Update

I noticed that I never updated on how things went in the hospital and after we got home.

Nathan was discharged from the hospital on October 26 - just a week after having surgery. Everyone said he did amazing and we agreed! On the 4th day of being home, Nathan's started throwing up and was pretty lethargic. I thought he was getting sick but since he had a follow-up appointment the next day (10/31), I knew that we would get more information then. At the appointment they took a chest x-ray and found that his right lung was completely filled with fluid. They immediately admitted him into the PICU so that they could insert a chest tube and drain the fluid. I was glad they found out what was wrong but was sad for him and nervous that this would be serious. Thankfully, this is somewhat common after having the Fontan so that was a bit comforting.

Nathan is on a blood thinner so they had to check his levels before performing the procedure and it came back as outrageously high (they want his level between 2.5 and 3.5 and it was 13). They initially thought it was a lab error so they repeated the test and found it was in fact, NOT a lab error. So, they started him on vitamin K to get it back into range. By the next afternoon (11/1) they were able to insert the tube. After doing so they got 1 liter of fluid out! Obviously, Nathan felt much better after that. The chest tube continued to drain fluid for about 4 days or so. On Sunday, they removed it and he was discharged that afternoon. We took him back for a follow-up yesterday and there is no reaccumulation of fluid!

I can't tell you how wonderful it feels to be on this side of all of his surgeries. I realize Nathan's always one to pull a fast one and we could be back in the hospital at any time but there are no more planned surgeries and that feels great! I need to schedule his one year follow-up MRI of his brain so the surgeon can see how that's doing but I'm hopeful there's nothing going on there. Infectious disease said that the likelihood of it reappearing is like lightening striking twice. Now that he's had this final procedure, he is safe for those types of infections since all of his blood is being properly filtered just like a normal-functioning heart. Yay!

Thanks for all of you who prayed for Nathan and us as well. I just don't say that but I am truly thankful because I know that without your prayers, we would not have gotten through this in one piece - they really have sustained us. We are so thankful that you have played such a role in our lives. May you all be richly blessed.