Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Sunday, March 16, 2014
It All Started With a Cough
Ask me anything about aortic valve replacements. I know it all. Not enough to do one, of course, but enough.
So Jay had been sick. Not debilitated, exactly, but sick. His back finally healed in mid-January and then he started actually feeling worse. Achy, coughing, fever. Assuming it was just a virus he tried to wait it out but just didn't feel better. He went to his doctor, who thank heavens was very aggressive and proactive with his response - he assumed it was a virus but did some tests to rule a few things out. Surprise! He found something called endocarditis, an infection that attacks the heart. Jay went on IV antibiotics and had a few tests run to check his heart heart function. Those tests showed that he had something called a Bicuspid Aortic Valve, which is a fairly common congenital heart condition. His valve obviously worked fine up until now - he is 47 and never had a hint of a heart issue. But the endocarditis attacked his valve and damaged it, causing blood to back flow into Jay's heart.
We met with an infectious disease doctor and a heart surgeon, both of whom told us that Jay needed surgery to replace his valve sooner rather than later. He felt OK (the antibiotics did a good job) so we originally thought that we would do the surgery around April 1st. A series of circumstances (the surgeon being out of town and Jay realizing he didn't really want this hanging over his head for a month) led to scheduling it for Tuesday, March 18th.
Unfortunately, Jay was getting worse. He developed a terrible cough and his shortness of breath got worse. He tried Lasix to ease his breathing problem and it helped, but not before causing him to break out in hives. He was a mess. He was trying to work and was just not getting better at all.
On March 10th Jay went to his GP because he was not sleeping and his breathing was labored. His doctor took a chest xray, called Jay's surgeon and said, "you've got to replace his valve now." His lungs had fluid in them. Basically he was going into heart failure. So we drove down to Salt Lake on Monday night. After Jay was admitted the PA said they'd probably do surgery Wed or Thurs to give his lungs a chance to clear. But then they did an echo of his heart which showed his valve was flapping around and not doing anything. His surgeon decided at 11:30 at night to put Jay on the schedule for the next morning.
On Tuesday, March 11th Jay had open heart surgery. It went well. His lungs weren't in great shape which caused him to stay on the ventilator longer than normal and his right lung to collapse, but his heart was good as new. Better than new, actually, because this valve is not only not infected it is correctly formed. He was in ICU until Thursday morning. He slowly is becoming more disconnected to the hospital. As of tonight (Sunday, March 16th) he only has a chest tube and some pacing wires to remove. The pacing wires are put in just in case they need to regulate your heart's rhythm with a temporary pacemaker, which they didn't have to do with Jay. His chest tube is still draining fluid from his chest - they don't take it out until you are draining less than a certain amount. It's a pain but better to stay until they are sure he is fine and ready to be released. The last thing you want is to leave too early and have to be readmitted with pneumonia. So we're fine waiting.
Going forward, Jay just needs to recover from surgery. He will be off work for a few weeks but will probably start working from home a bit. The hardest part is that he can't drive for six weeks. Sigh. Luckily Jay works about 10 minutes from home so it won't be too bad. The driving part isn't because they think you will faint or anything - it's that your chest wall and rib cage need time to fully heal before you try to support a steering well. It's fine - he'll be well so that's all we care about. He has to start the clock over on his IV antibiotics as well. Once he comes home he'll do 5 more weeks of daily antibiotics through his PICC line. He already knows the drill so it's not a big deal to do and they deliver all the medicine and supplies right to our door so it's easy. Once that is over, he should be good. He'll have a yearly echocardiogram with our new favorite doctor, Dr. William Caine of the Intermountain Heart Institute.
For the record we can't say enough good things about Intermountain Medical Center and the Heart/Lung Center. The staff is amazing and we are really happy with the care Jay has received. It is amazing to us that people are trained and can fix problems like Jay had. We are incredibly grateful that we had such a good outcome and to all of the people who took such good care of Jay.
Talk to me in a month however. I may be good and sick of driving him around by then. If you see Jay catching a bus to work, you'll know that we the chauffeur hat didn't fit me as well as I would like.
