Hello everyone!

We're home! Whoohoo! :) 

So we didn't get out of the hospital until about 3 in the afternoon.  Just waiting on the doctors to get to us, they did their rounds as normal, explaining that they'd release us today, but had to take care of the patients in order of medical necessity and we were low on the list because Jeremy was medically much better than most.  (Plus I've always heard that if you stay past noon, they can charge for another day, not sure if it's true, but if it is, they were able to charge for Wednesday too.)

Anyway, it snowed all the way home, but the roads weren't bad until we hit the Wisconsin/Michigan boarder. Gogebic county had the worst roads. Then when we hit Ontonagon county the roads were a little better but it started snowing worse.  

So here's the rest of what's new. Jeremy's TEE is scheduled for the 16th in Wausau. Until then, I'm going to be home with Jeremy.  Unless Jeremy has a stroke before then, we won't know anything more until after that test. 

Hope this finds everyone doing well!

Love you guys.

Jeremy's been having increased belly pain which the doctors assure us in related to the splenic infarc.  

Also, Jeremy's inr is within the range to start the 48 hour countdown! If everything else goes well, he might be sprung Tuesday!

And finally, Monday will be day five of waiting to grow cultures.  

So if it turns out that it's not an infection, Jeremy will need another TEE sometime next week to see if the blood clot has dissolved. If it hasn't he'll need surgery to go in and remove it. 

Until we know either way, I'll be staying with him 24/7 because that clot could break off and cause more damage in other organs.  

Good Morning!

So here's what's new today ...

Jeremy's inr is up to 1.87, Dr Wendell thought he might be up to or over 2.5 tomorrow.  

Also, no cultures growing yet, so that's good news too.

Jeremy's finally starting to loose the water weight that he put on here, so we don't have to worry about congestive heart failure on top of whatever's stuck to the valve.

We're sitting here watching Nascar and waiting for the nurse to come in, Jeremy needs his iv changed and I'm going to ask if it can be taken out, and wait to put it back in until after a shower. 

Hope everyone's staying warm! 

Love you guys! 

Hello everyone!

Mid afternoon and not a lot going on. Mom went home with Miles & Lori today. It's a lot emptier without her here, we miss her already.

The only two things of note medically are these: 

First, no cultures have started, so no surgery yet.  

Second, we're still waiting for his inr to come up. Right now it's at 1.2 (2.5 is where he needs to be).  Dr. Wendell, one of the two cardiologist who is following him, said that it's going to take at least thru the end of the weekend.  And even after it gets to 2.5 Jeremy will be kept here for another 48 hours, just to make sure the Vitamin K is not still in his system. She said that she doesn't expect Jeremy to go home until Wednesday. 

I guess there is another thing medically new, Jeremy was up in his chair today after washing up (mostly by himself, needed, very little help) and later his nurse aide took him for a quick walk. They weren't gone long, but he got more walking in than he's gotten since he's arrived. 

Right now Jeremy's napping and I'm going to get serious about getting my crocheting done. I've only gotten one wash cloth done the whole time we've been here.  I have 4 weeks until the craft fair and I need to get some more things worked up before then.

Hope everyone's staying warm!

Love you guys!

Not much new medically.  After the first 24 hours, no cultures have grown.  The doctor said some of the cultures can take up to 5 days to grow.  The other thing that we know is that Jeremy will be in here at least thru the weekend, if he doesn't need surgery, longer if he does.  

Now that does not mean we haven't had excitement today.  We've had a lot of visitors.

First to arrive (not counting Mom from the hotel), was Grandma, Uncle Mike, Aunt Dan and Uncle Gloria.  About and hour and half into their visit, Miles and Lori Carrington came too!  What a nice group we had!  During that time, we had the normal doctors come in too, Dr Riveron (surgeon), Dr Wessling (hospitalist), Dr Luetmer (cardiologist) and the nurse and nurse aide.  They all quickly did their thing and let us visit with everyone.  After Carringtons and the family left, I did a quick run to Walmart & McDonalds (for me & Mom). While I was gone Lee Jackson stopped by for a few minutes.  

Good evening all!

So today was another very exhausting day. Jeremy's sleeping, Mom's going back to the hotel, bruce is on his way home and I'm sitting here wile enjoying a little peace and quiet.

This morning Jeremy had the TEE.  

The good news is it showed that the valve is working and doing everything it should.  

