On the road to recovery

The past week at home has presented some unusual challenges for me. Not being the kind of person that stays still, it's been really tough to accept some of the physical limitations placed on me. Next week when I attend cardiac rehab, I will increase my weight lifting restrictions to greater than 5lbs per arm. Basically, I am walking 30 minutes each day with an occasional break. I feel like such a turtle compared to last year when I could walk 4 miles per hour. Luckily, I can say that each day is better than the previous, but building stamina takes time. During surgery I received 9 units of blood during, so it will take a good deal of time to turn it into iron rich blood. My appetite has still not returned, and eating a regular sized meal just isn't happening. I am beginning to feel the surgeon threw in a tummy tuck. Michael has been perfect the chef, but after a couple of bites I am full.

Yesterday, I had an appointment with my cardiologist, Dr. Crammer. Twenty-two years ago, he was my cardiologist when I had the St Jude's mechanical valve implanted, and his fabulous nurse, Diane, is still running the show. The best news he gave us yesterday was that the new pig valve has no leakage. The worst news is that he making me stay on the beta blocker, Lopressor, for a couple of months. Since high blood pressure is not an issue for me, it has the tendency to make me tired. Apparently, the thought process is to relieve the heart of any extra duty for the early months.

The medical plan has really changed in the last 22 years. It used to be something like this:
1) Hopefully, the patient survives the surgery.
2) If there are any complications, we will treat them as they arise.
Today's plan is more like this:
1) Surviving the surgery is a given.
2) If it can be measured, then it will be monitored and managed to the perfect level. A great example of this were hourly glucose checks for first 48 hours after surgery.
I can't help but think that lawyers have had something to do with this approach.

I have really appreciated your cards, emails and flowers. I wish all of you the best suceesses, a wonderful summer, and I look forward to seeing you soon.

Finally Home

It's Thursday, May 28th, and we are home. We "broke out" of the joint on Tuesday with no problems. Tommiann is doing well with some exceptions. Acid reflux seems to be common for patients after open heart surgery and this has been keeping her awake along w/ lower back pain. Going back 22 years, I remember that her chest was much more painful than this surgery. If you haven't heard, Tommiann is the recipient of a 3d generation "pig valve". The Ross procedure was not a viable alternative. However, Tommiann will not need to take coumadin (blood thinner). If you want to make her smile, just say "No more Coumadin"!

The Plano Heart Hospital was great organization and facility. Tommiann interviewed each employee (Yes, she really did) about their attitude toward the organization. Everyone interviewed had nothing but praise for the facility. So, we would highly recommend the Plano Heart Hospital if you ever need this type of care.

I have gone from observing Care Givers to Care Provider. This can be tough at times, but I know that she is getting stronger each day. If you have known Tommiann very long, you will know that there is a certain "twinkle" in her eyes. Most of us don't have it (I certainly don't) and it is one of her many qualities which attracted me to her. She still has that twinkle.

Friday Day 3 of Recovery

Friday was a little bit better than Thursday was as far as recovery goes. Mom still didn't have much of an appetite, but she tried her hardest to east a least a little something at every meal. The good thing is that she can eat anything that she wants and can order any time of day. So if she doesn't feel like eating lunch at 12 noon, she can wait until 4 pm if she wants.

Her daily goals for each day is to walk around the second floor of the hospital at least 4 times a day. It adds up to about 400 ft each lap. She is getting better and better at it and I know it's tough getting out of bed. Her other daily goal is to continue her breathing treatments every hour. The breathing treatments are designed to help her expand her lungs as much as possible so that she can breath properly and take in more oxygen. It also helps her get rid of all the fluid in her chest cavity. Unfortunately this is one thing she does not really care for because it's annoying. Especially since it is suppose to be done every hour.

She is also working with the respitory therapist to help clear up all the fluid in her chest. She still has the tube in her chest that is collecting all the fluid drainage. Hopefully by Sunday they will be able to remove it. This is the source of most of her discomfort in bed. It pokes her constantly and there really isn't much else she can do.

Comments

My mom had told me that some people weren't able to leave comments on this blog. So I wanted to let everyone know that if they wanted to send a message to my mother they can email me at rgjacobtcu@hotmail.com and I will be sure to get it to her.

Take care
Rebecca

The Day after Surgery

Well today is the day after surgery and Tommiann is doing really well. She woke up around 5 am this morning. The nurses went ahead and removed a few of the medical tubes and iv's. They also got her to get up out of bed and sitting in a chair. I wasn't there for all of that and I am sure it was painful, but I know my mother did it with a smile on her face as much as possible. Afterwards she went back to bed to sleep a little bit longer and to get some engery because later on they plan on having her walk around a bit. One thing I think she has definitely noticed is that it is a lot different having a major surgery at 55 than it was at 33. I couldn't imagine it. But it is all worth it because she no longer will have to take the large amounts of medication on a daily basis, No More Coumadin. That is really a huge relief to mom because it was irritating having to take the medication. As the day goes on she is getting better and better. Her heart rate is stable and there have been no complications whatsoever.

If you would like to send flowers she can accept them in her room tomorrow. She wasn't allowed anything for the first 48 hours.

Baylor Heart Hospital of Plano
Tommiann Jacob
Room #211

Thank you to everyone for your support and prayers. As a family we really do appreciate it because my mother means the world to us.

Rebecca Porter
(Tommiann's Daughter)

A Successful Surgery

I wanted to let everyone know that my mother's surgery was a success! Yeah!!! She checked into the hospital around 5 am Wednesday morning and they began the surgery around 7:30am. Everything went great. The Doctor wasn't able to preform the ROSS procedure, so she received a pig valve instead. It isn't that big of a deal because it doesn't really change any of the outcome of the surgery. Around 12:30pm she was wheeled back into her room for recovery and wasn't allowed any visitors for about 2 hours. They wanted to monitor her and get her all comfortable for her stay. She pretty much slept the entire rest of the day and night with a few awakings to ask for ice and to say hello to family. They wanted her to sleep as much as possible because the next day she was going to need all her strength. She is such a trooper.

One down, two to go.

Well, Friday was interesting. For the prior 5 days I was forced to self-inject Lovenox 50mg twice daily in my abdomen. It's way much cooler to give someone else a shot. Anyway, this was a necessary evil that had to be done before the cardiac catherization and ascending arteriorgram was performed on Friday. The surgeon doesn't want to be surprised and have to perform a bypass. Surprisingly, my vessels were clear. Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too?

That was one procedure, and the remaining two will be on Wednesday.

Before I forget, I want to thank all my new blood brothers, sisters and daughter. Please know if I do not use your blood, the folks who receive it are also grateful.

I am leaving the next couple of updates for my family to post. Check in anytime and share with the people I have left out by mistake.

I miss all of you, and many thanks for your prayers.

Tommiann