So Jay had been sick. Not debilitated, exactly, but sick. His back finally healed in mid-January and then he started actually feeling worse. Achy, coughing, fever. Assuming it was just a virus he tried to wait it out but just didn't feel better. He went to his doctor, who thank heavens was very aggressive and proactive with his response - he assumed it was a virus but did some tests to rule a few things out. Surprise! He found something called endocarditis, an infection that attacks the heart. Jay went on IV antibiotics and had a few tests run to check his heart heart function. Those tests showed that he had something called a Bicuspid Aortic Valve, which is a fairly common congenital heart condition. His valve obviously worked fine up until now - he is 47 and never had a hint of a heart issue. But the endocarditis attacked his valve and damaged it, causing blood to back flow into Jay's heart.
We met with an infectious disease doctor and a heart surgeon, both of whom told us that Jay needed surgery to replace his valve sooner rather than later. He felt OK (the antibiotics did a good job) so we originally thought that we would do the surgery around April 1st. A series of circumstances (the surgeon being out of town and Jay realizing he didn't really want this hanging over his head for a month) led to scheduling it for Tuesday, March 18th.
Unfortunately, Jay was getting worse. He developed a terrible cough and his shortness of breath got worse. He tried Lasix to ease his breathing problem and it helped, but not before causing him to break out in hives. He was a mess. He was trying to work and was just not getting better at all.
On March 10th Jay went to his GP because he was not sleeping and his breathing was labored. His doctor took a chest xray, called Jay's surgeon and said, "you've got to replace his valve now." His lungs had fluid in them. Basically he was going into heart failure. So we drove down to Salt Lake on Monday night. After Jay was admitted the PA said they'd probably do surgery Wed or Thurs to give his lungs a chance to clear. But then they did an echo of his heart which showed his valve was flapping around and not doing anything. His surgeon decided at 11:30 at night to put Jay on the schedule for the next morning.
On Tuesday, March 11th Jay had open heart surgery. It went well. His lungs weren't in great shape which caused him to stay on the ventilator longer than normal and his right lung to collapse, but his heart was good as new. Better than new, actually, because this valve is not only not infected it is correctly formed. He was in ICU until Thursday morning. He slowly is becoming more disconnected to the hospital. As of tonight (Sunday, March 16th) he only has a chest tube and some pacing wires to remove. The pacing wires are put in just in case they need to regulate your heart's rhythm with a temporary pacemaker, which they didn't have to do with Jay. His chest tube is still draining fluid from his chest - they don't take it out until you are draining less than a certain amount. It's a pain but better to stay until they are sure he is fine and ready to be released. The last thing you want is to leave too early and have to be readmitted with pneumonia. So we're fine waiting.
Going forward, Jay just needs to recover from surgery. He will be off work for a few weeks but will probably start working from home a bit. The hardest part is that he can't drive for six weeks. Sigh. Luckily Jay works about 10 minutes from home so it won't be too bad. The driving part isn't because they think you will faint or anything - it's that your chest wall and rib cage need time to fully heal before you try to support a steering well. It's fine - he'll be well so that's all we care about. He has to start the clock over on his IV antibiotics as well. Once he comes home he'll do 5 more weeks of daily antibiotics through his PICC line. He already knows the drill so it's not a big deal to do and they deliver all the medicine and supplies right to our door so it's easy. Once that is over, he should be good. He'll have a yearly echocardiogram with our new favorite doctor, Dr. William Caine of the Intermountain Heart Institute.
For the record we can't say enough good things about Intermountain Medical Center and the Heart/Lung Center. The staff is amazing and we are really happy with the care Jay has received. It is amazing to us that people are trained and can fix problems like Jay had. We are incredibly grateful that we had such a good outcome and to all of the people who took such good care of Jay.
Talk to me in a month however. I may be good and sick of driving him around by then. If you see Jay catching a bus to work, you'll know that we the chauffeur hat didn't fit me as well as I would like.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Well, We Tried
Every year the Cub Scouts hold a Blue and Gold Banquet. For the past two years, the boys were supposed to bake and decorate a cake with their dads. Jay was out of town last year so I baked a cake - not from scratch - and took it to the dinner. It was the only cake that wasn't creatively decorated. Most of the cakes had cute themes. Not ours. I didn't realize it was "that" kind of cake baking activity.
