It's been a pretty busy week. Dee's best friend got married yesterday and between work and helping her help her friend get ready for the wedding, I haven't had much time for anything. We're still waiting on the packet from UAB. I'm guessing it'll be closer to time for the surgery before it comes.
Big thanks to Carrie for being the first person to leave a comment. I appreciate your kind words and I want you to know that we've been praying for you and your son and we're glad to hear that he's doing good.
One side note completly unrelated to the main subject of the blog...We're getting new floors put in. They're supposed to deliver the laminate on Wednesday and begin putting it down on Friday. I wanted to install it myself but Dee convinced me that with the surgery coming up that it might take to long and that it would be less stress if we just had it installed by someone. We're pretty excited. It's going to go in the dinning room, living room and hallway. I'll post some pictures when it's finished.
Later,
--Paul
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Saturday, April 22, 2006
One More Post
Well, since it's Saturday and my last post was last Sunday, I figured I would write something just so I could say I got two posts in this week.
Things have slowed down now after the initial activity surrounding the checkup and the cath and all. We don't have to go down to Mobile again until after the surgery. We should be getting a packet in the mail from UAB sometime. It's supposed to give us instructions about when to be there, what to expect and all that good stuff.
I've not done any more research lately. We did see an open-heart surgery on the Discovery Channel last week. It was a two year old boy that had a deformed heart. They went in and fixed the deformity and after three weeks he was doing good. I guess they can only show so much of the actual surgery, but they did show the boys heart when it started beating again after they finished up and they showed the heart-lung machine working. I don't think I'll ever get over my amazement at the fact that they can actually stop your heart, do something to it and then start it back up like it's no big deal.
If I get time I'll do some more looking around and see if I can find some new information on the surgery. I'll also post again when we get the packet of information from UAB. Hopefully it'll come within the next week or two. Until then...
--Paul
Things have slowed down now after the initial activity surrounding the checkup and the cath and all. We don't have to go down to Mobile again until after the surgery. We should be getting a packet in the mail from UAB sometime. It's supposed to give us instructions about when to be there, what to expect and all that good stuff.
I've not done any more research lately. We did see an open-heart surgery on the Discovery Channel last week. It was a two year old boy that had a deformed heart. They went in and fixed the deformity and after three weeks he was doing good. I guess they can only show so much of the actual surgery, but they did show the boys heart when it started beating again after they finished up and they showed the heart-lung machine working. I don't think I'll ever get over my amazement at the fact that they can actually stop your heart, do something to it and then start it back up like it's no big deal.
If I get time I'll do some more looking around and see if I can find some new information on the surgery. I'll also post again when we get the packet of information from UAB. Hopefully it'll come within the next week or two. Until then...
--Paul
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Stats Update
Quick update on the stats.
# of EKG pads: 29 (at least)
# of trips to Mobile: 4
They used 10 on me at the office last Tuesday. These were nice though. They were small squares that didn't stick as well so they weren't so bad to take off and they didn't leave any glue or marks on me. If only the same could be said about the first 19 they used.
--Paul
# of EKG pads: 29 (at least)
# of trips to Mobile: 4
They used 10 on me at the office last Tuesday. These were nice though. They were small squares that didn't stick as well so they weren't so bad to take off and they didn't leave any glue or marks on me. If only the same could be said about the first 19 they used.
--Paul
After Much Delay
I told you I would write more about our trip later on. I admit, I didn't think it would be this much later, but hey, better late than never.
Our trip went well. Our appointment was at 1:45 and we got there about 1:15 or so. We didn't have to wait long and I would say we were called back before 1:45 even rolled around. They took my blood pressure, weight and did another EKG and then we waited to see Dr. Mayer. Dr. Mayer came in, listened to me and checked my leg where they did the cath and then told us to hold on while he called UAB. He came back after a few minutes and asked if we wanted to do it Thursday. After picking myself up off the exam table, I told him I thought we were going to be able to wait till June. At that point he remembered DeAnne was a teacher and apologized. He asked when the last day of school was (the 25th) and came back and told us they could do it on the 26th. After all was said and done, we were out of the office by 2:30.
We did a little shopping and at 5:00 we went over and ate with Courtney and Edwin again. A big thanks to them for cooking, it was great. We had a great time with them, so good if fact that we lost track of time and didn't leave till after 8:00.
