The waiting is the hardest part. Thankfully, that part is *almost* over for me, as I get to help Kiran stay still during his “flat time” – the time after the cath procedure (about an hour) during which he is still mildly sedated so as to keep still and lie flat.

Kiran is in the recovery area. They took him back for the cath lab procedure just before 10 am this morning, and we just wrapped up our consult with the pediatric cardiology interventionist. He was extremely thorough, kind, and explained everything very well (at least to me, as I have a pretty solid background in Kiran’s heart ten years in).

They ballooned the conduit, and it worked well enough that it’s the only intervention they deemed necessary. They still want to keep him overnight to monitor a slight, self-contained injury to the conduit and a vein that didn’t love having the items poked through it.

The conduit is showing some “I wouldn’t call that mild” leakage, meaning the valve is allowing blood to flow backwards back into the right ventricle. However, the right ventricle’s size does not appear significantly impacted by the amount yet. And apparently, with the right ventricle, we like leakage more than obstructions.

So they were able to balloon the conduit for better flow and lower pressures. This will buy us more time for the next heart intervention. With any luck at all, the conduit will stay performing well, Kiran will gain 10-15 more pounds, and we will opt to place a stent and valve in the cath lab in the next year or two (or three or four … I’d like it to be a longer timeline).

The goal and hope is still for only one more open heart surgery, when the conduit needs replaced.

Hoping to be called back to my boy soon so I’m gonna leave it there for now. What a boy!