Successful Surgery

After a Long Wait Dad Had The Defib Pacemaker Removed Today

When I left last night Dad didn't look all that good. He was back in the narcoleptic sleep pattern and he ate next to nothing for dinner.

My cousins offered to come and get me or drive back to Shrewsbury with me to grab my stuff. I was ok and just wanted to get home quick so I could drive back to their house in Watertown to stay overnight. Megan works close by and offered to drive me back and forth to the hospital so I could leave my car at her house. My cousin's 3 and 1/2 year old was up when I got up so we were able to play while Megan got ready for work. She wanted me to "stay and play while Mom and Dad go to work" but I told her I had to go and see my Mom and Dad so she was ok with that :)

Mom sent me a text that said Dad was being taken down at 7:30 but don't rush because they were a little behind.  Megan drove me in and I met Mom in the Cafe. We had breakfast and then walked, and walked. They called at 9:45 to say Dad was all set and in recovery. The surgery went well and everything went as planned. We figured it would be about a half hour before e came back up to the room so we played a game of Scrabble on the iPad. 

I won by the way :)

We went back to the room and waited...

and waited....and waited...and waited

Until the IV nurse came in to change hi IV and he wasn't there. She was very surprised he wasn't back yet. She went to check with a nurse but the nurse had gone down with Dad so there was no nurse for him on the floor. 

Almost three hours after they called he came back to the room!

He looked good, in fact better than he had yesterday and the day before that so that was a good sign. His BP was good and his LVAD numbers were good. Kidney function is still not where they want it but it was only.1 higher than the day before. They figured that was ok for now. They had a huge pressure bandage on his incision site. He seemed in good spirits and ate a jello right away. He was hungry which was great!

His WBC ( White Blood Cell ) Count was 16 down from 20 yesterday which is great! Normal is between 6-10 but he had gone from a 9 to a 20 in one day which is why this surgery became critical  today. They were able to bump someone and get him in right away this morning which was great. 

Unfortunately his kidneys seem to be at a plateau. They thought because he was progressing through last week that the trend would continue. Turns out that is not the case. They are going to do a kidney biopsy later this week :(  Depending on what they find this is what will happen:

If the kidneys look ok and seem to be just struggling a bit they will put him on steroids to try and improve their function. The reason they haven't done this thus far is because of the infection. If they can clear the infection put him on steroids and he improves then we have hit a walk off homer! 

If they think the kidneys are beyond the point of recovery then they will have to list him for a Kidney and Heart Transplant :( 

This was not exactly what we had hoped for. After the doctor left I went and got a  gluten free chocolate cupcake from the cafe. At this point YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE SO EAT CHOCOLATE!

I did manage to swing into the friendly neighborhood gift shop even though Mom makes fun of me for "shopping" there everyday. I told her there are things I may have missed yesterday so I had to check it out. Well I was right!

I did not see this GROW-A-GEEK yesterday,

SO THERE YOU GO!

Megan was nice enough to come get me at 3 so I could go back to her house to get my car and go to work. Auntie Judy and Uncle Ronnie were there babysitting and they said they were going to head into the hospital to say hi and try and take Mom out for a bite to eat.  

I jumped in the car and headed for work. Driving through Watertown it's hard to imagine what happened a few months ago happened in this area. It's such a nice area. It's awful that terror visited here. Thank God the good people of Watertown came out of that experience stronger than ever!

Well that's all the news fit to print today. I am heading back in tomorrow after my sports med/therapy appointment to work on my back and hip more.  It's getting there slowly but surely!

Thanks to everyone who has helped and continues to help and to everyone who offers to help out. Just knowing people are a phone call away is amazing! The cards, calls and visits are great and Dad really appreciates it. 

Until Tomorrow,

Laurie