The bill for the cath came from the hospital this past week. We paid the copay that day and the insurance is going to cover the rest. All of a sudden, insurance looks pretty cheap.
Sorry for the delay between posts. I got a stomach virus thursday night and it kept me down thursday and friday. With DeAnne teaching, I'm sure it won't be the last time she'll bring something home for me. I'm still not 100%, but I would call it at least 95.
All I got for now.
--Paul
Our trip went well. Our appointment was at 1:45 and we got there about 1:15 or so. We didn't have to wait long and I would say we were called back before 1:45 even rolled around. They took my blood pressure, weight and did another EKG and then we waited to see Dr. Mayer. Dr. Mayer came in, listened to me and checked my leg where they did the cath and then told us to hold on while he called UAB. He came back after a few minutes and asked if we wanted to do it Thursday. After picking myself up off the exam table, I told him I thought we were going to be able to wait till June. At that point he remembered DeAnne was a teacher and apologized. He asked when the last day of school was (the 25th) and came back and told us they could do it on the 26th. After all was said and done, we were out of the office by 2:30.
We did a little shopping and at 5:00 we went over and ate with Courtney and Edwin again. A big thanks to them for cooking, it was great. We had a great time with them, so good if fact that we lost track of time and didn't leave till after 8:00.
The bill for the cath came from the hospital this past week. We paid the copay that day and the insurance is going to cover the rest. All of a sudden, insurance looks pretty cheap.
Sorry for the delay between posts. I got a stomach virus thursday night and it kept me down thursday and friday. With DeAnne teaching, I'm sure it won't be the last time she'll bring something home for me. I'm still not 100%, but I would call it at least 95.
All I got for now.
--Paul
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
The Verdict Is In
May 26th.
We'll have to be at the hospital on the 25th for admitting and pre-op tests and then they'll do the surgery on the morning of the 26th. I'll post more about our trip yesterday later on. I just wanted to get the date up before we had to go to church.
--Paul
We'll have to be at the hospital on the 25th for admitting and pre-op tests and then they'll do the surgery on the morning of the 26th. I'll post more about our trip yesterday later on. I just wanted to get the date up before we had to go to church.
--Paul
Friday, April 07, 2006
Heart Valve Diagram
I've had some people ask me about the valve and how valves work and I've never been able to explain it in a way that those people were able to envision it. I found the picture below on a this site. It's a pretty nice diagram. You can see the arotic valve and how the three leaflets are arranged.
Edit: I found another picture on the site that helps the visualization even more. This is more of a straight-ahead look that should be more familiar. To the right, you can see how the aortic valve is positioned.
Edit #2: The last image didn't copy over so well. It's hard to read the text on the image, but the aortic valve is the one kind of pointing south-east just above the second set of characters that are aligned vertically. Maybe that helps
--Paul
Edit: I found another picture on the site that helps the visualization even more. This is more of a straight-ahead look that should be more familiar. To the right, you can see how the aortic valve is positioned.
Edit #2: The last image didn't copy over so well. It's hard to read the text on the image, but the aortic valve is the one kind of pointing south-east just above the second set of characters that are aligned vertically. Maybe that helps
--Paul
Get Well
Just a quick post to say thanks to the girls in DeAnne's fifth grade class. They made me a great "get well soon" card. I tried scanning it, but the scanner and crayon don't seem to get along very well. Anyway, Thanks girls!
--Paul
--Paul
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Stats
The 2006 stats so far:
# of Echos: 1
# of Stress Tests: 1
# of Caths: 1
# of times Blood drawn: 1
# of brusies: 2
# of EKG pads: 19 (i think)
# of I.V.s: 1
# of shots given directly: 3
# of shots given though I.V.: 2 (that i'm aware of)
# of X-rays: 4 (if you count each individual image)
# of razors: 2
# of hospital gowns: 1
# of hospital meals: 1
# of trips to Mobile: 3
# of Echos: 1
# of Stress Tests: 1
# of Caths: 1
# of times Blood drawn: 1
# of brusies: 2
# of EKG pads: 19 (i think)
# of I.V.s: 1
# of shots given directly: 3
# of shots given though I.V.: 2 (that i'm aware of)
# of X-rays: 4 (if you count each individual image)
# of razors: 2
# of hospital gowns: 1
# of hospital meals: 1
# of trips to Mobile: 3
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Memories
So in the last post I just put up a minute ago I mentioned some memories that Dad reminded me of when we were talking last. I thought I'd go ahead and post one while I had it in mind.
