Again your nestie dust and prayers are so appreciated. I can not thank you enough. This is all very overwhelming for me and watching my husband in so much pain is heartwrenching. Our one year anniversary is next month. I guess if we can get through this in our first year of marriage we will be able to get through anything!
Since surgery, the one thing we don't seem to have any concerns with is
the heart. The heart surgeon, has come and seen him several
times and he keeps saying that everything sounds good. Another cardiologist who Michael has history with, has also came and
seen him and he too believes Michael's heart is doing just fine. They
started him back on his flecanide medication, one that Michael has
taken for years, to watch out for the arrhythmia to make sure
everything is ok. Apparently some time last night, Michael did have
some arrhythmia with his heart for the first time post surgery, but it
was small and must not have been that bad because Michael never noticed
and never said anything about it. The cardiologist said that was normal and
we still needed to give the flecanide more time to work.
Every since Michael came out of surgery, we have been monitoring his
blood pressure. It has been really low and is still somewhat of a
concern. Since yesterday afternoon it is steadily a little higher but
still not where it should be. Every now and then though, we will get a
read on it and it will be a really good blood pressure rate. So,
there's hope it is going back up. We just need it to get up and stay
up.
Another thing we have been dealing with is Mike's bladder. His
catheter was taken out yesterday afternoon because he seemed to be
putting out enough fluids. Since then, he has not been able to urinate
on his own for some reason. Last night around midnight, the nurse had
to put in a temporary catheter where they put it in, drain his bladder,
and then pull it back out. They also did some tests to try and figure
out what is going on. It seems that his kidneys are functioning great
and his bladder is filling like it is supposed to. Right now, his
bladder is just not working well enough and making him urinate like he
is supposed to. We are waiting for the surgeon to come assess him and he
may tell them to give Michael a dieretic medicine that will hopefully
help him be able to go to the bathroom on his own again. Worst case
scenario, if something doesn't start working right soon, he may have to
get the real catheter put back in. We pray that does not have to
happen. Michael is really frustrated and upset by that and for him the
catheter causes a lot of pain. So as silly as this sounds, pray that
the boy can pee on his own!! :-)
After a rough night dealing with the catheter issue, Michael is feeling
really weak and nauseated. They took his temperature this morning and
it is at 100.2 degrees. The cardiologist came in and he believes that the
fever is not caused by an infection (which is great) but rather caused
by the fact that his lungs may be trying to collapse (obviously, not so
great). He has a breathing thing that he is supposed to be doing 10
breath things every 2 hours. We decided his lungs are not going to
collapse and he is going to fight off his fever so we are making him do
the breath thing 3 times every 15 minutes. We really want him to make
his heart and lungs work so that it makes them both stronger. (PS: I
don't remember the medical term for "the breathing thing" I am
referring to. Basically he blows air in to this tube, holds his breath
for 5 seconds, and then releases the air. This causes him to take
really deep breaths, forcing his lungs to work and expand like they are
supposed to. The reason for this is because during the surgery, they
collapse his lungs in order to work on his heart.)
Today they were supposed to make Michael get out of bed and walk around
the unit but due to the low blood pressure they aren't going to. We
really need his blood pressure up. If it doesn't come up, he can't get
up and walk around, which in turn won't make his heart work and get
stronger like we want.
I feel like I'm being needy, but any more spare dust and prayers you have lying around are still appreciated!
Re: Another update
Oh my gosh, do NOT worry about being needy! This is such a tough and mentally exhausting time for you, nobody is going to begrudge you good thoughts and well wishes.
Best of luck, my thoughts are with you!
Sometimes I pin stuff
Rarely Updated Blog