Heart Catherization

Hello friends. Ava woke ready to tackle this procedure head on. She was super calm and was not worried at all. I, on the other hand, was worried but felt like it was in God's hands. We got to the hospital at about 6:30 am. She had her same silly attitude. You gotta love her joyous and carefree spirit. Her smile lights my heart. I felt a little calmer since she was in such a good mood. She brought her penguin along for the ride!

We got checked in and went to her room. She changed into the gown. She was still so calm. (Of Course, we have to get a selfie!) I love this little lady so much!

Calm and collected... so peaceful.

It's so hard to see your child go through tests, procedures, and surgeries. It just doesn't seem fair.

I had to take a couple deep breathes and pray that God would help us through all of this. Kate was Ava's nurse, and she was so gentle and kind. She tried two times very carefully to get an IV started, but with no luck. So then the anesthesiologist assistant, Andrew came in and wanted to look her over as well. He too couldn't seem to find one that would work so they decided to take her back and give her a little laughing gas to lessen the pain so that they could get one in. I asked if I could walk back with them and he agreed. (I've always walked her back.) She is older, but I felt I needed to say I love you to her just right before she went in the procedure room.

Next, we waited. My mother came, and that helped get my mind off of worrying. They gave us a pager and would text us updates. First one was, "We got access to the vein and have started the procedure." Then about an hour and a few minutes after we got another one saying, " We are finishing up, and she will be done soon. All went well."

When they strolled her in they were all saying how great she did. She did not look medicated, and I was a little confused. Katelyn, her NP, said that she did awesomely. They told us that they started by using laughing gas to get her sleepy and relaxed while they got her IV line in. She said Ava was giggling. (No surprise there!) They then asked her if she felt alright and she said she did. They asked her if she wanted any medicine and she said no that she was fine.

Going into this procedure, we had discussed with her that there were two options. Light sedation- doing the procedure with medicine to calm her and her other choice was heavy sedation- this meant doing it while being on the ventilator. We were persuading her to do the light sedation.

Well apparently to Ava there was a third option (God's calming medicine.) She did it with no sedation at all. I was just blown away that she did it with no drugs besides the first initial laughing gas. She got confused and thought that sedation meant that she would need to be on the ventilator and she told us that she wasn't interested in that. Leave it to Ava to come up with her own way of doing it.

God calmed her! We were so happy to hear the news from the doctor that her heart looked great and that all her pressures were in the normal ranges. She had no problems with her heart and no pulmonary hypertension. Praise the Lord! He gave us yet another miracle today.

So with no medicine used she was able to drink and eat right away. She got out of the bed and into the chair. It was under an hour after her heart cath that we were leaving the hospital. I was just so humbled and felt so blessed! Thank you for all your prayers. She does have to rest for a few days. But then she can return to normal activities.

I was able to ask for an image. This is Ava's beautiful, loving, caring and giving heart!

Grandma D came and brought her a little gift. That made her day. I'm so thankful for my mom!

She got the royal treatment with a ride to the car. She enjoyed that. She looks so grown up! Where did my baby girl go?

Her heart catheterization went much better than we expected. This little lady is as tough as they come. I'm so proud of her. She tackled it with such grace and was not intimidated by any of it. She remembered everything about the procedure and said that she could feel the line inside of her but that it didn't bother her at all. I'm so lucky to call her my daughter. I'm thrilled she sailed through this so good... thanks to God. He was indeed the real medicine. He gave her the peace that exceeded any medication the doctors could ever give her. (Less risk and fewer complications!) Praise His Name! We love and thank Him! Thanks again for your thoughts, well wishes, and prayers.

-Terri