General Hospital Days
January 24, 2007
In case I wasn't able to call you all, I thought I would do the easiest thing to keep everyone abreast on Deya's recovery. She came out of surgery at 6pm last night (only 4 hours longer than they had hoped) and they had a successful tricuspid mechanical valve replacement. While they were inserting the new valve they felt it was necessary to also give Deya a "demanding pacemaker" this basically means her heart will serve all its regular functions but if her heart rate gets too low or if it's not able to keep up with her activity level, the pacemaker will then kick in. She woke up this afternoon and is responsive. The doctor came by and said her new valve is working great and they are going to test the pacemaker once she becomes a little more active. But for now she is still VERY drugged and doesn't remember anything since they wheeled her into the pre-op. She will remain in ICU for as short a time as possible. They are estimating about 6-10 days, and then we will hopefully get to bring her straight home. She is resting right now, but she wanted me to tell everyone thank you for the well wishes and the prayers. I will try and keep everyone updated as she progresses. If there is anyone missing from this list please forward this along to all who might want to be kept up. We have had 2 or 3 people bring or send things to the hospital which we appreciate but keep in mind she is in isolation and so flowers and food is not allowed into her room. If anyone feels it necessary to send anything please send it to the house after we take her home and I will let you all know when that is of course.

January 25, 2007
Well I'm afraid our little patient had a tough day today. chest tubes came out and the pain medication is being lessened. She is having a hard time taking big deep breaths but she needs to because her lungs haven't fully opened yet. She sat up today which was great progress and this afternoon they are going to try and take for a long walk. When I say long, I mean about 10-15 steps, which seems like a long ways to Deya. She is MUCH more coherent today although she is still quite groggy and sluggish. The docs are doing a wonderful job and say she is moving along as expected. But in her words, "this isn't fun anymore." She is trying to sleep as much as possible because she is quite uncomfortable no matter how she is laying. A lot of the swelling is going down in her hands and face, and as soon as we get her up and moving the swelling in her legs and feet should go down. She is being a trooper and wanted me thanks you all again for your prayers and support.

January 26, 2007

Well today had its ups and its downs. The word from the doctors is, she is looking better and better each day. She was taken off of her morphine today which of course means a lot more pain and discomfort that she wasn't feeling before. She is still having a real hard time taking deep breaths and opening up her lungs which has resulted in some fluid settling in her lungs. And that fluid makes her cough which is very painful. It's a vicious circle, but if we can get her to grit through some pain and take some big deep breaths and open up her lungs all the way, she will be in much better shape. She went for another walk today. This time, all the way to the end of the hall and back (about 50ft each way!) the nurses were very proud of her. She still doesn't have much of an appetite. In her defense, the hospital food is about as appetizing as a bag of moose guts, but still, she could use a little more food in her system. All in all, I think she doing great. They are trying to cut her back to 2 naps a day (she was taking about 4 per day for the past 2 days). But she is having a real hard time staying awake. They think taking her off the morphine will help with that.

Thank you for all the wonderful cards we have received. Deya says hello to everyone and wants you all to know that I read all the emails to her each day and she says thank you for the support and love.

January 27, 2007

Well, another day goes by and Deya continues to improve. Today they removed her stitches that were in place after they took out her chest drainage tubes. She is still having a hard time eating much. The new painkillers she is on don't numb the pain nearly as much as the Morphine did so she doesn't get up much of an appetite when she is in a lot of discomfort. We got the results of the Echo Cardiogram they did yesterday and it showed some fluid in and around her lungs, so she is still having a hard time taking in deep breaths and her lungs have not yet fully opened, which is still our biggest concern. But she has been taking more and more walks to the end of the hall and back. (Her going record is down and back 3 times! she was really exhausted afterwards.) She has been sitting in her big comfy chair for much longer intervals (about 1-1 1/2 hours, 3 or 4 times a day) the rest of the time she spends resting in bed. She has an easier time breathing when she is sitting up in the chair but she gets very dizzy and nauseous after about an hour and a half, so she needs to lie down again. I think she is making improvements more and more each day. The doctors are confident that by the time they get her blood thinning medication sorted out (in about 3 - 5 days) she should be ready to come home. So lets keep our fingers crossed.

Thanks again for all the support and all the responses. One of Deya's favorite parts of the day is hearing all the emails that have come in, so thanks everybody!!

January 28, 2007

Well, I am sad to report we had a very tough day today. Probably the worst one yet. Deya woke up very early and felt quite sick. She called for the nurse and began vomiting, which was more than painful. She had 3 more vomiting spells which brought on some serious conversings among doctors. They decided it was the OxyCodone, which is the primary pain killer in Deya's pain cocktail. Which, unfortunately means, Deya's pain medication now consists of only Tylenol and Ibuprofen. That being said, she is being a REAL trooper. She decided the vomiting was more pain than the OxyCodone would take away so she is ok with the weak pain pills for now. Her chest x-ray looked much better today and there is even talk of sending her home tomorrow, if they can get her blood thinner levels figured out by then. lets keep our fingers crossed. This evening Deya is still quite uncomfortable but she is ok as long as she is distracted (yay Disney Channel!). I'm very proud of her, and am learning she is stronger than I ever knew.

Thanks again for all the wonderful replies and hopefully I will be telling you all she is going home next time.

January 29, 2007

Well..... I come bearing good news. Deya is coming home!! After careful review of her chest x-rays and heart echo's, the doctors decided she is fit to come home. She will be going back for many checkups in the next 2 weeks and months to come but at least she will hang out at home in the mean time. Today they interrogated her pacemaker (which means they stick a radio device on top of the pacemaker and it sends a report as to how much it has been used. So far she has used the pacemaker less than 1% of the time, which is a great sign and means her new valve is working perfectly. Of course when she gets more activity in her daily routine and her heart rate gets higher, she might use it some more, but for now, her heart is functioning wonderfully. Her chest incision is still giving her a LOT of grief mainly due to all the internal bruising in her ribcage and surrounding area. But that is completely normal, in open heart surgery. unfortunately, the best we can do for pain medication is over the counter Tylenol and ibuprofen. She also still has some coughing fits from some left over fluid in her lungs, which are not very pleasant. But other than that she is starting to return to herself. She's cracking the very occasional joke and she is getting a little sassiness back in her. (apparently the doctors couldn't remove that.) But we look forward to her getting better and better at home.

We can't thank you all enough for your prayers and support. We still have 8-10 more weeks until a mostly full recovery is complete but I think the 'scary' part is over. for me at least. Now the 'fun' part begins, but with a little patience and hard work, she'll be back to her old self before we know it.