Cardioverted and Back Home

Everything went fine today -- just like clockwork. In and out. But they sent us to the O.R. instead of the cath lab today because the cath lab was booked. They had some emergency surgeries which pushed us back a little bit (2 and 3/4 hours to be exact) but Dr. T popped in and helped the time pass. Bailey got an opportunity to shoot him with a syringe full of water and he retaliated by dumping a glass of water down the front of her clothes. Just like old times. He pulled the curtain to our little waiting area because he said, "no one needs to see this." He's such a good guy -- always fun to see him.

Bailey starts driver's ed on Monday. We're hoping she can have a good 3-week stretch which will be long enough to finish her classes. We'll see!

Have a good night!

Angie

Out of Rhythm - Makes 9

Not that I'm counting or anything. It started last night (Mon.). She felt her heart feeling "funny" but it would come and go. Woke up this morning and decided to do a phone transmission (pacemaker reading). Then got a call from Dr. Hubbard to come on in and get an EKG because they couldn't really tell for sure. The EKG was definitive. But Dr. Darragh gave Bailey permission to go ahead and go to the heart transplant picnic at Eagle Creek Park and then the Indians game tonight. She had such a fun time at the picnic - not any other teenagers there, but she had fun hanging out with the Riley staff and the youngers kids. Went to the Indians game tonight and finally got to meet another Riley patient that was on the VAD and received a heart transplant about 3 months ago. She and Bailey talked quite a bit about their experiences. It was nice.

So, back to the hospital in the morning for cardioversion again. Bailey's keeping her spirits up. It helps that she still feels good - it's when she feels crappy that we both tend to get a little down.

Well, if you could pass a few prayers our directions, that would be great!

Thanks for hanging in there with us.

Love to you all,
Angie

We're Home

They decided to let us go home last night (Friday) at 7:00. They were ok with what the heart monitor was showing. So, let's see how long we can stay home this time. Hopefully a long, long time. We're really cracking down on her low-sodium diet. Even went to Borders tonight (in the middle of the thunder storm - we got drenched!) to purchase a few low-sodium cookbooks and reference books. We're gonna kick some sodium toosh now! I really did need the books though. I made some black bean soup today and Bailey, bless her sweet little heart, was shaking her head yes when I would ask (several times) if it was ok, and if it was "doable". Then at the end of the meal, after noticing she hardly ate any of her soup at all (but she devoured the cornbread), she confessed that she didn't think it was very good. We both started laughing. Then I dumped some salt into my bowl and ate the rest. Ha! That's when we decided to take a trip to Borders.

Bailey rides in the Miracle Ride tomorrow with her dad. She's really excited about it, so I hope it doesn't rain on them.

Had fun playing outside today with the girls -- planted some flowers, practiced pitching with Riss (she's pitching in Monday night's tournament game), drank LOTS of iced tea, and watched Tom dig a humongous hole in the back yard with a shovel and a pick to plant his $200 maple tree that's about 15 feet tall. I personally like to mail order the trees -- they come as twigs and you only need a hole about the size of a 2-gallon bucket. That's my speed!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Stay cool and stay dry.

Thank you for your continued prayers!

Angie

Cont'd

Sorry! Had to leave my last post in a hurry - Jennifer came in and said they were ready for Bailey in the cath lab for her cardioversion . . .

So, as I was saying (or maybe I hadn't gotten there yet), I missed Marissa's softball game last night and found out that she pitched! I missed her pitching debut! I guess she did really good. She walked 4 girls (which is the norm for 1st grade pitchers) but she threw some strikes and made some really good throws to 1st base. And then she played 1st base. Her last game is tonight, and I'm hoping we're home so I get to see it. Her tournament starts Monday. She says, "I hope we don't play the pink or black team because we'll lose!"

So, went down to the cath lab for Bailey's cardioversion and Dr. Bramlett - a really nice cardiology fellow who's been with us these past several months so he knows Bailey and her condition really well - met us down there and he rushed in and stopped dead in the doorway and just looks at us and pauses. He has both our undivided attention, and we're waiting for some great words of wisdom, but he just says, "Let's geet 'er done." Boy! Talk like that gives us all the confidence in the world! Ha! No, he's great. He takes good care of us. So, the cardioversion went well and Bailey's already back to her room eating lunch. I don't think we made the deadline for grading her finals (which was 1:00 today - in about 8 minutes). She finished 2 1/2 exams (out of 4) when they came to get her for the procedure. She only has to finish 1 1/2 more and then school's done! Yeah! We made it through her freshman year with ump-teen-million absenses, but at least we made it.

Not sure if we're going home tonight or tomorrow. Dr. B might want to watch her through the night again, but, either way, we'll be home soon.

Another day, another cardioversion. Ha!

Love to all out there -
Angie

Flutter

So, it was yesterday afternoon approximately 5:06 p.m. and Bailey's sitting in her hospital bed working on a brainteaser book and she looks up and shouts out to nurse Jennifer who's sitting at her station right outside Bailey's room, and she says, "Hey, Jennifer! What's my heart rate doing out there?" (The monitors are out in the hallway.) Jennifer looks at it and says, "Well, it's 128. Do you feel like you're in flutter?" So, it goes on and on, and telemetry makes it official that she's in flutter. She fell out of rhythm at 5:06 p.m. Bummer. She's so disappointed because everyone's been saying these past 2 days, "Well, at least you're not in flutter." So she starts crying and then gets mad and then cries again. But that only lasts about 15 minutes, and she's back to her positive little self. We're already here where she needs to be, so they adjust some of her medications that they were weaning her off of in order to be discharged, and schedule her for a cardioversion today.

Good news, though, is that the teacher here at Riley called Bailey's counselor at school, and they have agreed to fax her final exams over and let the Riley teacher give them to her and then fax them back over. So, as I sit here and write, she's taking her final exams. SO NICE to get that over with. She's telling everyone here that she has to be home by Saturday night, at least, because she's riding in the Miracle Ride on Sunday with her dad. He bought her a brand new helmet. I think she looks like Danica Patrick. But everyone's still hopeful to send us home today. I'm hoping for that too, because Marissa's last softball game is tonight.

Gotta go!