Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Day #1


This morning as I arrived, I found Dick heavily sedated and quite restful. It is a blessing that he was not awake and didn't seem to be suffering from the pain.  Dr. Shumway, the surgeon was in and said she was very pleased with his numbers. Midway through the morning Dr Carter, one of the surgical team, came and pulled the arterial balloon. It was a thin wire with a long balloon about 24” in length; it had been place in his groin and ran up into his heart before and during surgery to help the heart beat more easily. Because they did not want him to move after the balloon was pulled and because when he heard my voice he would tried to move, I walked back to the apartment for lunch in hopes that my absence would settle him.

Upon returning, he was resting comfortably. There was some concern mid afternoon because his heart was beating too fast with no apparent reason. The pacemaker gal came to see if his pacemaker was pacing too fast and after running multiple tests told us that his heart was actually beating independently from the pacemaker. Wow … that means that the pacemaker was on standby only. That was great news to me! Dr Masri, his cardiologist, ran an ultrasound and didn’t see any water around the heart, so she instructed his nurse what to do and when I left around 7:00 PM his vitals were stable.  He still is on ventilator and they are watching him very closely.

These past 10 days have been up and down and up and down; what an emotional roller coaster.  I try to focus on Dick riding his bike and taking the dogs for walks and doing all the things he so loves to do.  That makes all this worth it.  God Bless....

2 comments:

  1. Mary and Dick...it was a blessing to be with you at the hospital and witness the love you have for each other! Darrell and I will continue to hold you both up in our prayers. Dick, it isn't going to be easy as you go through rehab but you have all of us praying and rooting for you.

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  2. Thanks Susan, he is improving almost hourly. Thank you for coming and thank you for your prayers.
    Lovingly,
    Mary

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