A front and chest x-ray was done and apparently some fluid was found - my guess at the site where the chest tube had been. They had it clamped yesterday and then removed it at 2:30 p.m. The doctors are talking about putting a drain in.
His heart is still in rhythm. Yeah!
He will also have an echocardiogram this morning.
A verse my friend Lorraine sent me ... what a great verse, I don't remember seeing this before. I think it is because of the translation/version. In the New King James Version it reads different. I like how it reads here.
Psalm 42:11 (TLB): "But, O my soul, don't be discouraged. Don't be upset. Expect God to act! For I know that I shall again have plenty of reason to praise him for all that he will do. He is my help! He is my God!"
Our hope for Jim to be released today remains in God's control. No matter how much we would like him home, God knows he needs to stay in the hospital for now.
The chest x-ray shows bubbles in his lungs, so a pigtail drain will be put in where the chest tube had been. So once the doctor is out of big-time surgery, he will do little-time surgery on Jim in his bed in his room. I think I will be absent during that period.
As for his heart, although for the most part it is staying in rhythm, it will at times go out and in and out again. The doctors are concerned of clotting elsewhere in the body or of stroke. So they are considering some type of blood thinner - they have two thoughts .. coumadin or lovenox injection which Jim could give himself.
We don't yet know the results of the echocardiogram.
He did get to take a shower today. First time in over a week. So if you consider visiting, he's clean.
The bedside surgery took place at 2 p.m. The drain was not put in the same place where the chest tube (his right side) had been, but on the front, closer to ride side of neck. At 6:30 p.m. he was given heparin and at bedtime will get the blood thinner coumadin. The doctors say surgery patients get coumadin vs other types of blood thinners. They also seem to think use of the blood thinner is not permanent - that as Jim heals, at some point he will be taken off of it. I pray that is so.
The doctor (Jason Chang, a Fellow with Dr. Parekh) who did the bedside surgery, said they want to see how the drain and the coumadin do for a couple days, so Friday would be the earliest that he might go home.
When Jim told him our plans for going to Northeast Missouri (LaGrange/Hannibal area) over Memorial Day, he suggested we not stray too far from the metro area. So we will be staying local, whether in our home (which would be first choice) or the hospital.
We've started watching movies in the afternoon/evening. Today it was "The Jersey Boys."
I'm sure I'm doing my part in keeping the service stations in business. Three times this week I've filled the tank.
If you're hard up for something to do, come see us wherever we are. You are most welcome.
