More Embolisms Already?!

This morning we talked about leaving the hospital tomorrow (which would still get us home for Thanksgiving), but after an echocardiogram was done on Garrett's heart to investigate his increased respiratory rate, the cardiologists were concerned about the excess blood flow they found and consulted with the neuro group to decide what to do next. Since Garrett is already maxed out for his medicine, and the cardiologists don't feel it's safe to let him go with the stress his heart is under right now, they decided he should have more arteries embolized tomorrow.

Ugh. Everything had been looking so good. He seemed to be well on his way to getting out of the hospital and growing six, twelve, or eighteen more months before having to go though that procedure again.

People have told me I seem to be handling all of this well. When the good news keeps trickling in, it's easy to grab onto that and hold on tight. But after getting tonight's news, I feel like we're right back where we were a week ago -- wondering if Garrett will be the one in five that doesn't make it through, or if he'll make it, but with some serious complications. Needless to say, I'm a wreck again.

Chris is dropping Jonathan off at Jean's so he can come out tonight, rather than wait until tomorrow. It sounds like they want to do the procedure sooner rather than later, but I haven't heard any specifics on the timing yet. They'll need to intubate him again, but the doctor I asked wasn't sure whether he'd need a feeding tube. I'm sure he'll get another IV, which means more poking. Poor guy.