One CRAZY Christmas!

Where do I even begin?? Well, we got our Christmas wish and Kate was able to come home before Christmas. She was released on Sunday and we were so excited to have her home. She was doing really well and we felt confident that we could get her home and back to a normal routine. So, we brought her home Sunday afternoon, put some lights on the tree and wrapped a few presents and we felt we were all ready for the big day. We were a little worried because Kate seemed so lethargic and had no energy at all. When we put her on the CPAP Sunday night, she had a really hard time keeping her oxygen levels up. After manipulating with the dumb machine most the night, we finally got her sats stable and were able to get a few hours of sleep.

On Monday, she still didn't seem herself and had the same problems. However, she seemed much more congested and was coughing quite a bit. My family came up to our house on Christmas Eve and we had a nice dinner. With the crazy snowstorm we had, my brother Jeff and nephew ran off the road on the Alpine highway and got stuck (seriously stuck). So, the majority of the night was spent trying to get him unstuck. I always joke with my family that life for the Roper's wouldn't be normal without some type of fiasco : )

Kate seemed to be getting sicker and sicker as the night went on. We were up again all night, mainly worrying if she was getting the oxygen she needed. Christmas morning wasn't any better. Bryan's family came over that morning and his dad and brother, John, helped give her a blessing. Both Bryan and I felt that we needed to get her back up to the hospital as soon as we possibly could, as she was on the highest flow of oxygen and still not getting enough. So, we packed things up and drove back up to Primary's. We feel so grateful we took her in when we did because after having a chest x-ray, Kate's lungs were totally filled up with fluid. I think she was well enough for us to take her home on Sunday, but she just didn't have a big enough reserve to stabilize her on our home equipment.

Anyway, she is doing much better today. She had a CT scan of her heart on Thursday, showing that her pulmonary artery isn't as narrow as they thought it was. She also has significant pulmonary hypertension, which is high pressure in her lungs preventing the blood from flowing into the lungs from the heart. This has been a problem because not only is she not getting blood into her lungs, but it is causing her heart to enlarge. It is exacerbated by her leaking tricuspid valve. Prior to the CT scan, her cardiologist felt that going in and putting a stint in the arteries would help the flow of blood to her lungs. However, this won't fix the underlying problem of pulmonary hypertension and that her tricuspid valve is insufficient and allows blood to regurgitate back into the heart. The good news is they think that certain medication (Viagra) should help dilate the blood vessels in her lungs allowing blood to move more easily. By doing this, it should get her to a point to where she is big and strong enough to have her valve replaced. I have learned more about the human heart in the past year than I had ever wanted to know. We fell like we are FINALLY getting down to the real problem. In the past, we've always attributed her breathing issues to her airway, but now we feel that it's her heart that is causing these issues. Kate is scheduled to go down to the Cath Lab on Wednesday to determine the pressures in her lungs. From there the doctors will collaborate and come up with a plan.

I know this is one LONG blog entry.....I guess that's what I get for not keeping it updated :) We hope you all have a Happy New Year!!