I seem to be on a once/week schedule with the updates. Sunday must be the only day that I have time to post. Anyway, I'm still doing well. I think we've just about got my blood thinner regulated. The last 3 or 4 tests have come back slightly low, but close enough to the range we want that we haven't really changed the way I'm taking the medicine. Hopefully we can get the number up just a little bit and then we'll be set and I can quit having blood drawn 2 or 3 times a week.
As to how I feel. I think I've reached a point now where I have begun to actually feel better than I did before the surgery. It's going to take a bit more time to get completly over it, but things are going well and I know without a doubt that I'm going to feel great in a couple of months.
In other news...DeAnne's home improvement drive continues. We bought a new light fixture for the dinning room yesterday and spent all evening hanging it, determinging that it was too low, taking it down, hanging it back up and finally wiring it.
That's about it for this week. Work is still going well. We're busy as ever. Dad came out Friday and cut the grass for me. I'm still a few weeks out from being allowed to use a lawnmower or a weed eater again.
Till next time...
--Paul
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Also...
As a side note, the last post with the picture of the dinning room was the 50th post for the blog. Nothing really major, but I thought it was worth noting...
--Paul
--Paul
Saturday, July 15, 2006
This One's For You, Courtney
We made a trip to Mobile yesterday to see Dr. Mayer. Everything went well. It was actually the shortest visit I think we've ever had at his office. We didn't wait long to be taken back, they got my blood pressure and weight (both good), and then before we knew it, he was coming in to see us. He listened to me and went over the PVC incident from a few weeks back and then told us he wanted to see me again in 6 months. The greatest part, he told me I could drop the low-sodium diet and go back to eating what I wanted to! Domino's here we come...
So after we were done at the doctor's, we went and saw Courtney and Edwin and had a great time. Courtney got on to me for not posting more often than once a week, so I'm dedicating this post to her. I also promise to get some pictures up of the dinning room. We've still got a few spots to touch up, but it's nothing that would be visible in pictures.
That's about it. I'm back at work full time now and everything's going well. It didn't take long to get back into the swing of things. It's been pretty busy, but I've not been overwhelmed. I feel really good overall. At least as good as I did before the surgery and Dr. Mayer says that by the time 6 months rolls around I should be amazed at the difference in the way I feel compared to then and before the surgery. Alright...off to make some pictures...
--Paul
So after we were done at the doctor's, we went and saw Courtney and Edwin and had a great time. Courtney got on to me for not posting more often than once a week, so I'm dedicating this post to her. I also promise to get some pictures up of the dinning room. We've still got a few spots to touch up, but it's nothing that would be visible in pictures.
That's about it. I'm back at work full time now and everything's going well. It didn't take long to get back into the swing of things. It's been pretty busy, but I've not been overwhelmed. I feel really good overall. At least as good as I did before the surgery and Dr. Mayer says that by the time 6 months rolls around I should be amazed at the difference in the way I feel compared to then and before the surgery. Alright...off to make some pictures...
--Paul
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Seeing Red...
I did indeed go back to work on Friday. It went well. I only worked from 8 to 12, but I managed to get a good bit done. Being able to keep up with my email at the house was a huge advantage. If I hadn't been able to check my email, it would have taken 2 days just to go through it all. Having it all read though allowed me to go in and file it away and then get right to work. There was a lot of news and things to catch up on, but I think tomorrow I'll be able to get right to work. I'm going to work just 8 to 12 this week and of course we're off Tuesday for the 4th, so it should be a pretty easy going.
We still don't have my blood thinner regulated. Just when we thought we had it figured out, the number shot up on Friday, so Dr. Kerr had me go to the hospital this morning to have it checked again and it was the highest it's ever been, which means my blood is as thin as its ever been. So now we're backing off of the pills for a day or two and basically, we're just going to have to start over. Maybe one day we'll figure out the magic combination of pill sizes to get things where we want them to be.
The home improvement projects roll on. I think DeAnne has watched enough HGTV this summer that it's killing her when she's not working on something. The current project: painting the dinning room red. We know that a lot of people have red dinning rooms, but she's always wanted a red dinning room, so now she'll have one. She got started Friday night by taking down the wallpaper border around the top of the room. Saturday she primed and put on the first coat of paint. I helped when and where I could, but there's still not a lot that I can do. I'm pretty pleased with it myself and Dee's really excited. It looked really good after the first coat dried. We're doing a second coat today to even everything out and get it looking really good. I'll post pictures after we're done and have everything cleaned up.
