After arriving home on Friday evening, we got the weekend off. Today (Monday) we had our first follow up appointment at Cincinnati (actually the outpatient centre in Northern Kentucky). The good news is that everything went well. Brea had an ekg and echo and they were happy with both. We also had to get blood drawn as her Warfarin levels are still not settled (we are still waiting for the results).
The policy at Cincinnati regarding warfarin is the same as at Columbia. That means that we will be on Warfarin for six months before switching over to aspirin, which she will be on for the rest of her life. Apparently it is quite controversial in the medical community as to what is the best drug/course of action in this situation. Some doctors are pro-warfarin and some doctors are anti-warfarin. The course of action following the Fontan differs across institutions. [For those who have no experience with warfarin/coumadin -- it is not a pleasant drug: (i) it doesn't taste nice, (ii) it requires much care to ensure the dosing is correct, (iii) the dose needs to change if the patient is sick/on antibiotics, etc, etc, and (iv) it thins the blood so that care needs to be taken to ensure there are no falls, etc, to prevent internal bleeding.]
We are scheduled for another follow up appointment in the week between Christmas and New Year.
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