the problem area to stop the motion. There are a few very large problems with attempting this. First, the area they think is where they need to zap is very close to the AV node (the normal conductor) and if they hit that by accident they would have to place a pacemaker in order for him to have effective functioning for the rest of his life. Second, he will remain on ECCMO during this procedure which always puts him at risk for bleeding. Last, they can't guarantee that they are going to be able to find the exact area that is causing problems because Brody's heart is so small (just imagine the size of a babies fist...that's how small his entire heart is). After explaining all this to us he asked us what we wanted them to do. They could wean him off the meds and ECMO machine and hope he stays in sinus rhythm, or go ahead with the procedure. Doug and I agreed that we wanted to put his life in the doctors hands. They know whats best for him, and we want to do whatever we can to keep him alive. The doctor said he is talking to colleges throughout the united states about this rare condition, and they all feel the procedure is going to be the best thing for him. Therefore, he is going to converse with the other cardiologists and hopefully get the procedure done tonight/ this afternoon sometime.
His dad and I hope that he can remain strong enough to go through another procedure. He is such a fighter, and has so much support I think he can make it through almost anything. He opened his eyes for his dad and I this morning. It was just for a split second, but it brought tears to our eyes finally getting to see those beautiful baby blues! Please keep him in mind this afternoon as it could be the most important moments of his life thus far.