They were preping me in my room for the surgery. As I've mentioned before, I'm terribly afraid of needles. They had told me that they had to give me one shot in my leg to get me to go to sleep. They came to take me to surgery and gave me one shot in my right leg. They then proceeded to try and give me another shot in my left leg. I told them they were crazy (keep in mind I was 9 at the time) and that they had already given me the only shot that I had agreed to. After several minutes of Mom and Dad and more than one nurse coaxing me, I let them give me the other shot and we were able to move on to the O.R. Dad says they told me I had to have two shots, but I only remember them telling me I had to have one. There was something about what they were giving me that the two shots couldn't be mixed, they had to go in through seperate channels.
So that's the memory of the shots to knock me out that they gave me when I was nine. I hope that in the ensuing 16 years since then, they've come up with a better way of doing this part of the deal.
--Paul
They were preping me in my room for the surgery. As I've mentioned before, I'm terribly afraid of needles. They had told me that they had to give me one shot in my leg to get me to go to sleep. They came to take me to surgery and gave me one shot in my right leg. They then proceeded to try and give me another shot in my left leg. I told them they were crazy (keep in mind I was 9 at the time) and that they had already given me the only shot that I had agreed to. After several minutes of Mom and Dad and more than one nurse coaxing me, I let them give me the other shot and we were able to move on to the O.R. Dad says they told me I had to have two shots, but I only remember them telling me I had to have one. There was something about what they were giving me that the two shots couldn't be mixed, they had to go in through seperate channels.
So that's the memory of the shots to knock me out that they gave me when I was nine. I hope that in the ensuing 16 years since then, they've come up with a better way of doing this part of the deal.
--Paul
Rolling On
The leg is healing up nicely. There are only a couple of little spots left where they went in. There really wasn't much bruising and what there was is pretty much gone. The place on my arm where they blew out my vessel when they drew blood looks worse than my leg does. Lsst night we went to town and after a couple of stores my leg started hurting, but since then I've been fine. I walked normally all day and there's not any stiffness or pain tonight, so I'm guessing I should be 100% by tomorrow evening.
I've been getting some feedback from a few people on the blog. All of it's been positive so far and I appreciate all the support that everyone has shown us. It's really become a waiting game of sorts. We're waiting for next Tuesday to plan the surgery and after that we'll be waiting for the surgery. In the meantime, I'm busy preparing stuff at work for me to be out. It's going to be tuff to get everything ready for me to be gone for at least a month and it'll probably be even harder to catch up when I go back. Thankfully I'll have the laptop at home and can at least keep my email checked. When I checked Friday after just being out Thursday for the cath, I had over 10 messages to read. I can only imagine what it would be like if I didn't check it for 6 weeks.
I was talking with Dad the other day and it brought back a few more memories from the first surgery. I'll see if I can remember the well enough to post them later. Till then, thanks for reading.
--Paul
I've been getting some feedback from a few people on the blog. All of it's been positive so far and I appreciate all the support that everyone has shown us. It's really become a waiting game of sorts. We're waiting for next Tuesday to plan the surgery and after that we'll be waiting for the surgery. In the meantime, I'm busy preparing stuff at work for me to be out. It's going to be tuff to get everything ready for me to be gone for at least a month and it'll probably be even harder to catch up when I go back. Thankfully I'll have the laptop at home and can at least keep my email checked. When I checked Friday after just being out Thursday for the cath, I had over 10 messages to read. I can only imagine what it would be like if I didn't check it for 6 weeks.
I was talking with Dad the other day and it brought back a few more memories from the first surgery. I'll see if I can remember the well enough to post them later. Till then, thanks for reading.
--Paul
Sunday, April 02, 2006
New Links!
