He's Home!

Dad was finally released from the hospital yesterday! They have pulled the two drains and will monitor how he's doing over the next couple of weeks to see if this latest surgery did the trick. We're watching for swelling in his lower body, rapid breathing and the extreme fatigue he was feeling before the window pericardial surgery and hoping that those symptoms don't come back. If they do, then we'll discuss options with his doctors at that time.

Dad has loved hearing from so many of you and for the many hospital visits he received over the past few weeks. Jan and Anne Bagley, Jim and Beau Carlson, Lynette Randall, Jay and Tammy Minick, Keith Wallace, Gail and TC Conlin ..... the list goes on! Thank you for your encouraging words and prayers. Thank you to the sweet neighbors and members of my parents ward who have brought in meals and checked in daily with our Mom. Thank you to the wonderful nurses and doctors at the U who are always so compassionate and patient with all of us. And thanks to Dads lung donor and their family for making all of this service and compassion possible, and for giving my Dad a second chance at a beautiful life.

Out Of Surgery Now

Dad made it through the surgery just fine and is recovering now.  We'll be able to see him in about an hour or so.  Dr. McKeller came out and explained that he was able to create a small window in his pericardial sac to help drain any fluid build up in the future.  He said that the outer pericardial sac - the shell that holds the heart) actually wasn't as hard as he thought it would be, but that the inner sac, which is actually attached to the heart, almost like an outer skin layer that has blood vessels attached, was actually thicker than he was hoping to find.  This could be a problem because if, in a couple of weeks, Dad starts feeling the same symptoms again (compressed chest, lower body swelling, fatigue) it means that his heart is still constricted, and Dr. McKeller said that trying to surgically remove the inner sac is a much riskier surgery because of the high potential for blood loss.  They have taken samples of the sac which will be evaluated for any signs of disease, TB or fungus (which he said he thinks is highly unlikely) and they said we won't have the results for a month or so.

So, the good news is that Dad made it through the surgery with flying colors, that his new lung is actually doing awesome, and that this new window should help with fluid drainage.  Hopefully that will be enough and he'll be feeling much better within a couple of weeks after recovering from this surgery.  We will all be praying that he continues to feel better and not worse over the coming weeks so he can finally have a chance to enjoy his new lung.  If all goes well, he should be able to go home on Sunday.

Here we go ...

Dads the one in the blue. I'll feel a whole lot better when he's in the red. Coincidence that the color "red" represents the finish line of the surgery? I think not. :)

Twas The Night Before Surgery ...

Since the fluid build up has increased in the last 24 hours, they're just going ahead with the surgery to put a window in his pericardial sac. Surgery should be around 7:30-8am and will last about an hour. If all goes well he should be home by Sunday. The girls and I made it up from St. George just in time to come see him and get some much-needed hugs from Grandpa. We had a little family prayer with him from Annie and we all agreed that we feel really good about tomorrow.

On our way into the all-to-familiar lobby of the hospital tonight we ran into Keith Wallace, one of Dads best friends, as he was just leaving from visiting Dad. And my cute niece from my previous marriage, Lynette - a freshman at the U- had come to visit Dad earlier today which was great - he loves an excuse to hear all about campus life and her plans at the U.

Thanks to all of you for everything - we love you!

Here's the latest ....

Well, unfortunately the fluid around Dad's heart didn't drain completely and as quickly as his doctors would have liked, so the plan as of tonight is that they will remove the chest tube tomorrow morning, then wait 24 hours before they can do another echocardiogram to get a good look at his heart.  From what Dad told me tonight, the doctors will then go ahead and do the more minor of the two surgeries where they will cut a small window in his pericardial sac and insert a small drain that will remain there permanently to allow the fluid build up to drain into his body.  Because of his recent blood clots, his doctors would rather wait to do the more invasive heart surgery to remove the pericardial sac completely when his body has had more time to recover from the blood thinners and such.

