Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Out of Surgery
We got a page at about 8:05 that said they were finishing up the procedure and the doctor was coming to talk to us. Dr. Langley (the surgeon) came out and told us that everything went great. There were no surprises, the pace maker is working well, it should last about 10 years. There was a lot of scar tissue that they had to work through, his heart was really stuck to his breast bone and so they had to cut through his entire sternum. He has two chest tubes coming out for drainage and the surgeon said they should come out tomorrow. He is being transferred to the adult ICU floor and we should be able to see him in about 30 minutes. I'll update more when we get to see him and he starts waking up.
In Surgery
Well after a long day of waiting (and I mean long) David is finally in surgery. Our check in time was 10:30 this morning, and he was finally taken into surgery at 5:10 this evening. They say it will take about 2 hours to prep him for surgery and then they think it will be about 2 hours for the surgery. I will update again when we know how the surgery is going.
On a more positive note, the kids had a great day at school. It was Charlie's first day at the Spanish Immersion school and he said he had fun. He learned two words in Spanish and made three friends. I really think he'll like this new school. Katie had her first day in Kindergarten and was very happy to find out that her friend Mya is in her class. When I asked what she learned today she said they taught her how to write her teachers name. When I asked what her favorite thing about Kindergarten is she said recess. They are both excited to go back tomorrow.
Today as we were driving up here I was thinking about how important David is to our family. I wanted to write a little ode to David and tell everyone (and him when he is able to read this) why we love him so much.
David is the best father you can imagine. He plays with the kids, he is REALLY involved with them. He loves to cuddle them, and has tons of patience. He's truly interested in what they are doing and takes an active role in their lives. The other day I heard Sydney tell my mom that "Daddy likes kisses when he's sick." This is true he's always asking the kids to come and give him hugs and kisses when he doesn't feel well.
David is a WONDERFUL husband. An example is this afternoon when I lost it before he went to surgery. I am in tears and even though he is worried about what he has to go through, all he does is worry about how I am. We love spending time together and would be lost without each other.
David is extremely intellingent and hardworking. He worries all the time about how being sick is going to affect our family financially and will go to work if he can, no matter how he feels. He is a successful engineer and extremely valuable to his company. This Christmas my mom gave us all gifts that had our qualities listed on it. I was upset when I found out that my gift said "intelligent," but David's gift said "highly intelligent." I must admit that she was right.
David has a strong testimony of the gospel. He is a wonderful priesthood leader in our home. He is a righteous example to the children, and always striving to do what's right. The gospel is the highest priority in his life and you can see this in his actions and the choices that he makes in his life.
David has a wonderful sense of humor, he keeps us laughing all the time. He is always fun to be around and lifts the spirits of everyone around him.
David is a special man, I think that anyone who knows him can agree to that. We love him and pray that he will be back home with us soon, on his road to recovery.
On a more positive note, the kids had a great day at school. It was Charlie's first day at the Spanish Immersion school and he said he had fun. He learned two words in Spanish and made three friends. I really think he'll like this new school. Katie had her first day in Kindergarten and was very happy to find out that her friend Mya is in her class. When I asked what she learned today she said they taught her how to write her teachers name. When I asked what her favorite thing about Kindergarten is she said recess. They are both excited to go back tomorrow.
Today as we were driving up here I was thinking about how important David is to our family. I wanted to write a little ode to David and tell everyone (and him when he is able to read this) why we love him so much.
David is the best father you can imagine. He plays with the kids, he is REALLY involved with them. He loves to cuddle them, and has tons of patience. He's truly interested in what they are doing and takes an active role in their lives. The other day I heard Sydney tell my mom that "Daddy likes kisses when he's sick." This is true he's always asking the kids to come and give him hugs and kisses when he doesn't feel well.
David is a WONDERFUL husband. An example is this afternoon when I lost it before he went to surgery. I am in tears and even though he is worried about what he has to go through, all he does is worry about how I am. We love spending time together and would be lost without each other.
David is extremely intellingent and hardworking. He worries all the time about how being sick is going to affect our family financially and will go to work if he can, no matter how he feels. He is a successful engineer and extremely valuable to his company. This Christmas my mom gave us all gifts that had our qualities listed on it. I was upset when I found out that my gift said "intelligent," but David's gift said "highly intelligent." I must admit that she was right.
David has a strong testimony of the gospel. He is a wonderful priesthood leader in our home. He is a righteous example to the children, and always striving to do what's right. The gospel is the highest priority in his life and you can see this in his actions and the choices that he makes in his life.
David has a wonderful sense of humor, he keeps us laughing all the time. He is always fun to be around and lifts the spirits of everyone around him.
