Finally Home -- some comments from Linda

Dear family and friends, 

I am so happy to be home finnnnnnnally.  It's so wonderful to sleep in my own bed, have my own recliner and be back with Mandy, who's been invaluable this summer, and our two dogs.

I still have to work out the exact dose of diuretics I need to be taking to stay out of trouble and keep from getting out of breath.

I can't begin to thank all of you for your support, positive thoughts and love. I have needed this to keep going through some difficult days. John told me every day who emailed and responded to the blog.

We are both in need of lots of rest to recover from the last two months. My wound is very small now and the new home health nurse came by yesterday to check on it.  I can be reached by home phone, 839-7877 or by cell, 834-2938, between 10 am and 9 pm and will be ready for local guests by mid week.

The main thing is that my heart has healed and appears to be working very well--no more leaky valve. Now I just need time to get strong again; the surgeon said that it will take about 6 months for the heart to completely heal; then I will go back to Stanford for a follow-up visit.  We were so fortunate to have such a terrific cardiologist and the surgeon's nurse to provide ongoing, caring support the last 5 weeks--these people are truly the best of the best.

Thank you all so much for your healing thoughts and care, love, Linda

Friday August 7th, 12:12 M

Hi.  We are home!  Mandy had cleaned the house and Linda had her meds and went to sleep.  We had a message on our phone from the local home- health folks that a nurse would arrive today to assist us.  Great!  Linda's dad and his care givers were, throughout this process, so caring and thoughtful.  While we were glad to leave Geyserville for home, we appreciate, so much, the help rendered by Bill McCutchan and his caregivers.  Now, we have to keep Linda on course with meds, dressing changes and shots and we have to attend to all the unpaid bills and other issues we could not respond to while we were gone.  In addition, Linda's diet is to be infused with protein to in assist healing.  I'll communicate more today, after the home health person arrives and intervenes.  John

Update, Thursday August 6th, 1AM

Hi. Yesterday, at about 7:45 PM, Linda was exited from Stanford Hospital! We ate a little snack and took a slow trip up to Geyserville, where we are now. Linda is now sleeping. I packed her wound, gave her the required meds and tucked her in. Now, I can blog.

Linda is off oxygen and IV diuretics and is able to walk a bit, although she takes care not to overextend herself to the point of being winded. Tomorrow, after sleeping in, we will complete our trip to McKinleyville. Linda is looking forward to sleeping in her bed and seeing Mandy and enjoying her dogs. She is, also, anxious to begin eating whole foods...gradually.

Her wound must be packed three times a day, she must be given injections once a day, for intestinal motility, and she must take a range of meds. I think she does not relish the fact that I give her injections, but, the Stanford staff trained me and the shots are just given under the skin, not into muscle. We will be visited three times a week by home health nurses to assure that she progresses and that we are doing things correctly. So, we'll be in good hands and in our own home and with our Humboldt friends and family. Mandy will leave for Fresno State on the 14th and this means that she will get very little time with her mom. She has really stepped up and taken care of our home and dogs for the 8 weeks we have been away.

I'm tired right now, and, so, I will sign off and blog more tomorrow, once we are in place in McKinleyville. Again, my thanks to all. There is no way we could have survived this difficult time without all the care, generosity and concern manifested by all of you. WE are lucky people to have you in our lives. John

Update August 4th, Tuesday, 11:38 PM

Hi. A much better day today. Linda walked, remained free from the need for oxygen and was doing well with the diuretics. Tomorrow, the staff plans to give her oral diuretics and, if she does well, send her home in the afternoon. If, so, we will travel to Geyserville, spend the night and continue to McKinleyville, Thursday. I've got my fingers crossed that all of this goes well ,but, dare not count on this happening for fear that something will, once again, derail our plans. It has been a long road and there is a good chance that we are seeing the end of this part of our journey taking shape. More tomorrow. John

Update August 3rd, Monday, 11:11 Pm

Hi. Linda had a less than great day. She suffered a nose bleed at 4AM and the bleed lasted 4 hours! The nose bleed was a product of the prescribed Plavix, which is a blood thinner, and irritation of the nasal passageways on the part of the oxygen system, which includes a nasal tube. She was able to get back to sleep this morning, but, once she was up, she had trouble functioning well without the aide of oxygen. In addition, the medical staff took Linda off IV diuretics and gave her oral diuretics, and, the oral means was not efficient and led to less evacuation of of fluid from her lungs. The staff made these changes to her treatment as efforts to have Linda ready to go home, where IV systems are not realistic and oxygen is difficult to deal with. Today, in response to the problems noted today, the staff increased her oral diuretic dosage and applied her oxygen at a reduced pressure rate. I think we were all a little too optimistic about Linda's status, based on how well she did yesterday.

Good news, includes the fact that her wound continues to heal at a good rate and her surgery, in fact, repaired her, here-to-fore, defective heart valve; no signs of leakage and blood pressure is within normal limits. Linda continues on a liquid diet and her abdomen is softer, and, Linda does not experience the abdominal pressure against her lungs that she felt earlier last week.

So, tomorrow, we will look at how Linda is doing and look at a slower process ( slower than the means initially used today ) to assist Linda in being able to go home. Until tomorrow, John

Update M onday August 2, 1:17 AM

Hi. Just returned to the motel after taking Emma back to SF. She came down today to see her mom. Linda had a good day. She walked and seems better able to breathe. Her abdomen continues to improve. We will see later today how the medical staff size her up as to level of imrovement. My guess is that she will be still in the hospital through Tuesday. But I may be wrong and we may be given a green light before Tuesday. Linda will have to be feeling better before we will risk taking her home. I will blog more later today to let you know about her status. John