Bring On 2013!

Goodbye 2012! 

2013 HAS to be better!

Boston Ladder 26 donning it's festive holiday Wreath. 

Dad spent most of the day still in ICU. We had a great nurse today too, Andrea. She came on at 7 and stayed with us all day. Dad had one small episode early this morning but he was able to pace out of it on his own again. This is a good sign if his on board equipment can handle the situation without shock! He had an echocardiogram and things appeared to be functioning well. If he is able to continue to pace himself out of episodes without shock he will not have to have the ablation. I am looking forward to Wednesday when we are back at full staff in all departments and the weekend and holiday are over. Until then they are working with a lighter crew. This means everything takes longer and doctors are covering more patients than they normally do.

Dad's nurse Andrea with Dad and Mom "walking the halls"

They wanted to get Dad up and moving today. He needed to be able to move about without incident before they would let him move out of ICU. He walked around for about 3 minutes the first time and then they got him up again this afternoon to walk again.

This is Janet who took care of Dad for three days when he was in intensive care after his LVAD surgery. She is one of our favorite nurses. They are all wonderful but Janet has a wonderful sense of humor too. This morning I was awakened by Janet singing " My Albuquerque Turkey" and "Tony Chestnuts" We now have some ideas for Lilly's preschool class next Thanksgiving season! :)

I visited the good Ole' Shop on the Pike and they did not disappoint with their new stock! This little Gem is "Airfork One" Perfect for in-flight meals!

Dad did so well today that tonight they transferred him to the step down unit back on floor 7. We're moving on up! He requested a room with a view so we could watch the fireworks from the room! They  honored his request. We ended up back in the same room we started in the day after Christmas! 

Room 709

From the window of the room we could see that the heart in the snow outside was still there! Cars and trucks have been in and out but the heart prevails!

Dad and I are trying to keep Mom awake so we can ring in the new year together. As I type we have 34 minutes to go! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

We now know we cannot see the fireworks from anywhere on the floor :(

We had a great view of the fireworks on TV

You could see the whole display on the TV in the room where at least we were warm :)

Tomorrow we are really looking forward to seeing their smiling faces and welcoming the first day of the new year with them :)

We are also looking forward to getting better and stronger everyday. Still no idea when we will be able to go home. I for one would rather be on the conservative side this time. We want to make sure all systems are go and we feel confident about going home. 

Thank You all for everything you have done! We continue to take things one day at a time and hope this new year moves in a better direction. Thank you for your texts, calls, visits, food, and offers of anything we need help with. You have all truly been right there for us all the way through this trying year. Here's to a better healthier 2013!

Until tomorrow,

Laurie

Hazy Shade of WINTER!

SNOW FALLS IN BOSTON

Last night it began to snow here. The Boys, Kerry, Julie and Lauren left just in time to avoid the bad weather. It snowed, then rained very hard, then snowed a little bit more. I guess from what everyone told us there is a lot more snow back home. Joe and Lauren shoveled the driveways and our neighbor Kevin was nice enough to snow blow our driveway for us! Thanks Kevin!

When we woke up, the houses and hill were dusted with snow

Dad had an o.k. night. I say ok because he did not sleep well in anticipation of being shocked again. He had a few more episodes of v-tach ( the arrhythmia that can lead to a shock if not corrected by his pacemaker ) He had one early this morning and a few more today. Mom sat up with him until he fell asleep the first time from 1:00-3:30 then I sat up with him from 4:30 to 6 when we both fell asleep, he in the bed me in the rolling chair ( I moved back to the couch when the chair rolled and dumped me out! ) 

Although Dad was exhausted, he could not sleep. He was getting pretty anxious so they started him on Attavan to relax him and reduce the anxiety. He can feel when his heart is being paced out of v-tach and he was just waiting to be shocked, which thankfully, never had to happen. The pacemaker did it's job and paced him back into a normal rhythm. 

