Day 7, Got to go HOME!

So as the title for this post says I am home now but let me catch you up on the last few days.

The last time I updated things I was awaiting the results of an EKG test for the conduction thing that was seen in the last EKG. Well, this was just a miss measurement and was determined not to be a problem. Yippy! We all were very glad to hear these good results.

Another thing that I left you with on the last post was that I was waiting to get my second chest tube out after the x-rays were taken. Unfortunately they wanted to leave the tubes in on Day 5 (Sunday) for a little longer to see if any more drainage was going to come out. They ended up not taking the tube out until Monday late morning. I have lots to say about Monday in just a bit.

Later on Sunday afternoon after another thrilling victory by the Broncos, I had some visits from some of my friends. Darin, Ali and their boy Sam stopped by and brought us some nice flowers for our room. Later, my friends Paul and Heather stopped by and got us dinner. They also told us that they picked a date for their wedding. It was good to hear about stuff going on in the outside world.

Mom holds me up so I can watch the Broncos game.

Now for Monday, that was quite a day. If I were to put a title for Monday it would have been "a bad case of the Monday's". I had one procedure after another for what seemed to be all day. None of the procedures were fun at all. As we were all sleeping at ~8AM there was a knock on the door and it's the echocardiogram technician ready to do a 45minute long look at my heart so that the doctors could see if the repair was successful and how my heart was doing. I did okay with this test because I pretty slept during the whole thing but then started to get very hungry with about 15minutes left. I think Mom and Dad slept a little bit during this time as well while they were holding me still. Without any time to breath the lab tech game up to take me down for an x-ray on my chest. The x-ray test required me to have my arms pulled all the way above my head, not the best thing to do after open heart surgery I might add. I also had the last chest tube and pacer wires pulled out after the x-ray results showed no more fluid in my chest cavity. They gave me Morphine prior to the pull but I think they actually just gave me sugar water because I was not happy at all, and for quite some time. I also had a failed attempt at getting a blood draw via a heel prick (two pricks actually) even though my parents warned the nurse that I have not had successful heel pricks in the past. Later they had to find some place left unpoked on my little body to poke me for a vein draw for the blood test. Again, this was not fun but at least it only lasted a minute or two instead of the 20 minutes for the failed heel pricks. The new formula has also caused me to be a little more backed up then I usually am and needed a suppository to help move things along. A necessary evil that ended up doing the job, and quite well as a matter of fact. A group of doctors stopped by to discuss the results from the echo that was done early in the morning. They noticed that the pressure was a little bit high in my right ventricular side and as such I would need to stay on oxygen for a little while after going home. With all of the possible outcomes with such an involved surgery we will take this. I don't like having the little tubes up my nose but we'll see how that goes over the next few weeks. After all of the stress and business that went on during the day we all slept very well that night.

Man, Monday was a long day!

I needed a swing to help calm down after my blood draw.

Tuesday Day 7. We all woke up feeling a little better about the day ahead. We didn't know that we were going to be discharged from the hospital for sure but there were a few hints from a few nurses and doctors the day before. I just thought they saw that we were all a bit down and thought this may make us feel a bit better. Mom and Dad prayed that we could all have the strength to make it through how ever many more days that we needed to be there and we took on the day with a renewed energy.

Our energy was tested pretty early on when I had to go down to get another chest x-ray. Dad helped me with my arms and I did very well. I stretched my arms way above my head and did everything they needed without one little peep. I knew it might be the last one and just got er' done. Later the doctors told us that the x-rays looked good and that we could go home.

We got set up with oxygen from the hospital and a referral for a gas company near our home. We were given prescriptions for the medicine that I needed and had one last discussion with the doctors and the nurses. We were free to go. I thanked them all for helping me to be able to live a more active and longer life.

We are out of here. Thanks doc's!

I'm wearing an outfit home that I got from one of my Mom coworkers Joey. It goes pretty well with the quilt on my bed don't you think? By the way, we got to take the quilt home as a "parting gift" from some volunteers at the hospital.

It's great to be home and to see my pal Boscoe. My friend Leah and her son stopped by with a wonderful dinner. It was perfect timing as we had just got settled in and realized that we were starving. It was a very nice gesture and we really appreciated it. We have such wonderful and supportive friends. Now that we are home Mom and Dad have to figure out how to take care of me without the aid of the nurses. I think they will do fine even though they may be a little scared. They have become use to looking at the monitors to see if my oxygen tubes are still in and now I just have to try and not pull them out when they tickle my nose. Needless to say we have a bit of adjusting to do with the oxygen but what a big step and what a relief it is to be home.

I'm telling Mom how glad I am to be home.

Thanks everyone for your prayers and thoughts over the last week. Mom, Dad and I all felt it and God gave us the strength to get through it and come out on the other side ready to take on the next challenges that will come.

We cannot wait to go to sleep in our own beds. I can hear it calling to me now. Goodnight everyone.

Love,
Lydia