So, it looks like he'll be having surgery sometime on Thursday and from there, who knows?  He thinks he'll be going home right away, but I think we need a bit more information from the doctors before we can plan on that.  If I know my dad, he'll do and say anything to get out of there in time to go to the Utah/BYU football game on September 15th.  To be honest, I'm fairly confident there are a couple hundred of his family and friends who love him enough to ban together, bust him out of there and wheel him down to the stadium ourselves!

As I was saying goodbye to him on the phone tonight, he said "I just don't want this to be how my grandkids remember me .... all hooked up to machines lyin' around in a hospital bed.  I've got stuff I need to do with them!"  He's got places to go and people to see, dang-it!  Don't worry Dad - I'm pretty sure when they think of you, years from now, the pictures in their head look a little something more like this ....

Better News Today

Bryan just emailed this update Sunday morning:

Just met with Dr McKellar up at the U who is the Cardiothorasic Surgeon. He looks very hopeful and likes the progress that he sees with Dad at this point. The swelling in legs and abdomen is continuing to go down and is breathing a little easier now. The plan looks like they will pull the drain from his pericardium tomorrow, keep him overnight and repeat the echo. If all goes well then he will go home.

IF, when Dad gets home and he feels like he is "stalling-out" again and not feeling better then they will do the Pericardectomy within the week. All of this depends on HIS symptoms and how he feels. He should be able to walk on treadmill for 20+ minutes without a problem. I really like this guy, he is definitely looking to "NOT" do the procedure unless it will make him feel a ton better. He also mentioned that the risk of this procedure is not very high with Dads condition.

Jake, Josh and Grandpa O :)

Home Is Where The Heart Is

For those of you who haven't heard yet, Dad's been back at University Hospital since Tuesday 8/28/12 because of the increased swelling in his legs that has spread into his abdomen.  It's the reason why he wasn't at the Utes season opener last Thursday - literally being in the hospital is THE ONLY thing that would keep that guy away from a game at Rice Eccles :)   (Warning:  I know I'm going to mess up the medical jargon here when I try to explain what's going on with Dad - especially since I'm here in St. George and haven't heard it first hand from the docs like Mom and Bry and Carter, but  we wanted to get something posted anyway.)

He's been feeling progressivley worse and more fatigued since his blood clots last month.  His transplant team turned him over to the cardio thorasic team at the U to try to figure out what was going on, and after coming in for a CT scan and numerous other tests, the docs found that he had a lot of fluid building up around his heart - inside the pericardial sac that holds the heart.  They were all stumped as to what was causing the fluid build up, but they said that that pressure on the heart is what's been causing his swelling, fatigue, shortness of breath and slow recovery.  He had a right/left heart cath done on Thursday morning where they were able to insert a tube to drain the fluid and also were able to get a picture of what's going on in his heart.

They found that the pericardial sac has hardened up into a shell and either needs to be removed all together, or will have to have a small window cut out of it to prevent future fluid build up. Basically, he has to have heart surgery sometime here in the next week or so. The doctors told us that this is most likely a result of the surgical complications he endured during his lung transplant almost nine months ago.  What was supposed to be a 3-4 hour surgery back on Christmas Eve ended up taking almost 11 hours because his aorta was accidentally knicked and he almost bled out on the table.  Basically, he has to have heart surgery sometime here in the next week or so :(

They're watching him now and are running tests on the fluid that's still draining which will determine how urgent the need for surgery is.  Hopefully it will stop draining altogether and he'll be able to go home for a couple of days before being readmitted for open heart surgery.  His attitude, is of course, awesome and although we're all extremely nervous about how well his frail body can endure a surgery like this, we're also relieved that finally there's an explanation as to why his recovery has been so difficult - especially when his new lung has been doing so well.  I still have questions that will hopefully be answered soon about the effects of having your pericardial sac removed, the effects of heart surgery on his new lung, etc.

We'll keep you posted as soon as we hear anymore news.  A day doesn't go by that we aren't humbled and grateful that he's still here with us and fighting for the life he loves so much.  We love all of you more that words can say and are continuously grateful for your prayers and concern!