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.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
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!
Friday, August 15, 2008
We're Comin' Home...For Now
We are officially being discharged right now! Things are definitely looking up. We have to come back next week for the cardiac catheterization, and they are saying that he will have to have a pace maker put in. During the cardiac cath they will find out how they will be able to put the pace maker in and how invasive of a surgery it will be. David's our miracle...always has been. He sure is a trooper through everything he has to go through.
We are so thankful for all of the comments, emails, phone calls and prayers. It sure is nice to know that people are thinking of you. We are also extremely appreciative of everyone that has helped out with the kids and various other things to make our load a little lighter. We sure feel loved!
We are so thankful for all of the comments, emails, phone calls and prayers. It sure is nice to know that people are thinking of you. We are also extremely appreciative of everyone that has helped out with the kids and various other things to make our load a little lighter. We sure feel loved!
Friday Morning
David had his MRI last night at about 11:00 pm. We haven't heard about the results yet, but his alarms on his heart monitor went off a lot last night. We are just waiting to hear if he's going to have a heart catheterization today. We could possibly going home today. They results of his EEG look great, there looks like there aren't any wierd things going on in his brain.
Another piece of good new - in Eugene they told us that his red blood cell count was too high. This is something that was corrected when he had his heart surgery. I asked the nurse yesterday about his labs and she showed me the report and said that the red blood cells count and his hematicrit (sp?) was all normal. The only thing that was off was his Platlet count, and it is always low.
Another piece of good new - in Eugene they told us that his red blood cell count was too high. This is something that was corrected when he had his heart surgery. I asked the nurse yesterday about his labs and she showed me the report and said that the red blood cells count and his hematicrit (sp?) was all normal. The only thing that was off was his Platlet count, and it is always low.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Thursday Afternoon
I'm sorry I haven't updated as much as I'd like to. This hospital is S-L-O-W!!! We finally just saw some doctors and it's almost 2:00.
On the Neurology side - David had a EEG yesterday but it hasn't been read yet. The Neurologists would like to get an MRI done tonight just to make sure there is nothing to be concerned about. They don't think they are going to put him on any medication but there is some REALLY BAD NEWS. They don't want him driving for six months. I don't know how we are going to handle this!
The cardiologists want to do the catheterization. They are going to try to schedule it for tomorrow. If they can't get it done then they will let us go home and have us come back when they can get it scheduled. During the cath they will do some studies on his heart rhythm. They are still talking about a pace maker which is also bad news. Because of the way his heart is they don't know how they will put a pace maker in. They way they would do it in a normal heart is a simple surgery and not a big deal. They have to figure out where they would put the leads on David's heart. This could mean open heart surgery again. His heart is still doing the 3-5 second pauses but then it will just pick back up and start beating again. Except for the pauses his heart rate is stabilizing a little bit. He hasn't had as many episodes of racing or slowing down too much.
David is definitely ready to get out of here. He wants to go home and go to the fair. (I think he's feeling a little better)! They took off his oxygen and gave him permission to go down to the cafeteria. Can you believe this? The ICU does not have bathrooms or showers. They can't find a bed for him on a normal floor so they are going to let him shower in the employee locker room. I think a shower will make him feel like a new man! Today has been good news and bad news but at least were getting somewhere and we're getting closer to going home.
On the Neurology side - David had a EEG yesterday but it hasn't been read yet. The Neurologists would like to get an MRI done tonight just to make sure there is nothing to be concerned about. They don't think they are going to put him on any medication but there is some REALLY BAD NEWS. They don't want him driving for six months. I don't know how we are going to handle this!
The cardiologists want to do the catheterization. They are going to try to schedule it for tomorrow. If they can't get it done then they will let us go home and have us come back when they can get it scheduled. During the cath they will do some studies on his heart rhythm. They are still talking about a pace maker which is also bad news. Because of the way his heart is they don't know how they will put a pace maker in. They way they would do it in a normal heart is a simple surgery and not a big deal. They have to figure out where they would put the leads on David's heart. This could mean open heart surgery again. His heart is still doing the 3-5 second pauses but then it will just pick back up and start beating again. Except for the pauses his heart rate is stabilizing a little bit. He hasn't had as many episodes of racing or slowing down too much.
David is definitely ready to get out of here. He wants to go home and go to the fair. (I think he's feeling a little better)! They took off his oxygen and gave him permission to go down to the cafeteria. Can you believe this? The ICU does not have bathrooms or showers. They can't find a bed for him on a normal floor so they are going to let him shower in the employee locker room. I think a shower will make him feel like a new man! Today has been good news and bad news but at least were getting somewhere and we're getting closer to going home.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
