Angie & Jim

Gameplanby Jim

I’m sorry but it seems like the post I wrote last night didn’t get published properly until just now.  Let me catch you up on the latest from the doctors.  They’ve decided not to do the transesophageal echocardiogram and cardioversion today.  The rationale is (I believe) that the risk of going home while in arrhythmia is that the fluid build-up could get worse, but they trust us to pay close attention to Angie’s weight and fluid intake/output.  We may go home and have to come back in within a couple days, but if things continue as they have the last couple days, we should be good.  They want to keep her here for another day or two while they figure out the right balance of diuretic medication to get the fluid retention to a safe level (not too dry, not too wet).  They also want to give the medication a chance to cardiovert her chemically.  Everyone recognizes that it is a very slim chance, but it has been known to happen.

So, when we go home our main objectives will be to monitor Angie’s fluid build-up & breathing and to keep her anti-coagulated to dissolve any clot that may have formed in her atrium and the clot that is in her ventricle.  We’ll also have her on her Sotalol, the medicine for the arrhythmia, which might cardiovert her chemically, but if not, when we come back in a couple weeks the drug will help her stay out of arrhythmia.  There is always a chance after a cardioversion that you’ll get right back into bad rhythms.

Well, I have to hurry off to breakfast before they stop serving it.  Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!