While at a checkup on Wednesday, his heart rate was high - in the 140's. It could be caused by the swelling (from the steroids), it could be the chemo, or it could be the low blood counts. Then we came to the hospital yesterday (Thursday) morning to have a bone marrow aspiration to see if he's in remission since his induction therapy ended on Monday. After he woke up from the procedure, his rate went up more. After a while, it was 190-200 and stayed. They started him on some fluids which brought it down to the 170's. They did an echo, an EKG and chest x-ray, which all looked ok. Then they ordered a blood gas test. When they went to draw the blood, nothing would come through his line. The doctor wanted the test right away, so they had to use a needle and draw from his arm, which wasn't fun. They were able to clear his line in about 30 minutes - it turns out that one of the sedation meds didn't get cleared completely from the line which made it clog. The blood gas test results came back and showed the cause of the high heart rate. He was diagnosed with cardiac diastolic dysfunction. Basically, his heart isn't resting properly in between beats.
They admitted him and moved us to the pediatric intensive care unit. The meds needed to help his heart require intense monitoring which he can only get in the PICU.
His spirits are good, and he's smiling again. It's so nice to see his smile and hear his laugh. I took a picture on my phone in the Peds Sedation room yesterday.
No comments:
Post a Comment