Josiah is still at the hospital. One of the things they have observed is that the speed of the pump seemed to be pulling the interventricular septum (the triangular wall of cardiac tissue that separates the left and right ventricles, i.e., the lower chambers) into the right ventricle.

On Friday, they did a right heart cath procedure with an echo to check his heart pressures and function to see if it would function better if they lowered the speed. It seemed to go well, but with such a big drop, they decided to keep him overnight for observation and do another echo in the morning.

Saturday’s echo shows his heart is looking a lot better. The septum seems much closer to where it is supposed to be, and the left ventricle is pumping more effectively. So, they are really pleased by that.

However, the morning blood draw alerted them to a different issue. Josiah is on a blood-thinning medication, and they monitor his levels weekly and daily when he is in the hospital. 

It has been 2.3 almost the entire hospital stay until this morning when it dropped to 1.6. The goal for LVAD patients is between 2 and 3.

The doctors apologized but asked him to stay one more night. Josiah is bummed because he was supposed to go to a small concert with a friend tonight.

He is on a heparin drip right now, so hopefully things will turn around quickly.

Last time his INR dropped this low, they kept him in the hospital for 2 days. We really hope that isn’t the case this time, and we are also grateful that all of this is minor.

Thank you for all your prayers and support!

~Kim, Eric, and Josiah