This is a blog for my daughter Scarlett. She was born with a complex congenital heart defect known as Tetralogy of Fallot with Pulmonary Atresia. She is my little hero.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

CT Scan Went Well


Anytime your baby goes under anesthesia it is stressful.  But when the anesthesiologist said he was going to "stop her heart" so they could take x-ray pictures, my eyeballs just about popped out of my head like you see in cartoons. (WHAT?!) I thought to myself, why didn't anyone warn me about this? 


Why the heck do you have to stop her heart? He said, not only does she have to lay perfectly still, but I will stop her breathing so she's literally motionless for aproximately 8-10 seconds to take some pictures. He said it was normal (common). Meanwhile, I'm beginning to panic and think OMG whatif he can't get it 'started' again? Tears started welling up...I feel like such a wussy sometimes....

So I handed my baby over to the CT scan tech and they say we can be in the room while they put her under. (how cool and weird is that?). So I took these pics. Then when she was completely out we left the room so they could get an IV in her. We waited in the lobby for 20 minutes, then the helper guy comes out and says 'okay, they have the IV in, they're gonna get started now', then another 25-30 minutes later he comes back out and says 'okay they're done, u can come back now'... Again, Todd and I pop up like we were on fire and practically ran back to where she was, and there was my darling little baby all swaddled in a white hopspital blanket with an oxygen mask on her sadly whimpering.

I was able to hold her right away. They said she did really good. Her sats were kinda low (in the 60s), so we sent Todd back to the car to get the O2 tank we brought from home. She went home on oxygen, and Todd kept her on it all day. I went back to work after the appt and by the time I got home, she was already off the oxygen. Todd said he spot checked her throughout the day and she was back up in the 70s.
Well, one more week till her BIG surgery. I hope it happens this time.


After the CT scan, we walked across the sidewalk for a brief visit to Beth (her regular cardiologist). Apparently we love that place so much, we just can't stay away not even for a week... But really, it was because yesterday Scarlett had a mysterious bad diaper rash that I wanted Beth to take a peek at. Evidently from the looks of things it is a yeast infection..nothing that a little prescription ointment can't fix. She should be looking better in no time.

I took these pics because my friend Rosemarie bought Scarlett this adorable dress. I feel so bad that I never dress Scarlett up in cute dresses. She only wears comfy onesies, because she doesn't go out anywhere that warrants getting her all 'dolled up'. Unfortunately, she's a very sheltered baby. But this morning, I thought... I'm gonna put on her cute little dress to go see Beth, Asia and Veronica. She ended up wearing the cute dress all day. :)


4 comments:

  1. Hi Melodie, Little Scarlett is so adorable. I love her pics, but hate seeing her go through this. I'm nervous knowing we will be facing all this in the near future, but your day is so close. I think it's bittersweet since you know it has to get done but at the same time the fear kicks in. Wow it's scary about the heart cath, I've never heard of them needing to stop their heart. My eyes would have bugged out too but glad she came through fine, just understandably wanting mommy. Please know you are in my thoughts and prayers. Oh, and it is fine you took the heart button that is why I customized it for us - all the heart mommas. I have a jpeg if you need it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So glad the CT scan went well! Keep us posted. BTW...she looks super sweet in her pretty little dress! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm glad it went well. I'm sorry you have to wait for surgery. Once you get all ready to go it is hard to change gears!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Glad to hear that part went well and Scarlett looks adorable in that dress.

    ReplyDelete