The Nightmare of Yesterday

The best laid plans that went wrong....and yesterday's top my list of days I never want to repeat. The Captain was to come home Friday morning. The Botanist and I were going to clean, visit The Captain and then head to the Adventure Run at the Running Store. I haven't run or worked out in 23 days...

5:15 am I woke up, walked the dog, pulled the sheets off my bed and started laundry. Paid some bills and cleaned the kitchen. Ate a quesadilla with chicken, jalapeno cheese and green chile verde sauce (don't judge,) all we have in the house is dinner food.

7:45 I started to order groceries online....password didn't work so I spent some time with online help. I just aabout finish the order when...

8:10 Land line rings...(who uses that?) The Botanist answers and in a panic I hear her say, "You've got to talk to my mom." It was a Dr. from the rehab facility....and he said.....

"We think Russ is having a 'small' heart attack. You don't need to rush down here. We are going to transfer him to our hospital in Mountain View."

NO WAY! He has his own Dr's here at Sequoia who know his history. He will NOT be transported anywhere but Sequoia!

8:25 The Botanist and I are in the car going 70 MPH in the 65 all the way there.

9:05 We rush into his room to find him sleeping in bed with no monitors and looking very peaceful. He awakens and says "Hello!" We are so panicked and shaken that we can barely talk. He has no clue that he is supposed to be having a heart attack!!!!

9:10  Someone comes in to do an EKG. I can see he is in A Fib again but that is about all I can read. Then a Dr comes in and I ask about his medications.....seems someone felt it necessary to "hold" two important meds because his blood pressure was "too low." When he was admitted I specifically said that I was to be notified of any changes to his meds. That way I could work with his cardiologist. The Captain's case is very unique....no one survives this and the Dr's have been very specific to tell us why he is not receiving meds that they would normally give in this situation. I had the nurse give me print outs of the medications and note which ones were held. I was also upset the day before because The Captain is on a caffeine free diet and twice I came in to find a can of Pepsi or coffee on his tray....wtf kind of place is this? Definitely not a cardiac rehab.

10:55 Ambulance transport to Sequoia Hospital. My 3rd ambulance ride- none of which have been for me....one for The Biologist, one for a student at school who broke her arm and this time for The Captain.

11:05 Admitted to the ER...thank you very much that will be another $150 copay please.

11:20 EKG, blood tests, visits with nurses who were on duty July 2 for the original admit. All were so sweet and had admitted they followed up to find out how well he was doing while at the hospital...all told him how lucky he was and how frightened they were when he was in ER.

12:00 Cardiologists confirm there was no "small" heart attack...his A Fib was back unfortunately. 

1:40 Upstairs to have a cardio-version and the shock to the heart to attempt to get it back into rhythm.

3:00 The team finally assembles...The captain is prepped, throat numbed and propophyl given and the camera is sent down to see if there are any clots in the heart...then the zaps are administered. The anxiety I felt during the two of these procedures take its toll on me...I have only felt this fear when The Biologist was dx with cancer in 2002.

3:20 The Botanist and I can hear the zap machine 3x...we know that isn't good because they can only try 3x...The Captains heart just wouldn't reset. But tests reveal that his heart can handle the A Fib for right now. We are allowed back in the room where we visited with the Dr and nurses until The Captain was discharged.

5:10 We are discharged! Sprung!!

5:25 We are in the car at the height of rush hour on our way to pick up all the prescriptions.

6:20 We arrive at home!! I am sooooo hungry I could eat clams...and I hate clams...but I hadn't eaten since 5:30 a.m. I dropped everyone off and headed to El Chorrito for burritos. While I was waiting for my order I heard my name being called...I was so happy to see and get hugs from a student who I taught in Kinder, first and through December of 2nd grade...a sweet little girl and her mom were eating there. What a nice way to end my evening!

7:00  Dinner alas!!

7:30  Meds and a little TV and The Captain was crashed in his chair. I had to go in and put the clean sheets on the bed. I had a little more energy from dinner...but what an exhausting, unexpected day.

10:30 I was out for the count.

*LIVESTRONG*LOVESTRONGER*LAUGH HARDER*NOT MAKING ANY PLANS HERE*

Lucky Part II

Day 14. Yesterday The Captain was moved from ICU to the Cardiac Surveillance Unit. It was confusing for him and he was agitated with the roommate noise (and smell,) and traffic in front of the door. After walking the entire 2nd floor and settling back in after the roommate was discharged, it was more relaxing. But the day is filled with Respiratory Therapy treatments, Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, antibiotic IV drip and a visit from the social worker, case work and a herd of cardiac doctors. No rest for the caregiver or patient!

The stroke was located in the vision center and it is coming to light through therapy just exactly what we need to work on. His memory center of the brain was not affected although his short term memory was so poor it was frightening! He just wouldn't talk about long term things so it was hard to tell he could remember. Each day there is improvement with his short memory...in fact there is a difference from morning to evening thank goodness! Today he has been talking about the dog, Chicago and the fact that my summer is almost over. Whew! If you were to look at him there are no visible signs of a stroke.

He has only been conscious since late Friday night/Saturday morning so much progress has been made. Tomorrow my kids and I are going to look at a rehab facility where he can get 3 hours of therapy each day. I felt first that I wanted him home but now I see that this may be best. I cannot believe that some people just choose a facility without going to visit...unless I think I could stay there, there is no way I would send a family member there!

Thank you for your kind words and prayers.
XXOO!

*LIVESTRONG*LOVESTRONGER*LAUGH HARDER* HUG YOUR CAPTAIN*