Angie & Jim

Looking Goodby Jim

After an uncomfortable night sleeping on a couch in the atrium, I’m back in the ICU with Angie.  They don’t let visitors in until 10, so I had to exercise some patience (no pun intended), but when I came in I got some great news.  The nurses took her off the Milrinone about 30 minutes before I came in and they shut off her Phenylephrine a few minutes after I came in.  Those two drugs were the ones that were keeping her in the ICU.  They were given to her to help her heart be stable, but she’s done fine without them so far.

Last time she was on the Milrinone, they had to ween her off because it was a heart surgery and her heart really needed it.  This time, it was just a precaution.  So, things are looking up.  They want to watch her for 3 hours after taking her off the Milrinone to make sure she can handle it and then we’ll be waiting for a room on the floor.

Once we’re on the floor, the focus will be on getting the catheter our and the pain under control.  She’s still got the catheter in her back, which means she can’t get up and move around.  After she’s moved to a room, they plan on stopping the catheter meds and giving her oral instead.  Once they are sure the catheter drugs have worn off and the pain is under control with just the oral meds, they can take the catheter out.  Once it is out, Angie can (finally) move around.  We’re hoping that is where will be by the end of the day.  If so, Angie will get to come home tomorrow, which is definitely our goal!

Keep her in your prayers!

Another updateby Jim

I just left the ICU.  The nurses were nice and let me stay an hour past the time visitors normally have to leave.  Angie is doing well, and should be trying to get some sleep by now.  I decided to stay here at Stanford tonight so that I can be near Angie.  They won’t let me stay in the room, but I’ll curl up on a couch here in the atrium and hopefully get some sleep.  I’m not allowed back in to the ICU until 10, but I’ll be close by in any case.

So it looks like she’ll be here for a couple of days, which she isn’t excited about, but at least they’re talking like she’ll be moved to a regular room sometime tomorrow.  She’s playing the Milrinone game again, which is why (I think) they are monitoring her in the ICU.  They can’t let her out until she’s off the Milrinone, which can be a slow process.  It is helping to strengthen her heart, but it can have adverse side effects, so they want to keep an eye on her in the ICU.  So, please keep her in your prayers tonight and tomorrow.

Out of recovery and into the ICUby Jim

I just got back from visiting Angie in the ICU.  I can’t use WiFi in there, so I have to post out in the visitor waiting area.  Angie is in good spirits and seems to be just fine.  Everyone has told us the procedure went very well.  Dr. Jackson (Angie’s anesthesiologist), said it went “perfectly, beautifully, better than I could have imagined”.  And currently, she’s got “the best nurse” (according to the nurse next door).

The visiting hours are a little strange.  I guess you can visit on the even hours for 30 minutes without checking into the front desk.  I asked the nurse, Kim, and she said it should be quiet back in Angie’s room and that she is fine if I hang around.  I don’t know if I can stay the night in the ICU, like I could at Primary Children’s.

Well, I’m going to grab a bite to eat and head back to the ICU.

Update from the Surgeonby Jim

Angie’s surgeon (Dr. Jacobsen, I think) just finished talking to me. She said everything went fine. They didn’t start until about 10, so that is why I haven’t heard anything until now. The surgery was successful. When they first made the incision, there was some fluid they were concerned about, so they’ve sent it off to be tested. One of the cysts did have a rupture, so it is likely that the fluid is just from that, so they aren’t too worried.

She’s got her epidural in and it will probably stay in for the next few days. The doctor said typically patients have the epidural in for 3 days, 4 at the most. They’ll be moving her to the ICU in the next couple hours. (Right now she is in Recovery.) There isn’t anything wrong, they just want to send her to the ICU so that she has a nurse assigned to just her. They told us this plan before we even started. They would have sent her straight to the ICU, but (as usual) they are waiting for a bed to open up. I won’t be able to see Angie until she moves to the ICU.

So, it looks like we’ll be here for a few days. I plan on going back to work so I don’t burn up all my sick leave, but I’ll stay with Angie as much as I can. My parents are (conveniently) in town, so my mom will be helping out with the vigil.

The surgery is doneby Jim

I was just told that the surgery is done and Angie should be going to the ICU any time now. In the meantime, I’ve installed a new plugin so that users just like you can get email notifications when I post new updates on the blog.

If any of you are interested,

• Find the Meta section on the side bar (it should be at the bottom) and select “Register”.
• Sign up for an account with a username and valid password. You’ll be sent a randomly generated password to your inbox.
• Check your email, copy the password to your clipboard, come back to the site and log in.
• Next, you will be prompted to set up your profile.
• When you are logged in, you will see a section at the top called “Subscriptions”. If you don’t see it, try clicking on “Site Admin” under Meta and then click on “Profile”. Click “Subscriptions” and then select the categories you’d like to receive updates for.

I will be using the “Hospital Update” category for the up-to-the-minute updates while we’re here in the hospital, so if that is all you would like to be notified about, click the checkbox and hit update. Feel free to subscribe to any of the other categories.

If you’d rather not create an account and all, just use the Email Subscription box on the side.  The advantage is you don’t have to create an account.  The disadvantage, you can’t select any category for what notices you get, you just get them all.  In all honesty, there won’t be anything besides hospital updates for the next few days, so that’d be fine.  You can always unsubscribe when everything is done (but then you wouldn’t get an email for any future hospitalizations, etc.).

Also, just FYI, I think you can leave a comment without it being moderated if you sign up for an account.

So what are you waiting for?  Sign up already!

Enjoy!

Time for another surgeryby Jim

I’m here at Stanford hospital waiting for Angie’s surgery to be finished. They wanted us here at 5:30 this morning, and it is an hour drive to get here (to the minute according to the GPS), so we had to wake up super early. We arrived only a few minutes late. There wasn’t traffic, but I was still surprised how many cars were on the road.

Checking in went fine and they let me go back with her until she left for the O.R.. They actually moved her surgery to the cardiac O.R. so they could take all the time they wanted. They’ve got the room booked the entire day. She was scheduled for 7:30 in the regular O.R., but they wanted to have plenty of time to do pacemaker stuff and whatnot. Unfortunately, that means I don’t know when it will be done (or when it started for that matter). I assume by now they’ve already begun.

We were told they hope the procedure will take no more than 2 hours. They are going to do some exploration first to see what is going on and then based on that, they’ll remove the cyst(s). Anything else that has to go will also be removed at their discretion. Angie’s got her iPod with her and a CD of meditation and relaxing music prescribed to her for the surgery. I guess they’re doing this new thing for patients to help them relax. She’s not being put to sleep, so hopefully the recovery will go faster. She’ll be pretty happy with all the drugs they’ll give her, so she should be just fine.

As this is our first time at an “adult” hospital, we were a little apprehensive about our experience. So far, I’ve been really impressed with the professionalism and the sensitivity of the doctors, nurses, and staff here. I was worried the service would be really good, but that they wouldn’t care as much about feelings and emotions and the other parts of healing that Primary Children’s is so good at. Well, this is a world-class hospital for good reason, it seems.

I will keep you posted as the day goes on, so keep checking in!

(Leave comments on this and subsequent posts for Angie to read.)