Heart Diagrams and cath pics

Here you can see the vein narrowing in the center of the picture. The old stents are all visible - they're the stuff that looks like mesh.

 

Here are some pictures of some stents in his heart before any ballooning dilation.

  



Here's the same vein as two pics above, but after dilation. More stents are visible in this picture. Those circle loops spaced our in a vertical line on these pictures are his sternum sutures from his open heart surgeries.

 

These are just some of the cath pictures that Dr. G sent over. I think these are really interesting, so I thought I'd share them. I also requested a new drawing diagram of his heart. I had one a long time ago when Ethan was a baby, but with all the work he's had done I needed an updated one. Dr. G sent over the one they use pre-caths. He is so great, he even labeled it for me! :)

 



Here's the labeled diagram of Ethan's heart from before this past cath and stent placements! Below is a diagram of a normal heart to use as comparison.



 
 

Ethan is doing very well. He returned to school Monday. :) Unfortunately we are still trying to get his INR therapeutic. He is currently still taking Lovenox (belly shots) much to his dismay. We had to order a whole new week's worth since his blood is still too thick. We were making slow but steady progress increasing his INR by 0.1 each day. Three days ago he was at 1.7. Our goal is to be between 2.0 and 2.5. Yesterday's test showed that his INR dropped to 1.4! :( I have no idea why it dropped since he hasn't eaten anything that affects his INR (green veggies and such) and he hasn't missed a dose of medicine. This morning's test was 1.6, so at least he's starting to climb again. It's very frustrating, but please pray that he get in his range quickly so we can be finished with these shots! 



Belly shot bruises