Now the questions we are asking are why is he having these episodes, and do we have to do another intervention procedure to stop them? The doctor was in and out today a few times. At one point we had three doctors but only one head Doc, Dr. Lewis, who has been calling the shots. Right now we still have no answers, just a plan to get him into the lab tomorrow to figure out what is going on with his internal defib and make sure it is working properly. We have learned that one of the leads he has, has an advisory or a recall on it. They explained that they don't go in and take it out if it is damaged they will simply add another lead. They also said they would not do anything to it if it is functioning properly and not broken down. 

It stinks that it is a holiday weekend. Now in addition to there being a slower schedule on the weekend we now have the holiday to contend with too :(

Joe and Lauren drove in this morning after taking care of "Biggie"... their dog,  and feeding "Cleveland" ... my fish. They took care of everything at the house before they came which was a big relief to us. Joe also brought me up some clothes and supplies. We left in quite a rush at 1:50 in the morning Saturday to get back here I didn't have a lot of clothes packed up. I also have been wearing winter boots which didn't bother me too much. The boots are quite comfy, but, when I talked to Brendan he asked if I told Joe to bring me some normal shoes...I guess he doesn't like my boots :)... and Joe brought my sneakers.

Auntie Janet, Auntie Peggy and Stephen came to visit today and we hung out with Dad while "The Aunts" (this includes my Mom) went to lunch together for some much needed R and R and the obligatory glass of wine! I was very happy Mom was able to get out of here for a while for a change of scenery. 

I went to Au Bon Pain for lunch to grab my soup de jour. I love the soups there. they have some I can eat which is great. I don't know if any of you watch the show "Modern Family" or if you have ever heard of it. The cashier that works at Au Bon Pain looks like the Character "Alex" on the show. Alex is played by actress Ariel Winter. She agreed to let me take her photo for my blog She said I made her day! I said I can't believe she is hiding out in an Au Bon Pain in Boston! She was a good sport and said she had at least 6 people tell her she looked like Alex today :)

Dad was awake early this evening and we were able to FaceTime with the "girls" Lilly was wearing her new nightgown that Auntie Phyllis Ann sent her for Christmas. After we all said our "goodbyes" and "see you soons", she was a little upset that we didn't say goodbye to Mr. Elephant. She called us back and said someone forgot to say goodbye. So we all went around the room to say goodbye and goodnight to Mr. Elephant too. We miss them and can't wait to see their little smiling faces soon.

Dad had to have some stuff done so Mom and I took a walk to then end of the hall. I noticed that a truck had made a heart in the snow in the lot below. Pretty appropriate!

The snow was capping each letter on the Shapiro Center today. It was pretty since it was just a light dusting. 

We were hoping to not ring in the new year here at the Brigham, but, Dad's heart has other plan's. We will celebrate with our ICU family here. A few of the nurses mentioned that we may be able to see fireworks from the window. That will be nice. At least it will be something to look forward to. 

We are hoping the test tomorrow morning will solve a few more mysteries and we can then move to the next step in the plan. They are talking about a cardiac ablation: 

Catheter-Based Ablation

Some patients with heart rhythm disturbances do not respond adequately to treatment with medication, and for other arrhythmia patients, therapy with medications is not as safe or appropriate as more definitive treatment. Catheter ablation is a procedure used to selectively eliminate (damage or get rid of) the heart cells causing the arrhythmia.

If he has to have a procedure done, we are hoping it will be this type of ablation, via catheter. This is minimal anesthesia and it is the easiest on the patient.

His numbers have improved as far as blood count. We were at 24 last night and it dropped to 22 this morning. It is back up to 24! We just need it to come up a little bit more. They are just happy it is not falling. His BP is normal and a little high for him only after he gets up and moves about. They would rather keep the BP on the slightly elevated than too low due to the awful low blood pressure he had for the few days.

Thank You all again for everything you have done and continue to do for Dad and the rest of us. The road is long, but we are lucky to be carried by so many wonderful friends and family members. You give us hope and your heartfelt prayers are incredibly appreciated. 

