A mixed bag today!

Jadon was scheduled for a morning brain MRI (this is a routine follow-up for all children who have been placed on ECMO, which Jadon was for 6 days post surgery) and a cardiac cath lab to examine the blood flow of his coronary arteries (provide blood to the heart to allow it to pump).  The morning was a bit stressful as there was some miscommunication that at one point almost led to the tests being postponed but eventually they proceeded.  Jadon had to be anesthetized and intubated for both procedures which were scheduled back to back for this reason.  He was brought in around 8:30 and we were able to go see him in the recovery room around 1:30. 
The Good:
He was already awake, with a smile on his face and eager to get going.  Despite having both these procedures today and being anesthetized for about 4 hours, Jadon had lots of energy this afternoon.  He was most upset with not being able to get up in his crib for the first few hours to allow for his leg entry point to heal.  After supper, we went to the play room on the cardiac floor and Jadon played around standing up for nearly 30 minutes.  He actually took a few unaided steps... his first since Feb 11, which was very heartwarming to see!

The Not so Good... short term, but maybe for the better long term...
The diagnostic catheterization showed a problem with his left coronary artery. There appears to be a blockage. A cardiac MRI has been booked for Friday to assess the myocardial (heart) muscle of the ventricular septum (wall separating the two sides of the hear) and see if the muscle is fibrosed (permanently damaged) or relatively healthy. It appears that Jadon suffered a heart attack during his big OR in Feb. This info, along with his entire medical history, will be discussed at another big meeting of the minds to see if bypass surgery (as Rykauna said, "He sounds like an old man!") could benefit him. As the attending doctor told us, "This is not textbook.  There is no textbook to tell us what to do.  We are in uncharted territory here, so we will get lots of medical advice from doctors with many years experience."  This decision will let us know if they will open Jadon up once more for open-heart surgery, or work on trying to support his cardiac function with medication and hope that it will improve with time.
Meanwhile, as a result of this new finding, the general surgeon has put his g tube/fundoplication/hiatial hernia repair surgery on hold until his heart issue is sorted out.

Jadon working with the physio-therapist earlier this week