I added a couple of new links this morning. The first is for Cardiology Associates of Mobile. This is the group that my cardiologist, Dr. Mayer works with. I'm sure some of you will notice that he is pediatrics. As you know, I've been going to a cardiologist all my life. When my first one retired, he suggested Dr. Mayer. We've talked to Dr. Mayer before in the past asking if we needed to switch to just a regular cardiologist and he told us that as long as we didn't "mind the teddy bears on the walls", we could keep coming to him for as long as we liked.
The other link is to a description of valve replacement/repair surgery from the Texas Heart Institute. It's pretty amazing to me that they can let a machine take over your heart and lung functions for you, stop your heart, do something to it and then start your heart back up and hand the job of keeping you alive back over to it. Simply amazing.
--Paul
The other link is to a description of valve replacement/repair surgery from the Texas Heart Institute. It's pretty amazing to me that they can let a machine take over your heart and lung functions for you, stop your heart, do something to it and then start your heart back up and hand the job of keeping you alive back over to it. Simply amazing.
--Paul
Followup
I forgot to mention it last time, but I go for a followup with the cardiologist on the 11th. I'm not really sure what all we'll do, but I'm assuming that it'll include identifying possible dates for the surgery and a check to make sure my leg is healed from the cath.
I can walk pretty well today and I was able to turn and lay on my side some last night. It was nice to be able to sleep some other way than flat on my back. I'll also drive some today for the first time since Wed. Looking foward to that.
Man, Daylight Savings Time is a pain.
--Paul
I can walk pretty well today and I was able to turn and lay on my side some last night. It was nice to be able to sleep some other way than flat on my back. I'll also drive some today for the first time since Wed. Looking foward to that.
Man, Daylight Savings Time is a pain.
--Paul
Saturday, April 01, 2006
I Can Move My Leg...
Well, after sitting around with my leg up all day yesterday and sleeping flat on my back for two nights, my leg's a little stiff, but I'm able to move it a little more this morning. I feel pretty sure I'm past the point of opening the puncture back up, but I'm going to take it easy today just to be safe.
Getting the bandage off yesterday was a nightmare. They used a pressure bandage and it was put on in a fashion so that when my leg was stretched straight out, it applied pressure to the wound with a ball in the middle of the bandage. To accomplish this, they started with it on the inside-back of my knee and brought it around and up all the way to the right side of my stomach. All totaled, the thing was probably a foot long and I think they only shaved about 4 to 6 inches of that. I had to get in the shower and soak the thing to get it off and I still think that having my whole leg waxed would have been less painful.
I did go out for a few minutes yesterday. DeAnne wanted to go to the store and get some ice cream, so I rode with her to Corner Market and sat in the car while she went in. It was nice to get out of the house for a few minutes after being in the recliner all day. Cabin fever was setting in quick. I hope to be able to go to church tomorrow. The only potential problem could be standing during the song service, but I can probably just put my weight on my good leg and be fine.
I began telling people about the blog yesterday and judging by the profile views (32 this morning), some of you are checking it out. I hope you find my writing to be bearable. After all, I am a programmer, not an author. Thanks for reading though and a special thanks to everyone who called yesterday to check in on me and see how I was doing.
I think that's all I've got this morning. See you all later.
Paul
Getting the bandage off yesterday was a nightmare. They used a pressure bandage and it was put on in a fashion so that when my leg was stretched straight out, it applied pressure to the wound with a ball in the middle of the bandage. To accomplish this, they started with it on the inside-back of my knee and brought it around and up all the way to the right side of my stomach. All totaled, the thing was probably a foot long and I think they only shaved about 4 to 6 inches of that. I had to get in the shower and soak the thing to get it off and I still think that having my whole leg waxed would have been less painful.
I did go out for a few minutes yesterday. DeAnne wanted to go to the store and get some ice cream, so I rode with her to Corner Market and sat in the car while she went in. It was nice to get out of the house for a few minutes after being in the recliner all day. Cabin fever was setting in quick. I hope to be able to go to church tomorrow. The only potential problem could be standing during the song service, but I can probably just put my weight on my good leg and be fine.
I began telling people about the blog yesterday and judging by the profile views (32 this morning), some of you are checking it out. I hope you find my writing to be bearable. After all, I am a programmer, not an author. Thanks for reading though and a special thanks to everyone who called yesterday to check in on me and see how I was doing.
I think that's all I've got this morning. See you all later.
Paul
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