Life throws a curve ball!

Well, life is always good for a curve ball isn't it.  Our journey is going to take a small detour now!

This week we got some not so great news about Dad's health.  He went in Tuesday this week to Fairview Southdale for an angiogram and a probable angioplasty for what they believed was a blockage in his coronary arteries.  What they found was that his arteries in general are very calcified and too calcified it turns out for stents.  So, there are more test to be run, but it looks like he will be having open heart surgery in the next 2-3 weeks with a triple or possibly quadruple bypass and possibly some other work on his carotid arteries with a slight chance they may have to do something with his aorta.  We don't have a firm plan of attack yet - he is currently waiting for all the dye they shot into his system to be processed out so they can do a cat scan on his carotid arteries and his aorta.  Once we have all that, then he will decide where and when he wants this done.  We will be there with him and Mom as they face this and we will help anyway we can.

Keep Dad and Mom in your thoughts and prayers and we will update you as we have more info.

Jon & Deb

A "Heartfelt" Poem by Deb for Jon

Second Chances and Restarts

For Jon

by Deb Spence

Two years ago we were told, if not surgery, Jon wouldn't have the chance to grow old.

So we headed to California to give Stanford a try.

We were scared shitless, Dad, Mom, and I.

Dr. Miller was our angel in white; it was comforting talking to him that last night.

Nothing from Guidant per Jon's request. Doc put in a Carbomedics Sorin, For Jon it was the best.

Huddled together just us three, we hung out in the waiting room, Dad, Mom, and me.

Waiting for the nurse to come and give us news, we hung on every word, sometimes worried and sometimes confused.

When Jon went off the heart lung machine, Dad knew that Jon had been through the toughest thing.

His chest was open and he needed a shock or two, but he came through as always like good Jon's do.

It's been two years since this fateful day, Jon is home and healthy, eating whatever he wants, come what may!

Jon, my love I cherish you, for you are my heart and that is for true. Please love and care for that heart, cuz going forward we don't want another restart!

Two year "anniversary"

Two years ago today, at just about this time of the day, I was on my way to surgery to have my heart's aortic valve and a good piece of my aorta replaced and repaired. I'm doing very well physically and mentally (some might argue that point :-) today due in no small part to the efforts of a very dedicated and skilled surgical team under the direction of Dr. D. Craig Miller from the Stanford School of Medicine at Stanford University Hospital in Palo Alto, California. I spent 10 hours that day in surgery. During about 4 of those hours Medtronic equipment and tubing circulated and oxygenated my blood while my heart was stopped for the repair procedure. I have a nice zipper scar down the center of my chest. Surgery, recovery, and recuperation were all routine and without complication. This year my cardiologist said he doesn't need to see me for two years! I take the anti-coagulant coumadin every day (for life) to reduce the chance of blood clots forming on the valve. My coumadin dose has been stable since shortly after surgery with no complications or side-effects to date.

You can read all about what happened two years ago in this blog if you care to. I refreshed my memory of the events as Deb so carefully recorded them and I am very happy to be here looking back instead of where I was two years ago! This is one memory I don't ever want to repeat!

I have been extremely thankful throughout this entire chapter of my life. I am thankful this congenital problem was found before it made my heart very sick. Dr. Miller told my family when we met with him before surgery that, without correction, the chances were not good that I could have survived more than two years. I'm beyond that point now, so I've got a new lease on life today! I am thankful to have a connection with Dr. Stephen Oesterle, Medtronic's Senior VP of Medicine and Technology, who connected me with Dr. Miller. I am thankful to have the support of my wonderful family, friends, and colleagues. Most of all, I am very thankful to have my wonderful partner and wife, Deb, watching my back all the way. All in all, I'm a very thankful (and lucky) guy -- no doubt about it!

Dad, mom, Deb, and I spent Friday night celebrating. We started this journey together two years ago and it was fitting that we celebrate together all we've been through then and since. I thank all three of them for the support, care, and love they have shown me during this side-trip. Deb even wrote me a poem to mark the occasion. I have posted it separately here - it choked me up Friday night at dinner when she read it to us. She continues to amaze me every day!

Thanks to everyone who supported mom, dad, Deb, and I during this roller coaster detour through our lives. We felt your presence in so many ways and it truly helped us all get through it with smiles, laughs, and comfort!

Jon

One year "anniversary"

Three hundred and sixty four days ago I spent 10 hours in an operating room with my chest cracked open so that my congenitally defective aortic valve and several inches of aorta connected to my heart could be removed and replaced by Dr. Craig Miller at Stanford University Hospital with an "after market" upgrade. My heart was cooled to 50 degrees F, and if I'm reading the paperwork correctly my body or parts of it anyway were cooled to 70 degrees F! I was on cardiopulmonary bypass for 228 minutes. I now have a mechanical valve ticking away in my chest and I get to be on blood thinners for the rest of my life. I have an impressive scar down the middle of my chest and a fully healed sternum. But, I'm still here, I'm back to full health, and I've had no complications at all. I am thankful to be here looking back and seeing how well things went. Standing on the other side 365 nights ago was just a little intimidating! Tomorrow will be a much better day than September 18, 2009 was. I'm looking forward to having a celebration dinner with my amazing wife and my incredible parents tomorrow night. Last year I just wasn't up for dinner :-)

Jon

Deb Comes Home!

Finally, Deb comes home from the hospital. She is very happy to be back in her home and surrounded by familiar things. The cats are happy she is home as well.

