Emily is not the reason for the delay though. She continues to do great...so no worries.
Evidently they planned for us to leave today. They have beds in the heart center. Dr. T said he didn't care and he would try not to take it personally that we were trying to get away from him:) (she becomes cardiology's patient when we leave ICU)
However, by the time the orders came thru to actually MAKE the move, the right kind of bed was no longer available :(
They want her in a bed close to the nurses station so just in case she has any problems. However the only beds that were available were in the back hall....so here we stay in ICU.
Sigh.
ICU isn't a bad place, it's just the heart center is more home like. The heart center is a sort of step down unit. Emily desperately wants to get to the heart center because she knows it's the last stop to getting home. Plus the heart center has an actual BED. And chairs...and it's own BATHROOM.
but instead we get the ICU again....
Which is ok, but we have a ton of visitors coming tomorrow...and the ICU has this whole only 2 people in a room and no kids rule and somehow I don't think Sam or Zach are gonna pass for 18.
So I chatted with my uber sweet nurses for a while and we are gonna bend the rules...I just hope our guests find the floor as comfy as we do:)
We may make it outta ICU tomorrow, but it has been known to happen that we could leave directly from ICU. So we shall see...
On a lighter note em is continuing to do wonderfully.
She was awake for a big 4 hour stretch today and LOVED reading all the letters and cards her friends sent her. She still has oodles of gifts to go thru but she is still understandably weak. Tim and I hung up her posters now too so she is delighted to have some more personalized decor:)
We are down to just a central line, a couple of capped iv's and her chest tubes.
The dressing came off tonight, and I am pretty sure you could heat how traumatic that was all the way back in Fort Wayne. She still HATES tape.
She got a bath as well, her blood pressures are holding steady and she is off the O's and holding her sats above 90...
Not too darn shabby for not even 36 hours post op.
We visited with cardiology today as well as Dr T and they are thrilled with her progress. Dr T was grinning;) which is just not really normal for our uber serious conservative cardio thoracic surgeon.
The valve that they put in was not the valve we expected, but still able to be replaced via cath in the future! Woot!! Hopefully no more open heart surgeries for Miss Em. For my medical friends they put in a manufactured pericardial valve instead of the contegra valve or the porcine valve. We trust Dr. T completely and this was the best fit for her.
The complication they had during surgery is that they found a barely detectable hole between her atriums. It is a hole that normally closes at birth, and it being open in adulthood has been thought to play a role in stokes. We don't know if this did or did not cause her stroke last time, however it doesn't really matter. It's closed now and all is well;)
So that's it as far as changes go.
She continues to rock this recovery like I have never seen before:). She is doing fabulously!!
But she is sleeping like a log now so we are gonna do the same. Tomorrow will be a busy day
Keep those prayers coming;).
Love,
Amy
Great update, glad to hear that Emily is recovering so well. I spent 4 days in ICU due to some complications (afib and vomiting). The worst was waiting 7 hours to get discharged after the doctors gave me the all clear. I agree the step down rooms are much nicer. They were like hotel rooms at Clev Clinic. Take care - A.J., Beth and Mark
ReplyDeleteWaiting on discharge is always awful! We are so glad all is well with you now!!!!!!
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