Until tomorrow,

Goodnight from Gotham City 

Laurie

Awful Awful Night

Just when you think you're out of the woods and in the clear....you're not!

This little tree had not been lit the last time we were in the hospital. Someone fixed it and it was lit when I left :)

Last night I left the hospital because Dad was doing so well. When I got home at 10:30, Mom reported that there were no changes when I talked to her. I hopped in the shower, ate a snack and started the blog. Little did I know that an hour and 45 minutes after I finished writing the blog, that everything would change...for the worst!

Brendan called me at 1:45 and said that Mom had called. Dad's internal defib kept firing and they had to shock him with their defibrillator to get him back into a normal rhythm. She told us they called the dreaded code blue for him.

Brendan and Kerry came to get me at the house. They were at the door less than 5 minutes after I talked to them and we started on our way back to Boston. I called Joe and told him he should probably come up. Joe and Lauren packed themselves and their dog, Biggie, into Joe's car and headed up to Boston.

We arrived and checked in at the desk we did not know what to expect. Mom had called again while we were on our way to let us know he was awake and even talking to the doctor responding to questions...That's my Dad fighting the odds every step of the way!!!! They sent us to the family room to wait until they had him ready.

His hematocrit level had dropped to a below critical level of 14! Normal people it' s 40 -50, people with a LVAD 30's and he was at 14. This is the lowest his count has ever been! So he was either still bleeding out or the blood he received before was not enough to sustain blood volume. 

They think the shocks and V-Tach episodes were due to the anemic state he was in. When there is not enough blood volume the heart can squeeze it's ventricles together causing interference and static episodes. They interrogated the unit and found all the episodes recorded.

They gave him two more units of blood, at this point, they were badly needed. I asked him if he felt like he had just gone 12 rounds in a boxing ring?...he said, worse!

We slept in awkward positions for about 20 minutes or so at a time. One couch, one catapulting chair,  4 of us kids one Mom and a partridge in a pear tree, not exactly comfortable :)

Joe and Lauren arrived at 6:50 and came right up to the room. They were able to say hi and spend some time in the room then Brendan and Mom went to get breakfast. After, I grabbed breakfast and they stayed with Dad.

They had to do a few more tests so we all stepped out into the lobby for a bit. We were greeted by Kerry and little Julie. Kerry brought us muffins and hot chocolate and little Julie who cheered everyone up. Thanks Kerry :)

Mom and I watched as a man decided to stand in the middle of the street this morning. No idea what he was doing but 5 minutes after I took this, he got out of the way of an ambulance screaming down the street!

They have been in and out of the room all day doing all kinds of tests and running blood tests to make sure the two more units of blood he received last night...remember he's a vampire...were sufficient. I am happy to report that his first levels came back at 22 and then a little while ago he was at 24!!!! Woohoo!

They also feel like the clamps did work it just took a while for them to stop the bleeding. 

This is the Dinosaur Lilly bought Brendan for a Christmas present. She wanted Kerry to take it to him so he would have it at the hospital :) 

We spent another hour or so in the waiting room while they cleaned Dad up and let him shave. Imagine having the worst day of your life and wanting to shave the next day. I think he is doing well and has turned the proverbial corner. His color is 1,000 times better. I thought it was good yesterday, well today, it is even better.

They are going to cover all possibilities and leave no stone unturned until they fix this problem and we are able to go home. We are hoping for a heart sooner rather than later. Pray that one comes in for him soon!

It started to snow on Mission Hill so the boys, Kerry, Julie and Lauren went home. Luckily John and Daniel had gone to the house, checked on everything for us, brought us in the mail, some fuel pellets from out back and cleaned off all the cars and moved them to the front driveway.  I just talked to Joe who said Biggie did fine at Grammy and Papa's house all day in his crate and that the drive home wasn't bad at all. 

Mom and I are staying the night. I would much rather be here than at home if something changes.  We had an awful night but luckily someone up there is watching over Dad and keeping him here with us. 

