Paxton had a cardiology appointment today. Susannne had to try to leave the house by 9:45 am to make it on time. It was still a bit of a struggle to time everything appropriately because Paxton was always either just finishing a NG feeding or needing one to be set up.
They made it to the appointment on time. He was seen right away. He had the usual baseline tests done which included an oxygen saturation level, blood pressure, and an ECG. Today he was also scheduled for an ultrasound of his heart. His cardiologist was going to reassess the shunt that had been surgically placed on the first day of March. Depending on how everything looked, she would decide what the next step would be.
After being on the table for an hour, Paxton was finally done. He did very well overall and sat still considering. He only got upset once and that was because he was getting overheated. His mama fixed the problem by offering him his WubbaNub laced with Sweet-Ease. He totally fell for it and went right to sleep.
The cardiologist felt like Paxton's heart looked overall about the same as the last time. His shunt still appeared to be wide open and functioning well. His oxygen saturation levels had gradually decreased from the low nineties to the mid-eighties over the last few months. Her suspicion was that he would need his next heart surgery within the next two months. She was still tossing the idea around about which surgical approach would benefit him the most. She was having a difficult time deciding because there were so many options. Her plan was to present Paxton's case again at the cardiology conference and get a collaborative opinion on what the group thought would suit him best. The cardiologist also offered to mail a complete packet of Paxton's medical history, copies of chest x-rays, ECG's, and all of the echocardiogram results to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. They were world renowned for their work with patients that suffered from Ebstein's Anomaly. They were the only hospital that had surgeons that did the two ventricle approach. If this was even a possibility for them to attempt on Paxton, then Scott and Susanne would definitely want to take him there for an evaluation and even his next surgery. From day one, Scott and Susanne had been interested in the doctors' opinions from that hospital. The fact that Paxton's cardiologist was willing to mail them information on Paxton and get their initial assessment and opinion on the situation was so comforting. Before Paxton was to go under the knife again, Scott and Susanne wanted to make sure that they were doing the very best for him. When Paxton came back in one month for the next follow up appointment, his cardiologist would inform them of Paxton's fate. This was exciting, but extremely scary at the same time. It was difficult for Susanne to sort out her emotions when it came to this topic. She knew it was something that had to be done, but she cringed at the thought of her baby having to go through something so menacing again. Scott and Susanne's faith had gotten them through everything thus far, so this was no time to question it now.
After a three hour appointment at the cardiologist, Susanne had to make a quick stop at her work to drop something off to meet a deadline. Paxton got to visit with some of his favorite people including Aunt Julie and Aunt Cory. Julie was able to see him smile quite a bit. Everytime she would laugh in response to his beaming face, he would get startled. He just stared at her with amazement. He wasn't quite sure what to make of her. She was finally starting to show a little bit of a baby bump. Paxton and Susanne were getting so excited at the thought of him having a new little playmate...not the kind with bunny ears. Her pregnancy seemed to be flying by so quickly.
By the time Susanne was ready to leave, the skies decided to open up. It wasn't just raining, it was pouring. The rain was coming in from all directions...diagonal from both sides, left and right, down and even up. It didn't matter what Susanne tried to do to protect Paxton, he still got wet.
Susanne had to run a few errands on the way home, but she decided to forego the majority of them due to the inclement weather. Quickly, she realized that her journey home would not be straightforward either because it just so happened to be rush hour. No matter what she elected to do, she was in a sticky situation. Paxton was hungry and tired and so was his mother.
They finally got home well after six o'clock in the evening. Susanne got Paxton situated, then the animals, and then she could focus on herself. The only thing that would make her feel better was some yummy food and some good ol' trash TV. Hallelujah for "The Bachelorette".
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