My little stinker did extremely well and was having so much fun that he stayed up til 11:30pm last night! We both woke up each time his nurse checked his vitals. At the 4am check, I went to the bathroom in the room and told him I'd be right out as he likes to have me in the bed or touching him. As I came out, I smiled at all of the faces who seemed to magically appear in his room. Their faces were somber and all looked very worried. In a whirlwind, my eyes went straight to his monitor and he was crashing. I looked at him and he was terrified with an oxygen mask on. Remember the number 62 I referred to before which is 100 for a normal heart...his was 18. I heard the words "crash cart" and thought I would lose him in that moment. I'm not sure what they gave him because I made a tunnel over our faces with my hands so that he could only see me. I will never ever forget the fear in his eyes. His whole body was trembling and that's what scared me the most. They stabilized him and all was well until he did it again.
An hour later, he crashed again. They were ready to take him to the ICU but held off as they stabilized him quicker this time. They tried to get a chest xray as I laid next to him but the tech couldn't get a good picture and they weren't going to stress him anymore.
We snuggled together for hours after and he was holding strong. He finally fell asleep since he had only slept about 5 hours and was physically and emotionally exhausted.
I only wish it was all a nightmare but I am eternally grateful we "woke up" from it. Dr. Marx came to see him and said he was being moved up on the cath schedule due to his urgency. It sounded like he calmed a lot of the team's concerns for Apollo and told me he told them, "Apollo got from China to St. Louis and from St. Louis to here. I think we can get him downstairs to the cath lab" with a sweet smile. I texted that quote to Mike and his reply - "I love that man!!". Yes, me too. And we pray for him and Dr Emani every single night.
Fast forward a couple more calm hours and I put my baby to sleep in the cath lab. One of his anesthesiolgists speaks Mandarin and explained to him that he was going to sleep. He happily agreed. I was told it is most likely he will go to the ICU and stay intubated until surgery tomorrow which is not normal at all. They don't want to take any more risks than need be and an extubation today with a reintubation before surgery tomorrow would do just that.
Finally and hopefully my last scare of the day just occurred after I received a call from the cath lab nurse that everything was going well. Just 15 minutes later, I received another call from a hospital number. It was a CT Surgery PA and asked to speak with me. I panicked and ran up to the floor where she ushered me into a private family room. I almost lost it and asked if I should be worried. She said NO and felt completely terrible she hadn't told me she was calling for me to sign the surgical consent. Thank God because I jumped to the conclusion she was in the cath lab with Apollo.
I apologize for the many details but this blog helps me remember especially since it feels like a big blur right now. Please pray fiercely for Apollo. I know God has a beautiful plan for his life and I can't wait to be a front row spectator forever and ever!
Right before his cath!
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