--Paul
We still don't have my blood thinner regulated. Just when we thought we had it figured out, the number shot up on Friday, so Dr. Kerr had me go to the hospital this morning to have it checked again and it was the highest it's ever been, which means my blood is as thin as its ever been. So now we're backing off of the pills for a day or two and basically, we're just going to have to start over. Maybe one day we'll figure out the magic combination of pill sizes to get things where we want them to be.
The home improvement projects roll on. I think DeAnne has watched enough HGTV this summer that it's killing her when she's not working on something. The current project: painting the dinning room red. We know that a lot of people have red dinning rooms, but she's always wanted a red dinning room, so now she'll have one. She got started Friday night by taking down the wallpaper border around the top of the room. Saturday she primed and put on the first coat of paint. I helped when and where I could, but there's still not a lot that I can do. I'm pretty pleased with it myself and Dee's really excited. It looked really good after the first coat dried. We're doing a second coat today to even everything out and get it looking really good. I'll post pictures after we're done and have everything cleaned up.
--Paul
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Long Time Coming
Well it's been almost 2 weeks since the last post, so I figured it was time for an update. I'm still doing well. I'm still having to have my blood checked 2 or 3 times a week, but it should start dropping off even more the next week or two (hopefully). I'm off my potassium (biggest pill I've ever seen in my life) and fluid pills so now all I'm taking is the beta blocker and my blood thinner. The beta blocker I'll probably be on for about 6 months, but it's have of a 50mg pill twice a day, so it's no big deal.
We had a small scare 2 Sunday nights ago. My heart started doing something called a PVC where it contracts early. It's kind of like having 2 beats in the time it would normally only beat once. We went to the ER and they told me I was okay and that I should just go see my doctor the next day. So the next day we went to Dr. Kerr and he called Dr. Pacifico and Dr. Pacifico said that it wasn't unusal for this to happen and that it should last no more than 6 or 8 weeks. So nothing to be worried about, unless you're the one with the heart doing the crazy click pattern that you can hear.
I got a card in the mail the other day from St. Jude. It's to carry around with me so that EMTs will know what they're dealing with should anything ever happen to me. Evidently they keep a "confidential" database of everyone in the country that's recieved one of their valves. Hopefully this "confidential" database never makes it onto a laptop that gets stolen or gets posted to the web accidently.
Probably the biggest news of the week; I'm going to go back to work tomorrow. I'll be 5 weeks post-op. I'm ready to go back. There's a lot to do and I'm ready to get going on it all. I'm only going to go half-days to start with. If that goes well for a week or two then I'll start back full time. I don't think DeAnne's ready for me to go back yet, but once I'm at work, she'll just start spending time doing stuff up at the school.
Let's see...anything else I've left out?...
I think that's about it for now. I can't think of anything else that's happened the last couple of weeks. We've just been relaxing. We usually get out once a day and go to the post office or Wal-Mart or the grocery store or something just to get out of the house for a little while. I'll try and post this weekend and let you all know how my first day back at work went. I imagine I'm going to be talking about the surgery a lot and just trying to catch up on all the news. Take care till next time.
--Paul
We had a small scare 2 Sunday nights ago. My heart started doing something called a PVC where it contracts early. It's kind of like having 2 beats in the time it would normally only beat once. We went to the ER and they told me I was okay and that I should just go see my doctor the next day. So the next day we went to Dr. Kerr and he called Dr. Pacifico and Dr. Pacifico said that it wasn't unusal for this to happen and that it should last no more than 6 or 8 weeks. So nothing to be worried about, unless you're the one with the heart doing the crazy click pattern that you can hear.
I got a card in the mail the other day from St. Jude. It's to carry around with me so that EMTs will know what they're dealing with should anything ever happen to me. Evidently they keep a "confidential" database of everyone in the country that's recieved one of their valves. Hopefully this "confidential" database never makes it onto a laptop that gets stolen or gets posted to the web accidently.
Probably the biggest news of the week; I'm going to go back to work tomorrow. I'll be 5 weeks post-op. I'm ready to go back. There's a lot to do and I'm ready to get going on it all. I'm only going to go half-days to start with. If that goes well for a week or two then I'll start back full time. I don't think DeAnne's ready for me to go back yet, but once I'm at work, she'll just start spending time doing stuff up at the school.
