Tyler's Heart

Pictures - Pictures from Houston.
LVAD Video - A YouTube video about living with an LVAD.
HeartMate II Video Clip - Short video clip about the pump Tyler has.

Another good blog to read is from our friend Bill. Cozumel Part 1 - This Might Be Habit Forming.

Monday, December 28, 2009

New Routine & Waiting

It has been 6 days since Tyler left the hospital. No alarms, no scares. Maybe one scare when Tyler hit the self-test button by accident in the middle of the night and all the alarms started testing. Neither of us panicked. I got up to check but before I got there Tyler had already figured out what had happened. We both went right back to sleep. Okay, maybe a few more scares when 6am, 9am, 2pm, 5pm, or 10pm comes around and the realization hits that medicine needs to be taken.

We went in for blood work Monday and there is a problem with his INR ratio which measures the coagulation properties of his blood. It is at 1.4 and I believe they would like it to be around 2.0. When he was still at the hospital it went down to 1.6 and they gave him a blood transfusion of about 2.5 pints. We don't want to do that again. Tyler was asked if he had been eating salads over the past couple of days. That is when we became aware that we shouldn't have been eating foods high in Vitamin K, like green vegetables, as it reacts to the Coumadin (blood thinner) medication. I say "aware" because we may have been told during the rush of information and forgot. So, no eating the good stuff anymore, like vegetables. We've looked up stuff high in Vitamin K and will be avoiding these.

We took a 40 minute walk outside of the apartment Sunday since it was a nice sunny day in the upper 60s. I guess doing the initial recovery in Houston isn't such a bad thing after all. Could be in Denver with snow and temperatures in just the 20s. Tyler is walking further and a little faster and better.

Wednesday we go to "clinic" which is the LVAD clinic appointment we will have every week. This is to make sure things still look good. Next week cardiac therapy begins.

I have run Tyler around on errands and he tends to get a bit car sick. I'm sure it has everything to do with the medicine and nothing to do with my driving.

We are trying to adjust to a new routine. Morning is made up of taking pills at 6am (then more sleep), then logging vitals like weight and temperature. Also running self-tests on the system controller and power module. Then trying to figure out the best way for Tyler to take a shower. Then the dressing change. Then pills at 9am. Figuring out what needs to be done that day....grocery store, set up doctor's appointments, PT exercises, Robert's work, dealing with Social Security forms, and more. Each day we get a little better at the new routine that will be with us until the heart transplant (which will then bring another different routine).

We are also now in a waiting period. Waiting to see if things go well during the next few weeks. Waiting to see if the transfer of care to Colorado will happen. Waiting to see when we can pack up the car and move to Denver. Hoping that we don't get too grouchy with each other.

But hopefully the days will become more routine even if it is still a weird.

Robert

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