Angie & Jim

The balancing actby Jim

Angie has been home a few days now and her mom, Pam, flew in yesterday to help out.  Not long after arriving home on Friday I went to the pharmacy to pick up all the prescriptions for the next few weeks.  I felt like we could open up our own little pharmacy with all the bottles I brought home.

So now the game is a balancing act to keep the pain under control without taking too many drugs.  It is a difficult moving target to hit all the time, but we’re doing our best.  Thank you all for your love and support, it really does mean a lot to us.

The papers are being processedby Jim

They are working on the discharge papers.  We’ll be going soon!

Angie’s IVsby Jim

Angie’s IV in her arm had to come out, but her two IVs in her feet are (surprisingly) still good.  She thought it was a little funny that she woke up with one in each foot.  She asked me to take a picture, so here it is.

Another device checkby Jim

Allysonne is here doing another pacer check with Angie.  We don’t get a turtle or blue bird now that we’re on the “adult” side, but that’s okay.  I showed Allysonne the picture I took yesterday and she loved it.  The device check is unfortunately rather uncomfortable.  They look at the history stored on the device, but then they also test some thresholds.  This is the uncomfortable part.  The only way to test the limits is to literally stop her heart.  They test the rate and the capture voltage by lower it until it stops.  It usually makes Angie a little queasy, but it is a necessity.  It was during a pacemaker interrogation on Monday that they discovered that she needed a new lead and this whole surgery happened.

The latest news is that we’ll go home today.  So far no one has said that we won’t, but they always use the word, “might”.  I imagine they are quite cautious in what they say, so if they are saying, “you might go home today,” they really mean, “you will probably go home today.”  How awful it would be to hear, “you might go home” all day and then say, “well, you’re not ready, so you’re staying here.”  I’m sure they avoid doing that.  Anyway, thanks for all your prayers and support!  Hopefully my next post will be from home!

Back to the “adult” sideby Jim

Angie has been moved to the adult side of the hospital.  We’re in or room and I’ve been spoon feeding Angie her turkey sandwich.  They don’t have any forks and the sandwich is too big for her to hold.

Angie’s migraine started to come back right before we left the ICU, but it seems to be under control again.  She’s walked a bit and is doing much better now that there is solid food in her stomach.

Another updateby Jim

So a few more things: Angie’s arterial line and chest tubes are already out.  She’s had an xray that looked great and Deb is here testing her pacemaker.  I’ve attached a picture of the communication unit that she used to talk to the pacer.  She’s also got a turtle, but he’s getting a little ratty.  I love being in a children’s hospital 🙂

Sad news and good newsby Jim

Well, I may have had a good night last night, but Angie had a rough night.  I got in and had to quickly find her migraine medicine from her purse (that I had taken with me for safe keeping).  All night she was too warm and just generally uncomfortable.  To compound the issue, our little “roommate” in the bed next door (who shares a nurse with us) had a rough night too, so the nurse spent most of her time tending to the baby.  After taking her tried and true Exedrin/Alka seltzer combo, the migraine is now under control.

The surgeon just stopped by while I was posting and said they want to take the chest tube out today (yeah!) and that if things continue to go well we might leave tomorrow.  Here’s hoping.