Let's see...anything else I've left out?...
I think that's about it for now. I can't think of anything else that's happened the last couple of weeks. We've just been relaxing. We usually get out once a day and go to the post office or Wal-Mart or the grocery store or something just to get out of the house for a little while. I'll try and post this weekend and let you all know how my first day back at work went. I imagine I'm going to be talking about the surgery a lot and just trying to catch up on all the news. Take care till next time.
--Paul
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Staples, No More!
Everything went really well yesterday in Mobile. They were running really far behind though, so it took forever for anything to happen. We got there around 11:30. The appointment was for 11:45. Around 1:00 they took us back and got my weight and blood pressure (both good). Then they put us in an exam room. There happened to be a rocking chair in the room they put us in (he's pediatric remember), so DeAnne took that and I got on the table. Eventually I laid down and we were both asleep before long.
Eventually the tech that does the echoes came and got us and we did an echo. It was pretty wild. Even I could tell an immediate difference in the way it looked and sounded compared to what it was prior to the surgery. DeAnne even noticed the difference and she only saw one echo before the surgery.
So after the echo, we were put back in the exam room and we didn't have to wait long after that for Dr. Mayer. He came in and checked my pulse and listened to me and said the echo looked great. I don't have any fluid around my heart and the new valve is neither leaking or blocking anything. He then had me lay back down on the table and he started pulling the staples. It really wasn't that bad. There were a few that stung and usually those were the ones that bled a little, but overall it didn't really hurt.
It feels a lot better to have them out. I'm not so scared to wear a pull-over shirt anymore and overall I just feel more comfortable now that they're gone. The scar is a little red and irritated from the staples, but it looks pretty good. Most of the scabbing that was left came off in the shower last night and this morning I've noticed on small spot where it's oozed some during the night, but it's stopped and I don't think it's large enough to be concerned about it. It's amazing to me that after only 3 weeks a place where they cut me open and pulled my chest apart has now closed back up. It just seems like something that traumatic to your body would take longer to heal up.
We took some pictures of the staples being pulled and a couple of after shots to go along with the post-op pictures from the hospital. I'll see if I can get them up sometime during the next couple of days. I'm also going to try and finish the recap of our time in the hospital sometime soon. Dr. Mayer gave me two more weeks before I can start going back to work, so I've got plenty of time on my hands still. I was hoping I could go back after next week, but he shot that down pretty quickly.
One last note: We're getting closer to getting my blood-thinner regulated. It's been right where it needs to be for the last 2 days. They gave me instructions for the weekend and they're letting me skip on getting my blood drawn on Monday, so I'll actually get a 3 day break from the vampire starting today. I'll be glad when we get everything straight. Now that the staples are out, getting the blood-thinner right is really the last major thing to do. I'm just glad to catch a break from the lab work. My arms don't look near as bad as I thought they would, but I'm still tired of having needles shoved in them.
All for now.
--Paul
Eventually the tech that does the echoes came and got us and we did an echo. It was pretty wild. Even I could tell an immediate difference in the way it looked and sounded compared to what it was prior to the surgery. DeAnne even noticed the difference and she only saw one echo before the surgery.
So after the echo, we were put back in the exam room and we didn't have to wait long after that for Dr. Mayer. He came in and checked my pulse and listened to me and said the echo looked great. I don't have any fluid around my heart and the new valve is neither leaking or blocking anything. He then had me lay back down on the table and he started pulling the staples. It really wasn't that bad. There were a few that stung and usually those were the ones that bled a little, but overall it didn't really hurt.
It feels a lot better to have them out. I'm not so scared to wear a pull-over shirt anymore and overall I just feel more comfortable now that they're gone. The scar is a little red and irritated from the staples, but it looks pretty good. Most of the scabbing that was left came off in the shower last night and this morning I've noticed on small spot where it's oozed some during the night, but it's stopped and I don't think it's large enough to be concerned about it. It's amazing to me that after only 3 weeks a place where they cut me open and pulled my chest apart has now closed back up. It just seems like something that traumatic to your body would take longer to heal up.
