Elvis Has Left the Building...

...she's flown the coop...taken a hike...she's OUT!



































at 1:30 PM today the nurse wheeled mom out and we screeched out of there as fast as we could! :-) She is comfortably resting in her favorite chair, happy to be home. We will need to get some new prescriptions filled on Monday, and soon she will begin some rehab at the hospital, but we are so happy to have her home again.

Your prayers, visits, cards, and good wishes have been so helpful and so appreciated...

Another Possible "Coming Home" Date

Mom is feeling a bit better today. The pain she was experiencing due to the urinary tract infection is gone, because they have removed the catheter. She was told that if no other "incidents" occur in the next 24 hours, then she can come home to continue her recuperation. So we are hoping for no incidents!

Katie performed in her holiday concert yesterday and did not forget any of her lines. She did a super job, and the kids were adorable. Katie's class sang the Twelve Hawaiian Days of Christmas, and as the song built, so did a couple of the little boys' voices, until at the end they were pretty much shouting. The audience (especially the kindergarten students seated nearby) was laughing so hard the tears were coming. It was priceless. Our family was seated almost at the very back of the multi-purpose room, but I took a bit of video and some really bad pictures anyway. I will try to post them here later. Not sure how good they will be, but what the heck!

Mom says hello to all and many thanks for all the love and support that has been coming her way. I echo her sentiments!

I wonder if we will be able to get our tree up this weekend? Is yours up?

More Delays...Grrrr.

It was hoped the mom could come home today, but that is not to be.

She is still experiencing trouble breathing, as her kidney is not working properly due to the stress of the angioplasty, which results in that fluid accumulation. In addition, she has developed a urinary tract infection, and her blood counts are very low. (Red blood cell creation is affected by the kidney.) She received another blood transfusion (her second this week) to get her red blood cell count up, and is receiving antibiotics to get the infection taken care of. She is also in stronger medication to help the kidney eliminate all the extra fluid her body accumulated since the procedure, which seems to be working. They have also put her back on the nitro to help open the blood vessels and relieve that fluid even more.

She was feeling a bit low this morning, but after we chatted for a while she is feeling a bit better and trying to stay positive. It's been 2 weeks now, so she is, understandably, a little frustrated. She is still in Room 229 and able to receive visitors and phone calls.

Just wanted to keep you updated...

Angio Update #3

Mom is resting very comfortably now. The doctor has approved removing the catheter. They have her on an IV drip of iron, since her iron levels seemed low, and the nurse says this will also help the fluid leave her system more effectively. Dr. Kremer says her creatinine is actually a bit lower, 2.3, probably due to all the fluid they pumped through her system. Her breathing is back to normal; she says it was the most scared she's ever been. It took them quite some time to get it settled. (I guess they did not call me in for quite some time after they finished the angioplasty, as she was having such a hard time breathing.) She said that once they started the morphine, it settled down. I suspect she was hyperventilating and scaring herself, and the meds relaxed her.

Eric the Supernurse (he rocks) says that here within the hour she can get some food and remove the catheter and start on the road to recovery. He'll ask me to leave when he removes the catheter; it's quite the procedure, with them having to put pressure on the artery for 30 minutes or more to stop the bleeding. That will be about the right time for me to head home. I have some colleagues coming by so we can work on a project for our e-learning course we are taking at UAA. It's getting down to the wire and we have a lot to do to finish our group project.

Anne and I have been Skyping throughout this afternoon, and Dr. Kremer was able to talk to Anne about mom's condition. He was very curious about Skype and asked some questions about it. Another tech convert? :-) The staff here has been very impressed by the way we've used Skype to keep Anne in the loop...

I will try to see if I can visit with mom later this evening. More updates as I get them, but please know the prayers are helping and she is breathing easier. She also has more color in her face than she has had in 2 weeks. Yay! :-)

Angio Update #2

The angioplasty is complete, and after some serious hustling to get her set up, mom is resting in her new room, Room 229. She is receiving a bit of pain medication to take the edge off, is hooked to so many wires that I am having a hard time seeing her, and is pumped full of fluid again to protect her kidney. She had some trouble breathing on her way up here, which Dr. Kramer says is due to her large fluid retention for now. They are doing an echocardiogram and a chest x-ray to see how everything is, and I will post again when I hear what the results are. She is pretty wiped out, needless to say, but Dr, Kramer said he was able to get the stent in just fine and the procedure was a success. I suppose time will tell...

More news to follow when I have it...please pray for quick recovery and easy breathing.

Angio Update #1

They came and got mom at about 10:00 AM this morning, but didn't start the procedure until about 10:45. She had the best night of sleep she's had in days, so she is well rested. The doctor who is performing her angioplasty (Dr. Kramer) comes very highly recommended; I guess he is their expert and everyone says he's the one they'd want if they had to have the procedure. (Dr. Tucker, mom's nephrologist, made it very clear that Kramer was his preferred doctor for this procedure.)

We'll be moving back to the Cardio Vascular Internvention Unit (CVIU) after this procedure, the same area she started in.

I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you who've left comments. I had a moment to read through them all, and they are such wonderful sentiments. I apologize for not replying to each one. Please consider yourself hugged....

We Have a Scheduled Angioplasty

Well, mom has been receiving a lot of different directives the past few days. On Saturday, we were still in wait and see mode. We were waiting and seeing if the kidney got better enough to do the angioplasty, possible on Monday or Tuesday. Then, on Sunday, the cardiologist who was overseeing mom for the weekend told her they were planning to send her home until her kidney was better, and then she would come back in for the angioplasty. (We did NOT Like that idea at all.)

So today her regular kidney doctor came to see her, and when she mentioned going home, he said, "What?!" He thought absolutely NOT! He said he would be talking with the cardiologist. Then he also said that her blood counts were suddenly low. So he ordered a blood transfusion. Of course, mom has to have AB (very rare) blood, and in addition, she has some sort of unidentified antibody in her blood that further made it difficult to find blood! (Anne just informed mom that she is "a little weird.") But we finally have some located, and the transfusion should begin soon.

Finally, her nurse brought her dinner, and reminded mom that she would not get any food after midnight, due to the angioplasty tomorrow morning! What? We had no idea! But yes, we are supposed to be doing the stent tomorrow morning!

So, despite feeling like we are on a roller coaster, we are cautiously optimistic that we will be having the procedure tomorrow morning. Prayers welcomed for a speedy procedure and recovery! I will blog tomorrow to tell you more!