Is There a Light at the End of the Tunnel

I haven't blogged in 4 days!  How time flys!

Carlos continues to do better.  The primacor was shut off on the 21st and he has done fine without it.  It was so nice to get rid of the IV pole.  Only the LVAD stuff left to deal with.  But then they came in yesterday morning with a Heparin drip.  Heparin thins the blood which is very important in LVAD patients.  The body recognizes the foreign object in his body and tries to clot.  Those clots can then break off and travel to other places in his body that can cause major problems, such as stroke or pulmonary embolism.  So he will go home on coumadin, persantine, and a regular strength dose of aspirin.  They monitor his INR with the goal of keeping it between 2 and 3.  He was therapuetic before but then it started dropping.  He has always had a difficult time getting therapuetic.  So having the heparin restarted ruined our plans for our first outing this morning.

We were supposed to do our first outing. This outing we do with one of the VAD coordinators and the perfusionist. We would go to our home to look at where we plan to set up the equipment and check for any safety issues. I even got my bedroom all cleaned up in anticipation of this visit. I didn't want anyone to think I was a hoarder ( those who have seen our bedroom will understand this statement :-). Beth was an amazing friend because she came over Wednesday night and helped. She then, unbeknownst to me, finished the cleaning Friday when she came over to watch the kids for awhile. Thank you Beth!!! After the home visit, we would then go to Libby's award ceremony at the school pep rally. She was nominated for the monthly Character Counts award. There are 6 pillars that the kids are always supposed to be practicing, like responsibility for example. It's a big deal because the winner gets a new bike as well! We knew she would be getting the award but she had no idea! Carver and my mom attended. We were able to video chat and catch most of the award. We had some connectivity issues. We are very proud of Libby. Carlos was a bit emotional and I just reminded him this is why were are doing this, so he will be around in the future for these things.

We will do that first outing on Monday now, assuming his INR cooperates. Then we do the second outing on Tuesday. That one is just us and we have to be gone from the hospital for at least 2 hours. Then we come back to the Mayo and do paperwork then he is discharged and we go home :-)

Carlos has lost another 8 pounds of fluid since I last blogged. He hasn't weighed this little in many years (186). We passed our test on the VAD stuff so are now free to move about the hospital at our leisure. We get our equipment today as well. I have a month's supply of dressing change stuff at a lovely price of $226. Ugh. Insurance doesn't pay for it. That's about it for today :-)