Angie & Jim

Follow-upby Jim

We just got back from the hospital and Angie’s follow-up appointment.  I dropped her off and she went in to get her labs drawn and chest x-ray.  After that, we went upstairs to see the doctor.  They started with vitals and an EKG.  The EKG was a little hard to read because Angie’s heart rate was a little high, so the doctor wanted Angie to go have her pacemaker interrogated at the children’s hospital across the street.  They showed us the x-ray and her lungs look much better.  The fluid is nearly all gone, thanks to the increased diuretic Angie has been on.  Because the image looked so good, they decided to dial down her dosage, which we’re grateful for.  Before we left, Dr. Lui talked to us about a new drug he’d like to put Angie on.  It is a vasodialator that should help with her pulmonary pressure.  That will (hopefully) decrease the fluid build-up and a nice side effect is increased oxygen saturation levels.  There are risks, as with any medication, so we went over those.  He’s very hopeful that this drug will really help Angie get back to normal.

After our chat, we walked over to Lucile Packard’s and did the interrogation.  Being a children’s hospital, the pacemaker interrogator has a little turtle covering.  It’s very cute.  We were thrilled to find out that Angie is not in arrhythmia!  Hooray!  She did have an episode of arrhythmia a few days ago, but it lasted only 11 seconds, so it didn’t worry them too much.  If it keeps recurring, I’m sure it will worry them, but for today, she’s in great shape.  With that great news, they bid us goodbye and let us go to fight commuter traffic on our way home.

We are also very excited to hear that my sister-in-law, Kelly, is cancer-free!  She went in for surgery last week and today we learned that the doctors found no trace of cancer in her body.  We’re so happy for you, Kelly!

We were so excited about the news of the day that we decided to celebrate by going to Angie’s favorite restaurant in Livermore, which is right of the freeway on the way home.  Thank you all for your love, support, prayers, good thoughts, words of encouragement, and everything you’ve done to help us over the last few months.  We couldn’t have gotten through without you!

Going Homeby Jim

We just received our discharge instructions and I’m walking out to get the car now.  Angie was a little slow waking up, so they kept her in recovery longer than usual.  We’re quite happy wet get to go home tonight.  We have a return checkup on Monday to make sure everything is still okay.  Thanks for your love and support today!

All Doneby Jim

The doctors just finished chatting with me and Angie is all done.  The cardioversion went fine; they pumped 100 Joules through her chest.  It worked on the first try, otherwise they’d have cranked it up to 200.  I asked the electrophysiologist how many volts that works out to be, but he didn’t know.  He showed me the impedance from the printout and was curious to know if I could work it out.  Unfortunately, he didn’t tell me how long the pulse was, so I can’t figure it out yet.  I’ll try and ask for it later.

The transesophogeal echocardiogram didn’t find any clots, including the one they saw a month ago, which is great news.  They did, however, see a pleural effusion in her lung.  This is most likely the same effusion that she’s had since our last stay.  The bad news is that it hasn’t dissolved on its own.  I don’t think it will be a big deal, but they ordered a chest x-ray just to make sure.

The other good news is the doctors said they intend on sending her home tonight!  I was glad to hear that.  She’s recovering right now.  I’ll try and post again after I’ve seen her.  I don’t know how long they’ll want to observe her here at the hospital, but I’m sure we’ll end up having to fight traffic again on our way home 😉

The Procedureby Jim

They’ve taken her back to get started.  It should be a quick one.

Back at the Hospitalby Jim

We’re back at Stanford for the cardioversion.  We were supposed to check in at 9, so we got up early and braved the commuter traffic this morning.  We made good time and arrived a bit early.  It is really hard to gauge what it will be likein the mornings.

So, today’s schedule includes a transesophogeal echocardiogram to check for clots and then a cardioversion (electric shock to get the heart out off arrhythmia).  Normally this is just a same-day procedure, but with Angie’s history I anticipate that we’ll be staying for observation for at least a day, maybe two.

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Thanks!

Infusion & Check Upby Jim

We’re here at Stanford for our weekly appointment and for an iron infusion.  Dr. Romfh decided she wanted Angie to get an infusion of iron because she thinks Angie’s iron is low because she isn’t absorbing it.  So, since we were coming out to Palo Alto anyway, we just came several hours earlier (and had to fight commuter traffic).  A regular iron infusion lasts 4 hours, so we’ve got a long day ahead of us.  Since Angie has had such bad luck with IVs over the last few weeks, we requested the crisis nurse right away.  While we wait for the crisis nurse, they always put your arms on heat to open the veins.  The crisis nurse arrived in a few minutes and got the IV in on the first try.  Phew!

They have nice comfy reclining chairs here for the patients because they have to sit for so long.  We brought a good book and plenty of things to keep her entertained, so hopefully it will be (somewhat) relaxing.

This afternoon we’ve got an appointment with Angie’s cardiologist.  We’ve also got an X-ray and blood work scheduled.  We’ll probably be done just in time for rush hour on our drive home.

On our way homeby Jim

Yeah!  It’s official.