Thanks to everyone for all the messages, texts, calls, Facebook messages, e-mails and support. These last few days were truly some of the worst days we have experienced in this journey. Never in my wildest nightmares did I expect to be racing back to the Brigham at 2 a.m. after having left less than 4 hours before. 

Keep those prayers coming. This has been a long winding yellow brick road and we haven't even seen the wizard to ask him for a new heart! 

Until Tomorrow,

Laurie

Rough Day

Today Started Out Bad, Got Worse...Then Greatly Improved!

The hallway which I now refer to as the War HALL Way!

Dad did not start the day off very good today at all :( His blood pressure this morning was only 60 indicating that he had not enough blood volume to create a good pressure. At this point in time before they even went in they were pretty confident he had a bleed. 

They ran a blood test around 8 and found out that his blood levels had dropped to critical levels and they had no choice than to give him a transfusion. They ended up giving him 2 units of blood!

So Dad is part Vampire and just needed his blood supply delivered via IV to satisfy his blood need :)

They wanted to do the transfusions before the endoscopy procedure to make sure his BP was ok and that he had enough of a blood volume. Unfortunately right before they were going to begin the procedure he went in to V-Tach and his defibrillator fired. The Doctors and nurses were all there, thank goodness. Dad asked them if they should postpone the surgery because he was afraid it would shock him again. They were confident that if they did not stop the bleed that it would continue to happen. 

The View Mom and I had while we played Scrabble on the iPad

Mom and I went down to get a bite to eat. We had no idea that Dad's defib had gone off and no one had called us so we assumed all was well. We ate and played Scrabble for over 2 and a half hours. It was taking a very long time. Mom went to check and they were surprised she was there. They kind of ushered her away and said they were just finishing up. We should have known at that point that something was a little off kilter. It wasn't until we got back to the room that Dad told us about the Defib firing!

The nurse in the hallway answered our questions and it turns out he had not one bleed...but 5!!! Each bleed took an endo clip to clamp off the bleeding! They also found all the blood he had been losing...in his stomach! The procedure started late and what was suppose to take maximum of an hour ended up being two and a half by the time they let Mom and I back in. When we got back to the room his color already looked better than it had in a while. They ran  his bloodwork STAT so we could know if his levels were improving...Well I am happy to say they have gone from a critical below 16 to 19.6 and rising :) This was fantastic news!

This is the screen we monitor Dad's LVAD with

The Pulse Index number ( 5.1 ) here on this monitor is how Mom and I monitor Dad's LVAD stats at home. The number is suppose to be 3.5 or above and the power should be between 4s and 7s. Well The last few days Dad's PI number had dropped as low as 1.9 and his power was increasing signifying a problem. Right away they knew it was some type of volume issue they just didn't know how severe it was until he got there and they ran all the tests.

So before I left tonight all was going well numbers were all improving and Dad was looking less like Casper The Friendly Ghost!

So in a nutshell he went from Casper, to Vampire and finally back to Dad. We are hoping to keep him at Dad for a very long time now. They have started him on another medication that should help protect the lining of the stomach and help prevent future bleeds. I guess this is a side effect of the pump and the pressure it causes. Also, blood is acidic itself so if it was pooling in his stomach it also irritates the stomach lining. Blood thinners and Asprin also aid in the erosion of the stomach lining. In all reality the odds are stacked against you that this is bound to happen. I just wish we were more aware of what was going on internally. 

It is very difficult to monitor his situation from home. Everything they told us to watch for was happening yet we were not called in for three days after the initial concerned phone calls to the doctors that Mom made. We simply drove ourselves crazy watching the numbers drop and then yesterday when he was so dizzy and felt so awful I thought we had waited too long to go back. Hind site is 20/20. If they had found this bleed when he was in a week ago we would have been on the up and up and he would have felt better for Christmas and this week.

Thanks everyone again for everything you have done or offered to do for us. We are so appreciative of everything you all have offered. Please keep the prayers and positive thoughts flowing. We still need your strength with us everyday.