Health wise, she is still experiencing high levels of pain and her mobility is pretty limited at present. She can get around once she gets on her feet, but the pain levels in transitions from sitting or laying to standing and vice versa are pretty high impact activities. She had a shower this evening and that helped her to feel a whole bunch better. Nothing like cleaning up to put a new spring in your step.

Barb, Dave, and Kevin Karsky stopped by to say hi and welcome us back home. Barb even ran to the grocery store for us -- very nice of her! Mom and Dad stopped by as well. We are all worried about the pain levels, but there doesn't seem to be much we can do except administer pain meds.

Since we just got home today and due to the continued pain levels and mobility issues, I will be working from home tomorrow so that we can get all settled into a routine and make sure Deb is settled. Depending on how it goes tomorrow, we may have Mom and Dad stay with Deb or at least stop by in the morning to check on her. We shall see how tomorrow goes.

Thanks for all the support and good wishes you've sent Deb -- she needed them and they helped. Keep 'em coming for a bit longer so we can get this pain knocked down and get her healing moving in the right direction.

Jon

Deb's Surgery - Day 4

Another no fun day for Deb. She was more alert today, but not much more. During last evening, she had a pretty high temperature and they ran the full gamut of tests on her to find out why. They checked for pneumonia with blood tests and a chest x-ray. They tested her blood for other infections. Turns out she had a urinary tract infection. They gave her some antibiotics and that seems to have taken care of it. She was up early this morning and called me to fill me on what she could remember. Another tough evening.

I arrived around 8:30 and she was somewhat awake, though still too groggy. Pain seemed to be under control, until she moved. She slept most of the morning until about lunch time. Just before lunch the occupational and physical therapy folks were by to see her. She took a very long walk down the hall the the physical therapy room to try out the stair climbing. We did it together to simulate her getting into the house at home and we passed with flying colors (we've done this before). She sat in the chair and we took another little walk before lunch. She had her food and then back to bed. Unless she is active and doing something, she is asleep. Even when doing something you have to watch her every minute so she doesn't nod off on you.

She received a beautiful flower arrangement from her group at work today -- that really brightened her day. Everyone has been commenting on how pretty it is.

Her nurse stopped in at around 2:30 to tell me that she wouldn't be going home today (which I pretty much knew anyway). She is just too out of it when she doesn't have pain and her pain is so high that it would hard for her to function at home. They will check her at rounds tomorrow and we will see if we can get sprung.

Dinner was uneventful, but she hasn't had much pain med today, so it is catching up with her again. The nurses are working carefully to ease her pain without knocking her out, but she is back to sleep again and still complaining of pain when she is awake. Wow, this is not going to be fun for her at all.

I need to head home for the evening, but I will be back in the morning. Hopefully we will be heading home sometime tomorrow.

Keep the good vibes flowing her way -- she really needs them!

Jon

Deb's Surgery - Day 3

Today was definitely NOT a good day for Deb. She called this morning early and wanted me to come and get her because they weren't doing anything for her pain at the hospital. I then called down to the floor at the hospital and suggested that it was time to get the pain specialists involved in this case because so far nothing was working. They assured me they would do that and by the time I got down the hospital (about noon), they had gotten involved. They had Deb on Oxycodone, Valium, morphine, vistaril, and gabapenten. Since they had already had her on Oxycodone and Valium before, I guess they must have upped the dosage this time. They had put an IV catheter in so they could give her morphine. They only gave her anything by IV once while I was there today, and then they realized the IV needed to be replaced! Anyway, once they got her medicated, she basically slept the entire day, and did she ever sleep hard. Since surgery, she thinks she has gotten only a few hours of sleep, so she was way overdue for a good snooze.

She had several visitors today. Our favorite barista from the Caribou Coffee in our Medtronic Mounds View campus, Tiffany, stopped to see her. And, Deb's niece Chane stopped to see her as well. They were both there around noon, when Deb was still awake so they all had a nice visit.

I went to lunch around 1:30 and Deb was sleeping deeply when I came back. She was due for pain meds at 2:30, but we couldn't wake her enough to give them to her, so we decided to wait until a little later. She finally got something around 5:00 again. She ate her dinner at the same time. She would put her fork in something and fall asleep. Then I would wake her and she would take the bite. Then I would wake her and she would chew. And so on, and so on.

Nikki, Jacob, Jessi, Luke, and Henry stopped by to visit, but I am sure that Deb has no idea they were even there. She opened her eyes a few times and smiled big every time she saw the grandsons and kids, but then right back to sleep. We all kept up a pretty active conversation and Jacob and Henry were very active and vocal as well, and she just didn't wake up for any of it. She was out. The kids and grandkids left around 7:30.

I decided to go home around 8:00 and discussed it with Deb's nurse. Then, we went to the room to see how she was doing. Her O2 saturation numbers were very low, so the nurse put her on oxygen. I tried to wake her enough for her to register that I was leaving, but I don't think I was successful. She doesn't seem to have any pain in this state, which is good, but she isn't actually there in this state either! Damned if you do, damned if you don't I guess.

Anyway, I'll go back down tomorrow morning sometime and see how things are going. Hopefully they can begin to wean her down without the pain getting ahead of her this time and we can get to the business of healing and getting her home. Right now it is possible that she may not even get home before Monday unless some things turn around real quickly.

Good night everyone, more updates tomorrow.

Jon