Last Cardiologist Visit

Last week Mason had his first visit with the new cardiologist, Dr. Kaushik. Chris and Mom took him since I wasn't able to take off work (I won't do that again! It was miserable not being with him and having to hear everything second hand.).

As of the 19th, Mason weighed 9 pounds 10 ounces and measured 23 inches long. His weight is only in the 9th percentile (height is 50th), and he's only gaining 20 grams a day instead of the 25 they want to see, so he has to beef up a lot before surgery. Dr. Kaushik told us to add a teaspoon of formula to each bottle he takes during the day to give him some extra calories. He's eating really well, but his heart has to work extra hard, so he burns more calories than a normal baby would. So since then we've been making sure he takes at least four bottles a day, even when I'm home on the weekends so that he gets an extra 100 calories or so a day.

Also, his oxygen saturation levels have stayed right up at 98-100, but they were down to 91 that day, so that was discouraging but not at the level that worries the doctors. He has to stay above 85. They took some x-rays, which Chris said was the worst thing Mason's been through so far (how do you hold a 2-month-old still?!), and we assume everything was okay because they haven't called us to tell us there's any problem. Overall, it was REALLY hard to hear that he wasn't doing as well since they've been so impressed with him all along, but they said he's still fine.

Dr. Kaushik decided she wants to see him one more time (at 3 months) before she schedules surgery. On the one hand, I'm glad that she wants to wait so he'll be as strong as possible, but I was disappointed that we're looking at surgery at 4 months instead of 3. The waiting is awful, and I'm not looking forward to the surgery, but I'm seriously ready for all this to be behind us. Dr. Kaushik said he'll be in the NICU for at least 2 weeks after surgery, and Dr. Seawell reminded us that it's quite common that they have to leave a baby's chest open for a few days after surgery until the swelling goes down. She wants us to be prepared for that possibility, but how do you prepare for that? We're hoping that we'll be able to get into the Ronald McDonald house.

Mason also had his 2 month checkup with the pediatrician that afternoon, so he had a rough day! X-rays AND shots. Poor baby! But he did really well with the shots...it breaks my heart to think that he's getting used to all this medical stuff.