Birthday Jumper Cables

Thursday was a good day/bad day. The surgeon came in about 5:30am and said that things were good. He removed her chest tubes and Mom was in heaven. So far, the tubes were the source of her greatest pain. She was still on a regimen of lasix, insulin, hydrocodone, BP med, and a baby aspirin. Lasix has always been a problem because it make her pee so often. Getting up to go to the bathroom was hard for Mom with all the tubes and wires.

I tried to go to work for a while and got a call shortly after lunch. Evidently, one of the leads that went from her new pacemaker to the ventricle had become dislodged at the heart and would have to be reattached. Dang.

The Cardiologist that installed the pacemaker was on vacation for the rest of the week, so we were in the care of another Doc. He explained that it was something that needed to be fixed and that it may be done in the afternoon. Later, a Cardiac Electrophysiolgist came by and told us that he was to perform the fix Friday morning.

Mom was really depressed by this news. Scared is a better description. A bump in the road, but not a sink hole. Bad Day

Again, I met the Surgeon at 5:30 Friday Morning. It was Moms 72nd birthday. The Doctor was generally happy with Moms progress on the stuff for which he was responsible. The latest schedule was that the procedure was to be done at 7:30am Friday (not by him but by the electro doc). Mom had not had dinner or breakfast and she was in the very lowest place in her mood.

The procedure was delayed until 12:00 noon. Dang.

Finally, they took her down to the cath lab. She was back at 2:00. The electro Doc was a little harder on her and she was very drugged, sore and the wound dressings were much more elaborate. Her lunch was still there and she was starving, so we fed her a chicken wrap and 3 desserts.

At about 3:00pm, we decided that a long rest was needed for Mom (and us). We put a "NO VISITORS" sign on the door and left to come back later.

Marty, Nathan and Carley went over later that evening and tucked her in.

Early this morning, I met the Surgeon and had a nice long breakfast with Mom and talked about her last few weeks. Since the surgery, she had a lot of gaps in what and how she remembered and I tried  to clear that up. The Doctor had said that all of the anesthesia and vascular swelling can have an effect on mind. Until Wednesday morning, she was a little kooky and said many funny things. I will post some of the funny, drug addled comments from Mom is a later post.

Late morning, the representative for her new pacemaker came by to test the operation. Everything was great. The new leads to her heart were working perfectly.

This news relieved an enormous amount of stress for Mom and she wept uncontrollably. Apparently, Mom believed that the pacemaker was the only thing keeping her alive(it wasn't). I explained to her that it was merely an insurance policy if she should have any problems with her rhythm. Actually, her rhythms were very good without the pacemaker. Now, in her mind, she could now go forward. Until then, she was certain that she was going to die.

Her spirits are great now. I took a nice long walk with her (200 Ft) and she waved to all of her fellow heart patients. A good day.

In the afternoon, she was moved to Transitional Care (TCU). There, she will receive 4-6 hours of physical therapy every day for a week. She is assessed for every day for risk. It is a very nice, large room with big windows and a large bathroom. She is happy.

Marty and Carley went over in the evening to help her get her room set up. Marty brought some new pajamas for Mom that were easy to get on and off. They were newly washed.. When Mom got them, she was mad. The tags were taken off. She glared at Marty. " I told you to leave the tags on....just in case," she said. At first, Marty thought that she meant that "just in case" was about the fit. It wasn't. Mom was planning for the possibility of never needing pajamas again.

When Mom arrived at the hospital last friday, she was ready. She had her will re-done, her bills paid, her power of attorney signed and her "goodbyes" were possibly forever. She thought that she was going to die. Her fear was unbounded, but her poise was typical Mom.

She sent a text a few minutes ago with her "needs."

Get ready, she is getting ready to dance again.