11:30am - They took our sweet boy down to the cath lab. He got a generous dose of versed just before they took him through the doors. Funny how quickly those meds work!

1:20pm - First update: Intubation went very smoothly and he is breathing comfortably on the machine. They were able to get access through his subclavian!!! THANK YOU JESUS! They are now beginning to take pressure measurements and are going to test his lungs with nitric oxide, which is a vaso dilator, to see if his body is responsive and it will help with the pressures in his heart and lungs. Then they will test him with Sildenaifal to see if this will also benefit his heart and lungs.

1:50pm - They JUST finished the procedure! God is amazing and faithful! Noah did very well through the whole procedure and was stable throughout! They are now doing an ECHO while he is still sedated and then he will be brought back up to his room to recover! Now we are just waiting for the doctor to come up and talk to us about the results! Thank you Jesus for answered prayers!

Dr Gudaunsky, the heart cath doctor, said that the residual VSD is "significantly smaller that it was a year ago" and that he has "absolutely no pulmonary hypertension" PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! His pressures in his heart are balanced beautifully and, in Dr G's words, "his heart is in the BEST condition it has EVER been!" AMEN!! He did say that his left pulmonary artery is a little narrower but not to the point of doing anything to it right now. They will talk to his cardiologist and see what she thinks would be the best approach to correcting it. But for now, he can go home and stay home for a while with no "planned admissions".

About 4 hours after Noah came back to his room, his nurse and I noticed his lower abdomen was distended and hard. It was concerning because when they put the arterial line in his groin, they had to go in a little higher than normal and that increases risks of bleeding into his body cavity... the main reason they are keeping him sedated and still until 6 hours after the cath was done. We had the ICU doctor come in and take a look at him and he said that it could be his bladder and told the nurse to straight cath him to see if he had urine. He said that if we didn't get any urine, then he would want a CT done. But, God answered our prayer again, and it was just his very full bladder. The nurse was able to get a little more than 100cc's out with the straight cath and about an hour later he peed on his own.

9:15pm - His sedation drip is now off and he is already trying to sit up. My boy is such a fighter! They will let him wake up more and at midnight they are going to start a pedialyte drip over night and then give him his first feed in the morning. We possibly could go home tomorrow, if not, Wednesday!!! In time for Thanksgiving!!

Earlier today, Noah had a cardiology evaluation with the heart cath doctor. He talked to us about Noah's case and whether he would be a candidate for a medication that could help with him coming off his O2. From the sound of it, he may not be. But before they would make any decisions, Noah will need a heart cath to determine if the med would actually work for him. They also need to get a better understanding of the pressures in his heart and lungs. This heart cath will most likely be scheduled before the end of the year. This is what caught me off guard today. I didn't think it would be so soon. But God is always in control and I need to keep reminding myself and relinquishing that control. Something else that was "mentioned" was the fact that the cath could possibly show a need for additional heart surgery. We are praying against this but if this is what needs to be done, then, again, we need to let God steer us in the right direction. It is FAR from "easy" to begin thinking of these coming plans. The information we received today, came with nervous feelings and a little sadness.

Tomorrow marks one year since the initial open heart surgery. I can not believe it has been a year already! And then, Saturday, marks a year since Noah's heart stopped beating for over 40 minutes. Look at how far he has come! God gave us a miracle! And to see Noah today, terrorizing our home and climbing into our entertainment center and learning new words... well, I have never witnessed anything more miraculous!
I love you, Noah Michael.