Amanda said that after the cath, the fellow initially said everything was good. She mentioned how he threaded the catheter fast, and she could feel it going up; I can’t imagine how that feels! She also feels when they snip the biopsy, mentioning that before. She’s always been sensitive with her heart (even the new one), having pain when she shouldn’t be able to feel anything, feeling arrhythmias when it shouldn’t affect her, and so on.
Our cardiologist came back after the fellow talked with Amanda. The fellow may have spoke to soon, the initial biopsy results didn’t come back as we’d thought, and he said it looked like the rejection hadn’t improved. He believes he may need to bring out the “big guns” in rejection medication. So, we’re back to worrying about the rejection more than the rate, which may be causing the rate anyway.
The output of her heart was good, but things didn’t look good with the R wave. I’m not sure I can explain the correlation or exactly how he knows this before the pathology returns. So, I won’t even attempt. The initial plan is to still do the planned rejection medication ending in mab, the chemo-style drug, plus the new “big gun.” Before they start the latter, the biopsy results must be back to get insurance approval.
The “big gun” is expensive, and the cardiologist also wanted to confer with the transplant pharmacist about it. Expensive, as in $100,000 a dose—yes, that was five zeros! It will be four doses over a month, too. This drug comes with risks. Contacting phenomena or meningitis can be a serious complication, even fatal while taking the medication. She’ll need a meningitis vaccination before starting it.
Our cardiologist wasn’t happy with all the side effects Amanda was having with the medications but was ok with her trying the new medication. They gave her a dose before she left for the cath lab and one when she returned. About an hour after she took the second dose, she had a nasty headache. She called for the nurse while I was gone to pick up dinner.
We had the same nurse as last night, so I thought it wouldn’t take long to get her to come by. No one came, but about 20 minutes later, the assistant showed up, turned the light off, and supposedly went to get the nurse. Amanda was in tears by then. The headache with a new, deeper pounding palpitation was a bad combination. After another 30 minutes and a stern word from me to the assistant, the nurse showed up and got some pain meds.
The rate is going to be on the back burner for now. There is still thought that it may be due to the rejection, too. It could be one of those things where the rejections set the rate off, and the damage is done, and it may not come down when the rejection is under control. We just don’t know and won’t until the rejection is brought down. I did see the EP fellow after Amanda was in the cath lab. He’d come to see us, and I met him as he was getting on the elevator and I was getting off. I think we’ll see him tomorrow. The cardiologist said the EP had contacted him early this morning, too.
This is disheartening news with the rejection not lowered; it’s a little scary. With the rate being high and not under control and the pain still getting out of hand, I don’t know how we’ll be able to go home either. Once the biopsy results are back, we should be able to get a solid plan, hopefully. As I mentioned in the last post, I wasn’t sure what to pray for. I think now we need to focus on the rejection being lowered. That would be at the top of the list. Also that, the rate can be reversed and come down as the rejection subsides and does not need intervention.
Though this isn’t the news we’d thought we’d receive, we still trust in God and know he can carry us through it. We know He has a purpose in all of this. We’ve seen Him bring good out of our challenging situations before, and we’ll see him do it again.
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