Friday, September 12, 2008

Hunter got the official diagnosis today of Pulmonary Hypertension secondary to his Chronic Lung Disease.

A brief explanation of Pulmonary Hypertension is the blood vessels in the lungs clamp shut. This makes the heart work harder.

Hunter's echocardiogram results were that in the heart, the right ventricle was larger than the left. This is bad because the right ventricle is in not supposed to work harder than the left. The right is supposed to be a little more relaxed. Therefore, it gives us the sure diagnosis of Pulmonary Hypertension.

They increased the viagra that Hunter takes for his Pulmonary Hypertension. This was increased yesterday. This is supposed to relax the blood vessels in the lungs so the heart can pump easier. One of two things could happen: 1. The viagra works, they keep him on it and in a year or so when his lungs are better they reassess the situation to see if he still needs it. 2. It doesn't work where they would have to take much scarier measures. This might include Hunter having another stay in the hospital, placing an long term IV (PICC) in his arm and starting him on medication that could only be put through the IV. He would eventually have to come home with an IV.

I am really praying that that the viagra starts doing its job. Hunter's home oxygen will have to be increased to 1 liter, instead of the 1/4 liter. Oxygen has also been proven to help Pulmonary Hypertension. The big hopes are that once Hunter's lungs are bigger and stronger, he will outgrow Pulmonary Hypertension as well as Chronic Lung. It is a serious condition that if left untreated could be fatal. Thankfully, we found it.

Things are constantly changing. They know that he has Pulmonary Hypertension. This is the reason he became so critical so fast. They call it Pulmonary Hypertension crisis. This is the official findings for this hospital stay and the reason he was so critical.