Until Tomorrow,

Laurie

                                                                   

Fa La La La La....La La La La!

Good Riddens 2012! Hopefully last 2012 hospital stay!

At least the festive poinsettia and mini Christmas tree are still in the clinic to brighten things up.

Since Christmas Eve Dad has been feeling kind of out of sorts. I blamed the too much eating but that wasn't exactly it. His PI, which is the number we watch to determine if anything is going wrong with his system and the pump, started reading way off. The numbers which are suppose to be 3.5 or above (usually Dad reads 5.4 - 5.5) were reading 1.9 - 2.3 ! At first he thought maybe his potassium was off so we had that checked and it came back a-ok on Christmas Eve day. He was very pale and did not look like himself, but we couldn't figure out what was wrong. We called the doctors, they called back...this went on for three days. The worst part was they told us before this morning if he wasn't dizzy or anything to just ignore the numbers! These numbers are what they have been telling us to watch and now that they are off they tell us just ignore them is you are not feeling dizzy or lightheaded!!! Today was different he was beyond dizzy. Finally this morning they said they wanted him to come in! It took three attempts to get down the stairs. He would get so dizzy he would just sit down. At least if he fell over from a sitting position it would be easy for Mom and I to get him back up. We packed up the car knowing full well that they were going to admit him once they saw him.

We got there and right away they knew something was off. The good news is the echocardiogram came back ok and the pump is functioning fine. They lowered the speed to give the heart time to fill and then push the blood out, this should help some of his numbers. They are still concerned though because he is also anemic. They ran some tests and think he may have a bleed in the upper GI region. Tomorrow they are going to do an endoscopy to determine if there is a bleed, and if there is, if they can clamp it. 

We are looking at a fun filled minimum three day stay. They are trying very hard not to give him a transfusion because it can introduce antibodies into his system that are not his own and when getting a transplant this can come into play. He would be dealing with more antibodies than just his own.  I asked if we could donate blood. I figured that one of my brothers or I had to be a match. They told us that sometimes relative blood isn't always a perfect match. Plus, our blood would have to be screened and there isn't enough time to do all of this if he needs the blood tomorrow. So I am hoping that they find a small bleed, clamp it off and his hematocrit goes up. If they do not find a bleed they have another theory.

The LVAD can cause the blood to break down. Picture this, water going through a rotor. Into the water, add drops of colored oil. The liquid running through the rotor time and time again, will cause the oil to begin to break into smaller drops becoming less efficient. This is what could be happening to his blood. The blood is going thorough the pump and being broken up making it less able to get to the parts of the body where it is needed. 

Dr Stevenson came in and said his dizziness and overall feeling bad is probably due to the fact that he is anemic, his blood pressure was too low and he was very dehydrated. There is a fine line that he treads with hydration and potassium levels. They want him dry enough to prevent the congestive heart failure symptoms yet not so dry that it depletes his potassium and also dehydrates him. 

More tests followed by more waiting are in store tomorrow. I am just hoping for answers and solutions.

Tomorrow we will hopefully have some more answers. We are looking to not spend the new year in the hospital so please keep up the prayers and positive thoughts. Here's to a better tomorrow, for today was a pretty bad day :(

Until tomorrow,

Laurie

Beginning to get the Holiday Party Spirit

Just a day, just another, ordinary day...

Dad had a good day today. Mom, not so much due to her awful cold :( She is suffering pretty badly with this one and I am sure being run down is not helping her get better any faster. She even stayed in her P.J's all day!  The VNA will be monitoring his levels for now. I think they should come everyday...Dad thinks that's overkill. I just think that if his levels are off I want to know sooner rather than later. I really do not want to be heading back to the Brigham on Christmas.