David is a special man, I think that anyone who knows him can agree to that. We love him and pray that he will be back home with us soon, on his road to recovery.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
The Eve of Surgery
I hope my blog posts aren't getting too boring for everyone. I hear that people want more updates so I'll try to deliver. David and Sam went to Portland today for David's pre-op appointment. I stayed home to take Charlie and Katie to their open houses for school since I will miss their first day of school tomorrow. David met with the surgeons and they explained the surgery that will happen tomorrow. He is to check in at 10:30 and the surgery is scheduled for 12:00 or 1:00pm. We are extremely dissappointed that they will have to crack his entire chest to access his heart. We were told previously that this would not be neccessary. This means about a year of pain for David. He is not to work for at least 2 weeks and can't lift anything for 3 months. His pace maker will be placed just under his heart in the center or his torso instead of in his shoulder like most people. The leads will be all around the outside of his heart.
We would appreciate all the prayers we can get tomorrow. This is going to be a hard day for our whole family.
We would appreciate all the prayers we can get tomorrow. This is going to be a hard day for our whole family.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Finally...Another Update
Sorry it's been so long since I updated. It seemed like the new information has been coming slowly. We spent almost all day last Sunday in the ER again, getting David's seizure medication changed because he was having an allergic reaction to the Dilantin. Once we got that all straightened out his itching and dizziness has improved a lot.
Thursday David has his cath. The information we got from that test is about what we thought they'd find out. They did studies on the pressures in his heart, and they looked o.k. When he had his surgery in 2004 they left hole in his heart, they call it a fenestration (sp?) to allow his body to get used to the new way that his blood would flow. During the cath they wanted to close the hole so that his oxygen level would increase even more. Currently his oxygen saturation runs about 92-93 and with the hole closed it would run about 97-98. They closed it for about 20 minutes and then decided that it wasn't a good idea. With the problems that his heart is having with rhythm it would just be too risky. The doctors are hoping that after he gets a pace maker and his heart is beating correctly they will be able to close the hole. The study has also shown that his heart function has declined, but they are also hoping that this is because of the irregular heartbeats. The hope is that with a pace maker, his heart function could improve.
The other part of the cath was the electro-physiology study. With this test they were trying to find a place inside his heart to pace it. David said that in the procedure they would get it working and then lose it shortly after. The doctors told us that they were not able to pace his heart like they would a normal heart (I don't think they were expecting this to be possible anyways). He is going to have to have a more complicated surgery to put the pace maker in. We think that the surgery is going to happen on Wednesday. Of course it has to be the first day of school, not to mention the first day that Charlie will go to the Spanish Immersion school and Katie's first day of Kindergarten. We are very lucky that the kids have such great Aunts that be taking care of them. They'll have to take lots of pictures for us!
David feels pretty good, he still hasn't recovered completely from the initial problems a couple of weeks ago. He says that he's just more tired and he can tell that his slow heartbeat is taking a toll on him. He's adjusting to the medicine a little better each day. We sure appreciate everybody's prayers and concern. Without our family and friends we couldn't make it through these trials. Thanks for everything.
Thursday David has his cath. The information we got from that test is about what we thought they'd find out. They did studies on the pressures in his heart, and they looked o.k. When he had his surgery in 2004 they left hole in his heart, they call it a fenestration (sp?) to allow his body to get used to the new way that his blood would flow. During the cath they wanted to close the hole so that his oxygen level would increase even more. Currently his oxygen saturation runs about 92-93 and with the hole closed it would run about 97-98. They closed it for about 20 minutes and then decided that it wasn't a good idea. With the problems that his heart is having with rhythm it would just be too risky. The doctors are hoping that after he gets a pace maker and his heart is beating correctly they will be able to close the hole. The study has also shown that his heart function has declined, but they are also hoping that this is because of the irregular heartbeats. The hope is that with a pace maker, his heart function could improve.
The other part of the cath was the electro-physiology study. With this test they were trying to find a place inside his heart to pace it. David said that in the procedure they would get it working and then lose it shortly after. The doctors told us that they were not able to pace his heart like they would a normal heart (I don't think they were expecting this to be possible anyways). He is going to have to have a more complicated surgery to put the pace maker in. We think that the surgery is going to happen on Wednesday. Of course it has to be the first day of school, not to mention the first day that Charlie will go to the Spanish Immersion school and Katie's first day of Kindergarten. We are very lucky that the kids have such great Aunts that be taking care of them. They'll have to take lots of pictures for us!
David feels pretty good, he still hasn't recovered completely from the initial problems a couple of weeks ago. He says that he's just more tired and he can tell that his slow heartbeat is taking a toll on him. He's adjusting to the medicine a little better each day. We sure appreciate everybody's prayers and concern. Without our family and friends we couldn't make it through these trials. Thanks for everything.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Another Hospital Visit
David has been feeling tired and dizzy for the past few days. The doctors took him off the Lisinipril to see if that would help. It took away the dizziness, but he was still feeling exhausted. Thursday and Friday he said that he was having waves of confusion and that he was really tired and having a hard time concentrating. I talked to the doctors at OHSU and they just said to go to the ER if he was feeling like he was going to faint. We did not like this answer because there was definitely something wrong, but he didn't think he ever felt like he would faint.
