Trials

On Wednesday March 23rd my Dad called me and said that my Mom was being admitted to St. Marks Hospital that day. She had gone in for her normal blood work and the Dr. who was covering her normal cardiologist called her and told her she needed to be admitted immediately! She was in full Heart Failure, Kidney Failure and liver problems. She stayed in the ICU for 2 days and then was transferred by ambulance to IMC for the Heart Transplant team to take over her care. Her Dr. There was Dr. Faroury, we found out that he did my Uncle's heart transplant 16 years ago! My Mom now was under the care of the entire transplant team of 5 Dr's. They immediately did a full work on her with lots of tests. Since it was Friday they wanted to make sure that they got as much testing in before the weekend. Even though she was in the Coronary ICU they still made an exception for the night and allowed Girls night to happen in my Mom's hospital room! All 6 of us! We had a lot of fun! The following day March 26th was my soon to be sister in laws bridal shower. My 2 sisters and I were put in charge since my Mom would not be able to be there. We were able to hook up Skype with Mom so that she could see the shower. We had a great turn out for the shower!! It wore Mom out but it put the biggest smile on her face. Mom's Kidney's continued to only slowly improve. Finally it was decided that Mom would go in for surgery on March 30th to have an LVAD placed! (Left Ventricle Assist Device) Essentially this is a machine that assists the blood flow to be pumped through her heart. It has a tube that comes out her right side that hooks to a machine with batteries. This will help Mom until we can get her Kidney's more healthy and then they will put her on a heart transplant list! This surgery would be full on Open Heart surgery!

Wednesday March 30th 2011. My siblings and I were able to be at the hospital at 5:45am and see Mom all together before she went into surgery. My Sister Emily had worked with my Grandma VanOs and her daughter Kathy and they were able to get Lime Green shirts printed for all of us to wear. On the front they said My <3 Beats for Tamra. On the back it said , smile always, stay strong, and live Long Team Tamra! Mom loved it! We all wished Mom good luck and then headed out to the waiting room to wait. Dad had a rough time. They came out around 8:30am and told us that they were scrubbing her and prepping for the surgery. The surgery is 4-6 hours. Brandon had stayed home with Easton because he had an ear infection and Strep. He dropped Easton off at his parents and then came up to the hospital around 11am. It was nice to have him get there! They called us with a couple of updates letting us know that she was on the heart and lung machine while they got the LVAD in and get it run it right. Then later they let us know that all went well but Dr. Caine the surgeon would close her up slow so it would take about 2 hours. Finally at 4 pm they let us know that she was out and being moved to her room and situated. The Dr. came out at 4:30 and talked to us and then took us back to see her! It was really hard to see her with all those tubes and the Ventilator breathing tube coming out of her mouth. But I was so glad that it all went well! The next day I headed up early in the morning, Easton had slept over at Brandon's parents. Mom's eyes were open so I said Hi and then it got rough, she still had the ventilator tube in so she was unable to talk back. She started throwing her arms up in the air to try and communicate and we finally got her a pen and paper and had her write down what she needed. Once she was able to do that things got easier. I spent 6 or so hours trying to keep my Dad company as he watched my Mom struggle. Friday Mom still had the tube in I only got to see her for less than 5 min. I had Easton with me so my Dad had to go out to the waiting room to watch him and when I went back Mom was resting. She heard my voice when I said hello to the nurse and opened her eyes but I just kissed her and told her I loved her and told her to rest! Saturday I went up in the morning and Easton stayed home with Brandon. I stayed for about 2 or so hours. I studied the book on how to change Mom's sterile dressing and talked to my Dad for a little while. They did a test on my Mom and said that her Ventilator tube could come out!! It was so exciting to see her making progress. They put her on an oxygen mask but she was glad to have that out! Then I had to get home because my brothers were bringing my Grandma's piano from my Mom's house to my house. we wanted to get it out of the way at my Mom's and it is now my piano so it was time to get it here. Sunday I was able to run up in between conference sessions and the nurses showed my Dad, my 2 sisters and I how to change Mom's sterile dressing. It was quite the process. They let Dad do the whole thing and he did great! Mom only had the nasal oxygen in so she was able to talk! It was so nice to hear her voice!!

I have not gone up today. Mom is doing a bunch of rehab and testing on her LVAD today so I want to make sure to not be in the way. I hope to go up there tonight or in the morning!

In the mean time. Easton is such a cute little thing. The weather was warm last Thursday and Friday so I took Easton out as much as I could. It definitely brought my spirits up and Easton loved it! I have awesome neighbors who brought us dinner last week! So that made one less thing for me to stress about!

I hope this month is much better than last. As of right now my Brother's wedding is on for April 30th. They think Mom will be in there at least another 10 days. She has already been in for 12 days!