We took some pictures of the staples being pulled and a couple of after shots to go along with the post-op pictures from the hospital. I'll see if I can get them up sometime during the next couple of days. I'm also going to try and finish the recap of our time in the hospital sometime soon. Dr. Mayer gave me two more weeks before I can start going back to work, so I've got plenty of time on my hands still. I was hoping I could go back after next week, but he shot that down pretty quickly.
One last note: We're getting closer to getting my blood-thinner regulated. It's been right where it needs to be for the last 2 days. They gave me instructions for the weekend and they're letting me skip on getting my blood drawn on Monday, so I'll actually get a 3 day break from the vampire starting today. I'll be glad when we get everything straight. Now that the staples are out, getting the blood-thinner right is really the last major thing to do. I'm just glad to catch a break from the lab work. My arms don't look near as bad as I thought they would, but I'm still tired of having needles shoved in them.
All for now.
--Paul
Friday, June 16, 2006
Staples
Today marks 3 weeks since the surgery. We're going to Mobile today to see Dr. Mayer and to get my staples out. I'm really excited. They've been really bothering me all week and I'm ready for them to be gone. A couple of them have started to work their way out and they're just driving me crazy over all. They itch pretty much all the time and they sting when Dee cleans the incision, so I'm hoping that all that improves once they're out of me. I'm also interested in seeing what the incision looks like without them. I think it's going to look pretty good from what we can see at the moment.
Also, yesterday was the last day for home health to come and get my blood. Now we're going to have to get up and go to Dr. Kerr's office to have it done. I would have loved for home health to have kept coming, but insurance wouldn't reapprove them now that I can drive and we can't afford to pay to have them come so off to town we go each morning now.
Speaking of that, it's time to go and get the lab done. We'll take some pictures post-staples and let you all see the grossness :)
--Paul
Also, yesterday was the last day for home health to come and get my blood. Now we're going to have to get up and go to Dr. Kerr's office to have it done. I would have loved for home health to have kept coming, but insurance wouldn't reapprove them now that I can drive and we can't afford to pay to have them come so off to town we go each morning now.
Speaking of that, it's time to go and get the lab done. We'll take some pictures post-staples and let you all see the grossness :)
--Paul
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Picture Mania!
As you can probably see, I've posted several pictures from our time at the hospital and from when we got home. They're in some what of a chronological order, but they posted in reverse, so you may want to scroll to the bottom and work your way back up. One warning: There is a picture of the incision that some may consider to be a bit graphic. View at your own risk.
In other news, we got out yesterday and hit the town pretty hard. We went to Wal-Mart and Winn-Dixie and did all of our shopping for the next couple of weeks. I did good and I had a good time and enjoyed being out of the house. It took us a little longer in Winn-Dixie than I thought it would though and by the time we were finished and we got home, I was pretty tired. It was well worth getting out of the house though.
We go back to Mobile on Friday to get my staples out. I'm pretty excited about that. They're really starting to bother me and I'll be glad to see them go.
Finally, the biggest news, DeAnne has been offered a job teaching 4th grade next year at Andalusia Elementary. We're both really excited. She's already been up to the school to see what room she's getting. They're re-painting the hall she's on though, so she wasn't able to get down to it. She's chomping at the bit to get in there and get set up. I don't know that she even really slept last night. We're both just so thankful for all that God has done for us. Just in the past month, I've been given a promotion, made it through surgery and am having a great recovery and now this. It's just amazing how the Lord has blessed us.
--Paul
In other news, we got out yesterday and hit the town pretty hard. We went to Wal-Mart and Winn-Dixie and did all of our shopping for the next couple of weeks. I did good and I had a good time and enjoyed being out of the house. It took us a little longer in Winn-Dixie than I thought it would though and by the time we were finished and we got home, I was pretty tired. It was well worth getting out of the house though.
We go back to Mobile on Friday to get my staples out. I'm pretty excited about that. They're really starting to bother me and I'll be glad to see them go.
Finally, the biggest news, DeAnne has been offered a job teaching 4th grade next year at Andalusia Elementary. We're both really excited. She's already been up to the school to see what room she's getting. They're re-painting the hall she's on though, so she wasn't able to get down to it. She's chomping at the bit to get in there and get set up. I don't know that she even really slept last night. We're both just so thankful for all that God has done for us. Just in the past month, I've been given a promotion, made it through surgery and am having a great recovery and now this. It's just amazing how the Lord has blessed us.
--Paul
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