Last night I took him into After-Hours and they said they could not do anything for him, if he needed to be seen he should go to the ER. David felt like he was just tired and if he rested and got a good night's sleep he would feel better in the morning. Charlie and Katie came home from the ward campout with Sam and Kathi and Sam gave David a blessing. I took Katie and Audrey to bed and about an hour later David came in saying that something was really wrong and I needed to call 911. His left leg was twitching and he was halfway off the bed. The Paramedics came in and he continued to have seizures all the way to the hospital. Once we got to the ER, he had one more big seizure and then they were able to give him some medication to stop them short term. During these seizures he was always completely conscious and able to talk through them, the only his left arm and leg would twitch. Bishop Glazier and Brother Hurst were able to come to the ER and give him another blessing. Sam and Kathi and I stayed with him in the ER. They did another CT scan of his head, which of course came back showing nothing. They also did neurology tests (David calls them stupid human tricks). He loses movement and control on his left side during the seizures but seems to regain all of his strength once they are over. After talking to the Neurologists up at OHSU, they decided that he just needed to be on some anti-seizure medicine and then he could go home. I pressed the issue - not sure he was ready to go home. I asked that they at least call and talk to the cardiologists up at OHSU and see what they said. They also said it was ok to go home, with the medication. I warned that if there was any sort of trouble I was bringing him back.
They gave David a super dose of the anti-seizure medicine in the hospital through an IV, and then gave us a prescription to fill today. The IV medicine made him itch all over severely, which he did not appreciate. It also altered his thinking quite a bit. He is finally coming out of that now, but is extremely tired. Once we got home this morning at about 6:15, he was really fidgety and itchy. He kept trying to get up (which he wasn't able to do because he can't stand straight without falling over), and was extremely agitated. Finally I think he's a little calmer and the medicine has worn off a bit. He's actually sleeping at the moment. Hopefully this medicine will do the trick and we can make it until next Thursday, when he has the cath scheduled. I'm making sure that he takes it very easy at this point and we're watching him very closely.
Last night I took him into After-Hours and they said they could not do anything for him, if he needed to be seen he should go to the ER. David felt like he was just tired and if he rested and got a good night's sleep he would feel better in the morning. Charlie and Katie came home from the ward campout with Sam and Kathi and Sam gave David a blessing. I took Katie and Audrey to bed and about an hour later David came in saying that something was really wrong and I needed to call 911. His left leg was twitching and he was halfway off the bed. The Paramedics came in and he continued to have seizures all the way to the hospital. Once we got to the ER, he had one more big seizure and then they were able to give him some medication to stop them short term. During these seizures he was always completely conscious and able to talk through them, the only his left arm and leg would twitch. Bishop Glazier and Brother Hurst were able to come to the ER and give him another blessing. Sam and Kathi and I stayed with him in the ER. They did another CT scan of his head, which of course came back showing nothing. They also did neurology tests (David calls them stupid human tricks). He loses movement and control on his left side during the seizures but seems to regain all of his strength once they are over. After talking to the Neurologists up at OHSU, they decided that he just needed to be on some anti-seizure medicine and then he could go home. I pressed the issue - not sure he was ready to go home. I asked that they at least call and talk to the cardiologists up at OHSU and see what they said. They also said it was ok to go home, with the medication. I warned that if there was any sort of trouble I was bringing him back.
They gave David a super dose of the anti-seizure medicine in the hospital through an IV, and then gave us a prescription to fill today. The IV medicine made him itch all over severely, which he did not appreciate. It also altered his thinking quite a bit. He is finally coming out of that now, but is extremely tired. Once we got home this morning at about 6:15, he was really fidgety and itchy. He kept trying to get up (which he wasn't able to do because he can't stand straight without falling over), and was extremely agitated. Finally I think he's a little calmer and the medicine has worn off a bit. He's actually sleeping at the moment. Hopefully this medicine will do the trick and we can make it until next Thursday, when he has the cath scheduled. I'm making sure that he takes it very easy at this point and we're watching him very closely.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Change of Plans
We've had a sudden change of plans. Because of the doctor's schedules David's cath has been postponed until Friday, August 29th. I told the nurse that called that David had been feeling dizzy and tired. They said to stop taking the heart medication that they had started immediately. We need to know if he is dizzy from the medication or if his heart is causing it. If he's still dizzy tomorrow and Friday we are supposed to call the doctor immediately. I asked if they know how big of a hurry they will be in to put in a pace maker and he said it depends on the symptoms that David has. So for now I guess we're on hold.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Home
We've been home all weekend, David's feeling pretty good. He's having a little bit of a hard time adjusting to the heart medication they put him on. It makes him tired and a little dizzy at times, but overall he says he feels good. We went to church yesterday and he plans on going to work this morning.
The cath has been scheduled for Wednesday at noon, and he will probably have to spend one night in the hospital. We should know more about the pace maker after that. We're not really sure how quick they will want to do that.
Thank you for all your prayers, it's been wonderful!
The cath has been scheduled for Wednesday at noon, and he will probably have to spend one night in the hospital. We should know more about the pace maker after that. We're not really sure how quick they will want to do that.
Thank you for all your prayers, it's been wonderful!
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