OUR VISIT WITH DR KAINE....

Today was Coop's appointment with his cardiologist, Dr. Kaine. We got to CMH and drove in the parking garage and Cooper started crying. Terry and I weren't sure if he was crying because he knew where he was or because it was a little darker. Once we got to the office and they called us back, Cooper started crying. Once Dr. Kaine entered the room, Coop started crying. It was just heartbreaking to know that he remembers and knows now. It also reaffirmed with Terry and I that these next couple procedures are going to be so difficult not only for Cooper but for us. He knows things now and handing him over to the doctors is going to kill us. As for the appointment, Cooper's SAT level was at 81 which is lower but still above 75 where they want it. His blood pressure was high but they disregarded it because he was so upset. He weighed in at 17lbs 11oz....YEA COOPER! They did the EKG but the ECHO machine was having a "melt down" as Dr. Kaine put it so he did not have the test. Dr. Kaine said it was really irrelevant because they already knew our next step....the cardiac catheter. This is the exploratory surgery they always perform before the open heart surgery. This allows them to see exactly what is going on in Coop's heart and lungs so they can decide when will be the best time for the next surgery. Dr. Kaine felt they would have surgery sometime this summer but that will be up to Cooper's surgeon, Dr. O'Brien. So the scheduling team will call me tomorrow and we will schedule the cath sometime in the next 4 to 6 weeks.

Just to give you some sort of idea how wonderful Dr. Kaine is, when he asked if there were any dates we needed to avoid in the next 4 to 6 weeks I did have a Thursday and Friday that would not work. He says, "If I remember right last year at this time we were trying to avoid a graduation and that didn't work out so great." He was right, this time last year we were trying to avoid Steph's graduation and had scheduled the cath a couple weeks before that. Unfortunately Cooper remained in the hospital for a week after the cath and then got out for 2 short days and was back in for surgery. How amazing that he remembered that out of his hundreds of patients. He also had a student with him as usual and was telling her that Cooper was one of their unique cases. He told her that he spent 5 to 7 days on ECMO and her face looked stunned and she said "Oh My!" Dr. Kaine went further to say, "yea this time last year the outlook for Cooper was not too promising." Now Terry and I are well aware how close we were with Cooper but to hear our doctor say it is sobering as Tom described it when I told him. Needless to say tears swell in our eyes easily these days when we think back to last year or forward to what lies ahead. Dr. Kaine followed his recollection of last year with a jolly smile and said "but that was way back then, things are different now and Coop man is getting bigger." He is such a great doctor.

So the catheter is our next step and that will be scheduled soon. Dr. Kaine said if he gets scheduled first thing in a morning he should be home by evening and if he gets scheduled in the afternoon he should be home by the following morning. However he did remind us that Coop does like to through a curve in things so we will take it as it comes!