Last night after I took out Dad's stuff from my car I left the car door open...wide open.  :(  It could not have poured harder last night! I arrived at my car this morning realized I had left the door open and was greeted with a FLOOD! My whole rear seat and floor was soaked. I had puddles on the actual seats!!!! I took the better part of my lunch hour buying a wet vac at the Home Depot and using it for an hour and a half then went home and tried to dry out more with a hair dryer. Let's just say it's not going to dry for a long time! Brendan suggested ( and I took him up on his suggestion ) that I put the dehumidifier in the car and let it run overnight.  If it's still wet in the morning I am going to have to take it somewhere :(

Tonight Dad and I attended the Worcester Fire Brigade Annual Christmas party at O'Connors. It was good to see all the guys and gal and we had a nice meal too.  In this picture Dad and George Zinkus are looking at Kevin Holstrom's Worcester County Fire Photo group on facebook and remembering some of the old guys. Kevin is not in this photo but he is sitting on my left and we were chatting. He was so happy that people were looking at his site and remembering the good ole days. He said this moment right here makes the group worth maintaining. 

A few guys even got the yummy desserts that O'Connor's has. Overall it was a nice night out.

When I got home I worked on my Christmas cards again. They are taking forever this year and I am so pressed for time. I still have a few last minute gifts to get and the days are flying by. I just can't wait until Christmas break and a little time off. Tomorrow I have my department Christmas party and on Friday we have our Christmas luncheon at Assumption. It is nice working at a Catholic College...you can actually have a Christmas party and call it a Christmas party!

I wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas :)

Thank You all again for your continued support. We are so grateful for all of you in our lives who support us each and everyday

Until Next Time...Good Night

Laurie

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like WINTER!

ICE STORM TAKE 2?

Most of us woke up this morning to ice encrusted vehicles and streets still slick with ice!

After taking the better part of 40 minutes to start, thaw and scrape my car, I headed into work... a slick campus!

These were some of the sites that greeted me today upon my arrival to Assumption!

I got to work and it was like a ghost town. Most area schools had several hour delays. Delays mean that everyone with kids are not coming in until their kids can go to school. This was the reason for all the gloriously close parking spots!

Dad had called a few times this morning to let me know they were not going to let him out until Wednesday. He was pretty aggravated to say the least and he is feeling ok so he did not want to stay until Wednesday. He called Auntie Madaline and Uncle Ruedi and told them the news so we all just figured we would see how the rest of the week went.

Late this afternoon he called to see if I was able to pick him and Mom up because he was being sprung! The better explanation is that he convinced them he did not need to be there and that he was feeling fine and wanted to go home today. 

I drove into the city to get them. The in part was not so bad...The out part...different story!

The photo is blurry because he was practically running to get out of the hospital. Like the IKEA commercial says...START THE CAR!

He did pause for a millisecond to say goodbye and thank you to the nurses.

We all said our goodbyes to the staff and told them we hoped they would all have a very happy holiday, oh and, we didn't want to see them until next year!

Mom and Dad went to grab a bite to eat at Au Bon Pan and I went to fetch my vehicle. Anyone who has had the pleasure of driving in rush hour traffic in Boston knows that people just lose their minds. Just getting out of the garage and across the street to pick them up took 23 minutes!!!

 Getting out of pick up... so fun! People just decided to make a two way road, a one way, causing substantial grid lock!  The lunatics combined with annoying precipitation, which wasn't rain, but a fine mist that just coated your windows and obstructed your view constantly was fantastic! It took only a little less than two hours to get home.

When we got off the Pike in Millbury everything was dark. The power was out! Luckily, by the time we hit the Worcester line there was power. This gave us hope that we also had power. We were home for a little bit when the lights got really bright then the power surged a couple times. Brendan called us from the station and asked if we heard the loud bang. We did not, but, I guess whatever the bang was caused everyone from Oak Street to Route 20 to lose power. THANK GOD we are on this side of South Quinsig. My Dad and another gentleman, who is on an LVAD, both live on this side of the street so we did not have to worry about power loss.  Never before did losing power become something that was scary. Now that Dad depends on it to charge his batteries we have a generator that will sustain us in an emergency.

