More Arrythmias

VTAC = arrythmia. I'm going to use VTAC from now on because it's easier to spell.

After a very late morning that we really appreciated, we got to the hospital and they paged Daddy's surgeon and critical care doc who came to talk to us lickety split. We like that arrangement.

He had two VTAC events this morning requiring defib, and the second one required two. That SUCKS.

On the upside, his flows are up (4.4 L/min) and his right ventricle looks a lot better, according to the echo they did this morning. This implies that an RVAD would not be needed.

They are planning to keep him sedated and close up his chest this weekend. He did nod a very little bit in response to things that Julie & Jenny said to him today. (We got the strongest nods when Jenny told him that Jaron won $250 last night at blackjack.) After they close him up, over the next few days they will extubate, sit him up, give him liquids, etc. So we'll look forward to having him conscious after A WEEK of sedation.

Tomorrow he's getting a temporary pacemaker. The long-term plan is to implant the AICD discussed previously, but he's not in shape to do that yet. He has fewer VTACs when set at a higher pace. His natural heart rate is 50-60, but they've found that pacing him around 90 reduces the occurrence of VTAC. The AICD would be able to handle the frequency and type of VTACs he's having.

We asked them about other worst-case courses of action and were told that if he worsened, they would put in a temporary RVAD, and if that helped, then a permanent one.

We're going to take advantage of the downtime tonight. Julie is going to finally go to yoga, and Jenny & Jaron are practicing up for $5 craps and blackjack tonight.