Zoe Grace: 6/4 Cardiology Appointment

What a morning we had...

 

Londyn woke up at 5:45am.  I brought her downstairs and luckily she fell back asleep with me on the couch.  Like a zombie, I turned the alarm off 75 minutes later to give Zoe her 7am feed.  Finished her feed around 7:40am, changed her diaper... then fell back asleep with Lulu.  I was in such a daze that I totally forgot that I was supposed to get up at 8am to get ready for the day. We woke up briefly when Andrew came downstairs around that time, but then fell back asleep.  I finally snapped out of it and looked at the clock... it was 9AM!  I was supposed to be on the road to Zoe's cardiology appointment at 9:15am.  My mom arrived at 9:05am to pick Lulu up and of course, we were both in our jammies, I was rushing to give Zoe all 7 of her morning meds, get Londyn dressed, myself somewhat presentable to society and of course... Zoe in fresh clothes, diaper changed and all packed up.  This was not the best way to start off my Monday.  Shockingly, I got myself together... threw a DC and a protein bar in the diaper bag and was on the road by 9:17am.  How?  I have no clue!  At about 9:30am, I looked at my gas gauge and got an unfriendly reminder that I was on EMPTY.  Seriously?!  So I pulled over to put 15 bucks in the tank so I could quickly be on my way.  I pulled up to the hospital and skipped the parking search by using their super convenient valet, hopped on the elevator and checked in 5 minutes early.  Although I can't guarantee I didn't speed like a mad woman, I made it!

Zoe cried throughout the entire 30 minutes of her echo, but it was worth it because everything still looks very good!  The blood clot that was found two weeks ago is getting smaller with the increased dosage of Aspirin.  Hallelujah!  Unfortunately, her Common AV Valve is leaking more due to the Atrial Septal Defect.  Dr. King has decided to increase the dosage of Captopril from 1.5 mils to 2 mils, three times daily.  Hopefully that will help!  Along with altering these two medications, Zoe no longer needs to take Digoxin or Spironolactone.  That's 2 out of 6 of her prescription meds down!

Following the echocardiogram, we put Zoe on the scale and we made it over the 8 pound hump!  She weighs 8 lbs. 1 oz.  I asked Dr. King where he would like her weight to be for the second surgery and he said 11 pounds.  Holy cow!  At the rate she is gaining right now, that seems like quite a feat! She's a fighter, so I know she can do it!

I've always known how blessed we are to have Dr. King as our cardiologist, but am just now starting to find out how well known he is in the entire medical community.  Whenever we need anything or he makes a call, it's taken care of.  You could say, he has some pull around these parts.  When I told him our appointment with the pediatric gastroenterology group wasn't scheduled until July 13th, he said he would talk to one of their Docs about Zoe and see if they could get us in any sooner.  It wasn't more than an hour after we got home from our appointment that I got a call from the gastroenterology office, letting me know that Dr. Riley is willing to see Zoe ANY afternoon this week.  Seriously?  This just puts us one step closer to G-tube placement, which I am praying will help Zoe to gain more weight!

Appointments, appointments... appointments.  Today was the Gardiologist, tomorrow is my OB, Wednesday is the Gastroenterologist and Thursday is with our WIC nurse.  Sometime in there I need to take Zoe into the pediatrician's office for a weight and length check.  

"I think I can," puffed the little locomotive, and put itself in front of the great heavy train. As it went on the little engine kept bravely puffing faster and faster, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can."  

- The Little Engine That Could