Angie & Jim

Update from the surgeonby Jim

I just spoke with Dr. Maeda and he said they were able to find a good spot for the new lead, but that it was hard to find.  There isn’t much unscarred tissue left.  I knew it would be problematic before they started because I remember hearing the exact same comment the last time she got a new lead. 

The good newa is that they’ve already removed the breathing tube she’ll wake up without a tube down her throat.  I can’t imagine how uncomfortable that is.  It is usually her least favorite part of surgeries.  The grogginess usually just makes it worse.  They told us they wouldn’t extubate until tonight, so she went under expecting to wake up with it still in.  Ugh.

I can go see her in about 25 minutes.  I’ll post again after I see her.

Surgery completeby Jim

The monitor in the waiting room has just indicated that the surgery is complete.  I haven’t heard any news yet, just that it is done.

Looking for the best spotby Jim

Candice just came by and said that the surgery has been going along just fine so far.  Right now they are trying to find a good spot for the new lead.  They are having a hard time finding the best spot, so it is going to take a bit longer.  This was not unexpected, so they scheduled 4 hours for the surgery, but hopefully it won’t take quite that long.

Another day, another surgeryby Jim

I’m here at Lucile Packard’s Children’s Hospital.  Monday, Angie was at her regular 6 mo. checkup appointment and they were testing her pacemaker and were surprised that her capture voltage has dramatically changed over the last six months.  After a little consulting among the doctors, they asked Angie if she could come back the next day for surgery to replace her ventricular lead.  We were a little surprised by the news.  As it turned out, the surgeon they wanted couldn’t perform the surgery until Thursday, but yesterday they called us and said, “Dr. Maeda has had something come up on Thursday, can you come in tomorrow instead?”  So, we got up at 5 am and drove down to Palo Alto.

It is interesting being back in a children’s hospital.  I’ve already been called Dad by two different nurses.  I like it 🙂  I stopped trying to correct them back at Primary Children’s because I found it kind of endearing.  When we came here to California, they had us start going to the adult hospital for Angie’s regular visits and surgeries.  At first, I was a little sad because we were used to the extra attention and friendliness of a children’s hospital.  After a few years, though, I got used to it.  So it is very different coming back to this environment.

In actuality, Angie’s done very well lately.  In fact, I think she’s set a record for how long she’s gone without a surgery in our married life.  I think her last surgery was in Oct of 2010 when she got her pacer replaced.

Thank you all for your support and love and prayers.  I will keep you posted with updates throughout the day.  If you want to get emails whenever I post, please register and subscribe to the Medical News and Hospital Updates tags to get notified when I post.

Another Updateby Jim

So, I didn’t realize that the 6 hours of bed rest was in the recovery room and in the recovery room there are no visitors.  The surgeon failed to mention that.  So here I am waiting in the waiting room while Angie recovers.  I just got off the phone with her and she’s doing fine.  She’s slept mostly (because there is nothing else to do when you’re required to lay flat and not move).  I had her glasses and a book she brought with us brought to her so she could have something to do.  I’ve been told that she can be discharged at 8 pm, so I’ve just got 2 more hours.

I have a new appreciation for Netflix and WiFi in hospitals.

All Doneby Jim

Well, that was faster than I thought.  Dr. Al-Ahmad just finished chatting with me.  He told me that the procedure went just fine.  They used the pacing catheter for just 2 or 3 minutes and that the old pacer “came out just fine”.  He also explained that they opted for a slightly different type of pacer this time that has a longer battery life instead of one that “has more algorithms”.  I thought that was a strange way of describing it, but he explained that the pacemaker they removed was the typical anti-tachycardia pacer that has a bunch of algorithms for pacing her heart down when/if she gets fibrillation in her heart.  Since she hasn’t needed those algorithms, he felt it best to get a pacer with “fewer algorithms” but with longer battery life.  I guess they replace the memory unit that contains the code with a larger battery.  Makes enough sense, I guess.

So, now I wait for them to let me see her and we wait for her 4-6 hours of bed rest before we can go home.  The surgeon said that she can go home tonight if she is feeling up to it and everything goes well this evening.  I know Angie will want (very badly) to go home tonight, so let’s hope the next few hours go well.