PDA closure device

Try this web site for a pdf document of the device used for Cass' PDA closure.

http://www.heartmedical.nl/english/produkten_catalogus/pdfs/cardiology/nit-occlud.pdf

Cass had a 6 x 5mm Nit-Occlud. His PDA appeared to be completely closed after having the device in place for just one hour, according to his surgeon.

Cass was a little groggy and tired, but we left the hospital after just 4 hrs of recovery time and he appears to be doing fine. Wow!! heart surgery as day surgery; isn't modern technology amazing....Now if we could only figure out how to count votes in an election.

PDA surgery complete

Cass is now sitting in the recovery room. He was tired and cranky so he's getting some sleep. The rest of us just wish that there were enough beds for all of us. He did fine through surgery. The doctor said that his PDA was a little smaller than they had expected. They used a newer device to close it up. I need to get the name of the device to let people know what it was. He'll have a 6 month and 12 month check-up with his cardiologist in Tacoma, but that won't be out of routine. We are hoping that this will be the start of a lot of good changes. We'll update everyone more later.

Ryan

6/15/05 What a spring!

I have not been the best at keeping up this blog for Cass, things have been busy.
Cass is doing great. He finally hit 20lbs this month, getting rounder every day. He is still so very happy but has come to realize that we come and go without him and he does not like to be left behind. He is definately letting us know what he likes and dislikes. What a character. He has started trying to talk over his trach especially when his brother and sister are around and he wants to play with them. This month has been a month of reaching goals. He has also started sitting up on his own which we are so thrilled with. He hasn't started crawling yet but hopefully by the fall we'll be there.
Today we are up at Children't Hospital in Seattle for his heart surgery. They are closing his PDA with a catheter which will hopefully help with the oxygen requirements. I'll let you all know how it went after they're done. The beeper they gave us to call us back to recovery just went off so I'll write more later.