So far Dad is feeling fine...the visiting nurse will come tomorrow and check his levels just to make sure his levels remain consistant. Joe will be home this weekend which will be nice and he can meet his new niece for the first time! We are hoping against all odds that we do not end up back at the Brigham before Christmas. Only time will tell.

I am off to get some much needed sleep. It was a long day and an even longer weekend. I am looking forward to having a few days off for the holidays!

Thanks everyone for everything you do to keep us going. We could never do this without all of your support.

Until tomorrow.

Laurie

Another Day In the Neighborhood

Christmas in the Air

Before we were notified that Dad had to return to the hospital, we went and visited with the kids. Lilly and Kylie were very excited when I walked in with a big box of presents for them. My Auntie Phyllis Ann and Uncle Lee had sent a giant package from Alaska. It was filled to the gills with gifts for the girls. 

There was a microphone gift that made your voice sound like an elf! Now Lilly loves music and loves to sing. If anyone has missed the duet that Lilly and I do to "Defying Gravity" from the musical Wicked you don't know what you are missing :)

After a while I think the "concert" was getting to Julie. She didn't open her eyes she just covered them!!!

The girls are really loving their new baby sister Kylie even shared 

her new "Mouse" presents with Julie.

The girls got to open an extra special present too! Papa and Grammy had bought them the Lionel train set for the Polar Express! Lilly loves the movie almost as much as Papa and if they could watch it everyday they would! It even came with a special bell that Lilly hung on the Christmas tree. Lilly wanted to set it up right away.Two dogs and one little sister who likes to do everything Lilly does equals train in the box for now. She may have to wait a few days until a spot can be made where the little one and the dogs can't get to it. Not an easy task by any means. It was great to see how excited they were!

BACK AT THE OLE' BRIGHAM

30 minutes after we took all these photos was when the phone call came and our plans were changed. 

Today Dad's weight went up a bit and his numbers were still not exactly where they want them to be. The reason he is weighed so often is that if there is a fluctuation in weight, and it goes up, it means he is retaining more fluid. This was surprising to is because he didn't eat or drink anything for more than half the day yesterday. So they made some more med changes and on the day went. 

It was kind of gloomy outside today. It looked like winter :( We can see the LifeFlight Helicopter land on the building next door from Dad's room. 

We have been watching some of the free movies the hospital offers in the room. So far we watched Disney's "Brave", The adventures of Tin-Tin, and I watched the new Muppet movie this morning. We watched White Christmas Friday night and Dad watched it again Yesterday!

I talked to Auntie Madaline last night and she was telling me about a cute craft she was working on. I am looking forward to continuing my half finished crafts so I can get them done for Christmas. Uncle Ruedi and Auntie Madaline are coming to visit tomorrow.We are hoping that a miracle will happen overnight and his numbers will be ok and they will let him go home with Auntie and Uncle. He is feeling so good that he is having a hard time with them keeping him there. I know they would rather be safe than sorry but I can't blame him for wanting out.

...come ovah we got the tree. 

Everyone take your picture around the tree! 

It's such a nice tree :)

We were very lucky to have visitor today. The whole time we have been there this week we kept saying it wasn't as fun without Gabby and we missed having her here. When Cousin Mark and Vickie called and said they were going to visit, they kept that Gabby was coming a surprise. When Gabby came in with them we were so happy she was able to come too. It was a very nice surprise and almost felt like we had never left! 

Mark made Dad another "Stash of Italian Gold" and Dad was very happy to get them. Vickie made a nice fresh fruit salad and also me the cookies that I can eat, and that I love!  I have to discipline myself so the cookies last longer and I don't finish them in two days.....it is extremely difficult....and yes they are THAT good!

So another day has gone by and Dad still feels the same as when he came in. It is still concerning that when his numbers are that off  he is asymptomatic. We are just wondering why he has no symptoms and how will we know whether his numbers are good or bad? I am thinking we are going to need the visiting nurse again everyday for a while until they can get this straightened out.