This year, Jay was around and he and William made a pizza cake.
Nice, huh. It is a single layer round cake. We used vanilla frosting colored red for the sauce. We grated white chocolate for the cheese. The pepperonis are fruit rollups cut into circles. Gummy bears and tootsie rolls make up the rest of the pizza toppings. It was really cute.
And of course, it was only one of two cakes that were "themed". Everyone else just made a regular cake. They were yummy, but nothing decorated in a crazy way.
Thank goodness this is our last Blue and Gold Banquet. Even when we try we can't quite get the cake baking right. Oh well. William was pretty proud of his cake and it was yummy. Good enough.
And Jay's mystery illness has a name - Endocarditis. He has a random infection on his aortic valve and is anemic. Good times. He is on IV antibiotics for probably a month. He seems to be feeling a bit better so that's good. Just don't ask him about his Transesophageal Echocardiogram - it wasn't fun or pretty.
Thank heavens for modern medicine and good doctors.
And pizza cakes! :)
This year, Jay was around and he and William made a pizza cake.
Nice, huh. It is a single layer round cake. We used vanilla frosting colored red for the sauce. We grated white chocolate for the cheese. The pepperonis are fruit rollups cut into circles. Gummy bears and tootsie rolls make up the rest of the pizza toppings. It was really cute.
And of course, it was only one of two cakes that were "themed". Everyone else just made a regular cake. They were yummy, but nothing decorated in a crazy way.
Thank goodness this is our last Blue and Gold Banquet. Even when we try we can't quite get the cake baking right. Oh well. William was pretty proud of his cake and it was yummy. Good enough.
And Jay's mystery illness has a name - Endocarditis. He has a random infection on his aortic valve and is anemic. Good times. He is on IV antibiotics for probably a month. He seems to be feeling a bit better so that's good. Just don't ask him about his Transesophageal Echocardiogram - it wasn't fun or pretty.
Thank heavens for modern medicine and good doctors.
And pizza cakes! :)
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
We All Fall Down
If you would have told me that January would have been so fraught with stupid, I would have cancelled it. Or something. If I could.
Just as I was congratulating myself for our family somehow avoiding the stomach flu during the holidays (we have all passed it around the past two Christmases), it all fell apart. Not illness-related, per se. No one has been sick. Not injury related. Well, maybe injury is closer.
Jay has been struggling with his shoulder really bothering him for a month now. It's muscular so at least it's not popping out but he has been really feeling it. It is one of those things that just takes a while to heal. It's getting better but it's taking a while and you know how those things never feel better as quickly as you want. Henry slipped on the floor at school the other day and ended up with a huge goose egg on his head that you had to see to believe. William had some kind of muscle pull in his leg that left him limping and moaning for a few days. Tessa missed three days of school for what I originally thought was a stomach bug but figured out was some kind of reflux/heartburn/"I'm Tessa and I have a sensitive stomach" kind of thing.
Who is missing from this little narrative? Yep - I have avoided any illness or injury. Someone has to be at full strength to run the House of Injury and Anomalies. I'm sure it'll be my turn soon but until then I'm just holding down the fort and handing out heating pads, ice packs, Tums and sympathy. Lots and lots of sympathy.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
To-Do List
I know I write about this every year, but I hate January. It is so grim. It is dark and cold and I never feel like I warm up. I just want to soak in a tub all day and read a nice book.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) family life precludes that. Kids have school and dance and basketball and scouts. Laundry has to be done, bills have to be paid and groceries have to be bought. Life goes on, even in January.
But it hasn't been all bad. I have felt somewhat productive on some projects I have been working on for the kid's school. I have made a small dent in my to-do list.
I try to do it slowly. Otherwise "Reorganize all drawers and closets" makes we want to curl up in a fetal position. But I can take a few minutes and organize everyone's sock/underwear/jammie drawer. All the kids have all new socks, thanks to Kohl's cash and a 30% off Kohl's coupon. And their corresponding drawers are cleaned out. Except for the rock in William's sock drawer. I'm not sure what it is for, but I just yesterday made him throw away his mini-pumpkin from Halloween so I thought I'd show a little mercy and let him keep the rock.
