I'm Pooped!

Susanne decided to give Paxton a bath before his appointment with the pediatrician this morning. This was always a great way to start the day.

Paxton's doctor thought that he looked good overall. The only concern was that she thought that his liver was slightly larger than it had been in the past. This was worrisome because it could indicate that the right side of his heart might be failing. When this happens, the blood backs up into other parts of the body such as the liver. Paxton was already on a diuretic to try to remove any excess fluid, but it may not be enough. This wasn't completely unexpected because he had Ebstein's anomaly. This was the very rare heart defect he was diagnosed with when he was born. It was a result of the tricuspid valve not developing correctly as he developed. In turn, the right ventricle was smaller than normal and didn't pump enough blood to the lungs adequately. Thus, the right side of his heart was not ever going to be normal. If he was truly in full blown congestive heart failure, his prognosis would be worse. The pediatrician was going to place a phone call to Paxton's cardiologist sometime today to get advice on what they should do as far as the next step.

Paxton went down immediately for a nap after they got back home. Anytime they had to leave the house, Paxton expended a lot of energy and was usually extra tired the rest of the day. Susanne decided to sort through Paxton's clothes while he was sleeping. She wanted to put anything that he had outgrown into storage. She could not believe how small he used to be. Looking at the newborn outfits got her reminiscing of times past. She was so thankful to have her little boy in her life.

Before Susanne knew it, she had to head to work. Later in the day, she finally got a call from someone in the surgery department at Children's National Medical Center. They had decided on 09-15-10 as the date for Paxton's G tube placement. They reminded Susanne that he would need to be hospitalized for a minimum of three full days. Hopefully, all would go well.

Susanne also got a call from the pediatrician to let her know that she didn't need to change anything at this time for Paxton. The cardiologist was more interested in Susanne monitoring him for a change in his clinical signs. If his overall color changed or if his breathing appeared more labored than it normally was, then she should contact them immediately.

Susanne got home at a reasonable hour. She was informed that Paxton had been unable to settle over the last couple of hours. Susanne took this opportunity to snuggle with him and try to get him to relax. She put him to bed and it was off to la la land he went.

Afterwards, she ate some dinner and then curled up on the couch with the dogs.