Tomorrow is a new day. It's back to the daily grind for me which stinks because it's not where I feel I should be right now but Dad is in good hands and the nurses at Brigham and Women's are just so amazing. If you need anything they come, and if they can't because they are with another patient, they always send in someone to check on you and see if there is something they can do to help. Dad again seems to be the healthiest patient on the floor. There is one gentleman who has been there since Dad was there in October! He hasn't gone home yet :( His family is doing their best to keep his spirits up. They even have a full size Christmas tree in his room!

So keep your fingers and toes crossed that they let Dad out of there tomorrow so Auntie Madaline and Uncle Ruedi can spring him loose! 

Once again we are so grateful for all of the love, support, visits, calls, text messages, cards, rides, food and cannot thank you all enough for everything you have done for us. We are so happy and very lucky to have such a wonderful support system and we could not do any of this without you!

Until tomorrow,

Laurie

Ladies and Gentlemen Elvis is Back in The Building!

This blog post is being brought to you today by the people of Brigham and Women's who are keeping a close eye on Dad's numbers. 

We received a call Friday night as Mom and I were about to walk out the door to head to a Christmas party. It was the hospital calling to tell us they wanted Dad to the hospital STAT. Well that made everyone kind of freak out a little. He was just here on Wednesday and they said everything was fine! So we packed up all Dad's equipment (they wanted him to bring all his own gear this time) and piled in the car.

When we got here he was admitted about 10 minutes after we got through the door. That was kind of scary too. We had no answers and a lot of rushing.

Dad is back on the 7th floor and we have a few nurses that we had before and we were happy to see them again. We know he is being well taken care of.  Our view isn't all that bad. We can even see a few Christmas lights on trees outside :)

The odd thing is that Dad feels fine. His numbers as far as the LVAD were where they should be but they were concerned that clots could be forming because his blood was so thick. Last night they told us best case scenario they put him on high doses of blood thinners and it takes care of his blood levels and number and we get to go home Monday or Tuesday, the latest. Worst case scenario...they would have to replace the pump!!! Well that news was not well received by anyone.

Today Dad had an echocardiogram and last night we were told he may need an inter esophageal echocardiogram. This is where they go with a camera down the throat to get a better picture of what is going on. This procedure requires sedation so they put Dad on a no food order until further notice.

Mom and I went down to the cafeteria for breakfast so we wouldn't be eating in front of a hungry Dad. We stopped into the friendly neighborhood gift shop and were not disappointed :)

One should never be without, inflatable fruitcake, a rubber chicken ornament and an emergency Santa kit...with inflatable beard!

Dad jokingly told us to bring him back a Christmas tree...so I did! A little LED light Pop up tree :)

Around 1:30 we met with Dr. Stewart and a few other doctors. He said they would not be doing the inter esophageal echo and Dad could order lunch...he was already one step ahead of them for he had ordered lunch in anticipation of being able to eat!

They said his numbers were creeping up and that they would not know for sure when they could wean him off the Heprin drip and move him over to Coumadin. They keep checking his blood every few hours and they are monitoring his vitals 24/7. They are watching to see what changes take place in a 48 hour period. They are confident that due to the fact that he feels so good that he will be home for Christmas :) Thank goodness because we would hate to miss little miss Julie's first Christmas.

Mom and I took a few walks today to stretch our legs and get some food. They have a few trees up here decorated for Christmas. Between the halls and the gift shops at least there is some Christmas here. 

Dad even came for a long walk with us around the corridors. He can't leave the floor, but at least he can move around. What a difference from the last time we were here!!!

So I will keep the blog going again while Dad is here to keep everyone updated. Thank you all again for everything you have done and continue to do to move us along this journey. 

Please include the Connecticut families in your prayers tonight. They need all the support and prayers that anyone is willing to offer. The teachers are truly heroes who saved the lives of so many innocent children and some made the ultimate sacrifice.

Until tomorrow,

Laurie