But only because it's January.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) family life precludes that. Kids have school and dance and basketball and scouts. Laundry has to be done, bills have to be paid and groceries have to be bought. Life goes on, even in January.
But it hasn't been all bad. I have felt somewhat productive on some projects I have been working on for the kid's school. I have made a small dent in my to-do list.
I try to do it slowly. Otherwise "Reorganize all drawers and closets" makes we want to curl up in a fetal position. But I can take a few minutes and organize everyone's sock/underwear/jammie drawer. All the kids have all new socks, thanks to Kohl's cash and a 30% off Kohl's coupon. And their corresponding drawers are cleaned out. Except for the rock in William's sock drawer. I'm not sure what it is for, but I just yesterday made him throw away his mini-pumpkin from Halloween so I thought I'd show a little mercy and let him keep the rock.
But only because it's January.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Here Comes the Boom!
As my kids get older, they really enjoy having their own spending money. They each get an allowance and often request money for birthdays so that they can save for something that they want. This Christmas they each ended up with a little money from grandparents and saved up allowances and birthday money. William and Henry bought games to go with their new Playstation.
Tessa bought this:
It's a Furby Boom. I don't even know what to say about it. It talks to you in a mix of gibberish and English - the more you talk to it, the more English it speaks. She named it Duh Bo (I think - it means Crystal Something or other in "Furby" but it sounds like Dumbo when it refers to itself.) There is an app on the iPad that you can use with it - it bathes and feeds and lays eggs and all kinds of crazy stuff. It seems like a cross between Elmo and a Gremlin. It kind of freaks me out.
There is also a movie called Hear Comes the Boom that Jay has been wanting to watch for a while. He coincidentally decided to watch it with the kids after we got home from the Wright Family Post-Christmas Extravaganza and they seem quite enamored with it. I am hearing lots of laughter from the family room. I, however, had had enough of the Booming for a while so I think I will abstain.
I wonder how long the Furby Boom will last until it accidentally loses it's batteries. I don't think Tessa would fall for that trick.
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Merry Christmas!
Quite alot has happened since William's birthday. Tessa had her school opera (she was a dancing elf in Elves Got Talent) and her holiday dance revue. Since I bug Jay to give me pictures and video of these events and it never seems to happen, he got me an iPhone for Christmas. I guess this means that I will always have a camera with me and am now responsible for images and video. Fair enough.
We have had a nice holiday. For the past two years our little family has been felled by the stomach flu in the days leading up to Christmas. Not this year. I was ready - it was going around the school and other than Tessa having a little bout of it a few weeks ago on a Saturday, no one else was sick. A Christmas Miracle!
The boys got a new Playstation and have basically done this all day:
Well, they played their new games all day, other than to take a movie break after lunch.
Tessa's big gift was the American Girl Campus Snack Cart. It is pretty cute.
They each got a few books and two family movies. Nice and easy and not too much. It is nice that they are older now and Christmas doesn't involve cleaning out the family room so we can make room for all the stuff that they receive.
Jay is off the entire time the kids are off and we are having fun. It finally stopped snowing and warmed up a bit. Life is good.
Merry Christmas!
We have had a nice holiday. For the past two years our little family has been felled by the stomach flu in the days leading up to Christmas. Not this year. I was ready - it was going around the school and other than Tessa having a little bout of it a few weeks ago on a Saturday, no one else was sick. A Christmas Miracle!
The boys got a new Playstation and have basically done this all day:
Well, they played their new games all day, other than to take a movie break after lunch.
Tessa's big gift was the American Girl Campus Snack Cart. It is pretty cute.
They each got a few books and two family movies. Nice and easy and not too much. It is nice that they are older now and Christmas doesn't involve cleaning out the family room so we can make room for all the stuff that they receive.
Jay is off the entire time the kids are off and we are having fun. It finally stopped snowing and warmed up a bit. Life is good.
Merry Christmas!
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