The bad news is they saw a thin inch and a half 'something' attached to the valve and "blowing in the breeze." And that's the medical term the doctor used to explain what this thing was doing. He said it's thin like filament, sort of made me think of really light test fishing line.  He explained it couldn't be seen on the tests yesterday, it wasn't the type of test that showed that.  

He also said short of going in there and getting it they don't know exactly what it is right now. It might be an infection or part of the blood clot that went to Jeremy's spleen.  

The doctor first wanted to just go in there and take out whatever it is and if it's an infection replace the valve. When we reminded him that we're Jehovah's Witnesses and using a blood transfusion is not a medical treatment that we will consent to they had to change their plan.  Because Jeremy's red blood count is 11 (12-14 is what they want it to be to operate) and the fact that it's going to be a bloody operation because they would be cutting thru scar tissue they don't want to operate without the cushion of being able to use blood.  

After consulting his colleagues, the doctor came back with the following medical treatment plan: They will keep Jeremy's blood thin with coumadin to keep it from clotting anymore. This will also hopefully dissolve the 'thing' if it is a clot.  Hopefully, it will dissolve in a manor that will not cause it to go thru the blood stream in one long string and stick to another organ. This could cause any number of medical issues (stroke, etc). They will also continue to do lab work and see if they can figure out if it is an infection. They will also monitor his white blood count and vitals for signs of infection. 

Jeremy might still need a heart surgery but hopefully by the time he does, his red blood count is higher and they can use a blood volumizer to help with the blood loss.  If he does it won't be until closer to the end of the week.

So we are patiently waiting, to see what happens with the heart, and treating Jeremy's spleen pain.  He's NPO after midnight in case something needs to be done right away in the morning, but when they know that he's okay he'll be able to eat.  

Good Morning All!

So I didn't add anything to the blog yesterday because by the time I knew that we really didn't know what was going on, it was late (9:30 here) and I was too emotionally drained to type.

Yesterday morning Jeremy had a CT of the spleen scheduled for the morning. They had a hard time starting a new IV (the needed a special size for the contrast) and that took the rest of the morning. 

There was very little time between coming back from the CT and transport aide coming to get him for an echocardiogram.  As the aide was getting him ready to leave a cardiology team (two doctors and a student), stopped her and said, they had another test they wanted to do first.  They explained that they wanted to look at how the artificial valve was working and then maybe he'd have the ultrasound of the heart done.  

Jeremy had the first test done (don't remember what it's called, doesn't really matter I guess) and then was moved over to have the echo. I was with in the room while he was having the echo done. About five minutes before it was over, one of the two doctors popped her head in and said, "Oh, you're still here. Good," and entered the room with the other doctor.  They stood and watched the tech finish what she was doing, then the other doctor took the wand and tried to get a good look at the valve.  He then explained that the first test showed that the artificial valve's flaps weren't working properly, and that they couldn't get a good look on the ultrasound of the valve because it's on the back side of the heart.  He said that they would do a transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) in the morning (today) to get a better look at the back side of the heart and the valve. (For more information on a TEE click here:  TEE) 

If the valve is not working correctly, they would need to go in and replace it with a new one. Talk about a shocker, we went from thinking Jeremy might need surgery to remove his spleen to cracking his chest and replacing the valve!  

And that's pretty much where things stand. We did see a surgeon last night (the one who performed the original valve replacement in 2009) and he said that the ultrasound showed the valve was working. Which does not jive with what the other cardiologists told, us, they said the ultrasound didn't have a good enough angle to know.  

Anyway ... the cardiologists hit the floor at 7:00 this morning, anytime after that I'm expecting to know what the plan is for the day.

Jeremy has been NPO (nothing by mouth except necessary meds) since midnight so any test/surgery that needs to be done can be with out delay.  

Mom and I were able to listen to the meeting via the phone last night. It was so encouraging, we have the Circuit Overseer's visit this week and listened to his talk too. Freddie, Leah, Marcus & Kenna had a part, it's amazing how much those two have learned already.  They are little sponges and Freddie & Leah are doing such a great job teaching them.

Okay, that's all we know on this end. 

Lloyd ... If you want, feel free to call me at (906) 390-0572. It will probably go to voicemail (coverage in the hospital is spotty in some places, especially where they do all the tests) but I can return your call.  

Hope everyone is doing well and staying warm!  

We love you guys!