Recovery-Update 15
Katie is Home!!! I finally have my girls under one roof again and the two peas back in their pod :) We got home right about noon and the day has been filled with getting situated, getting cleaned up and the hospital grit off and, of course, catching up with Elena.
We expected we'd walk in the door and Elena would tackle Momma but that didn't happen. It was actually kind of odd. She just looked at Katie. We had to carry her over to Katie and she didn't seem all that interested in her. After a few minutes though she started running between Katie, me, and Marcia and giving us a hug. Eventually she got reacquainted with Momma and didn't want her to leave her sight. Even if Mom was just going into our bedroom Elena would start crying. She would go up to Katie's legs and say "up. up." We're all glad to see them back together again.
From a pain perspective, Katie seems to have transitioned to the Vicodin pills. There hasn't been any increased complaint of the pain that I've noticed. What has increased with the pills is the nausea. She seems to complain about that more now and it is affecting her appetite. Please keep that in your prayers. She needs to be able to eat to continue to walk and heal.
Now that we're out of the hospital I want to take a minute to acknowledge the staff at Memorial Hermann Southwest. We have interacted with A LOT of people there and with the exception of a couple of instances we had as great an experience as I think you can have under the circumstances. Food wait staff, house cleaning, registrar, pre-op, surgery nurses, ICU nurses, pain management nurses, vital signs nurses (PCAs), physical therapists, telemetry monitoring staff, home care coordinator, nurse liaison,... It really is incredible the number of people that are involved in the care we received.
I'd also like to give a big thank you to Catherine Haskew and Rod Brace. Both work for the Memorial Hermann system and attend our church. They both visited us early on while we were there, offering us their support, encouragement, and services should we need them. Thank you for that! It was great to know we had that support if we needed it!
A couple of my personal favorite ladies (Katie can add her own later if she wishes) - I gotta give Brenda from the ICU props. She was so sweet, gentle and kind. Whatever Katie wanted or needed she did it and with a beautiful smile on her face. You could tell she cared about everyone from the depths of her soul.
Then there's Emily. She was Julie's old roommate from college and Katie's nurse for the three nights she spent in Telemetry. Wow!!! I can't articulate what kind of peace of mind we had knowing that when we were going to be the most tired and out of it, Emily was going to be in charge of Katie's care. She was fantastic and I could tell she was that way with all of her patients! Not to mention that two of her coworkers commented on how great of a nurse she is without knowing she's a friend. More than a few times I'd wake up drowsy eyed and laying on the "bed" and seeing Emily enter the room with the light of the hallway serving as her angelic aura and thinking, good - Emily is here! Nobody could tuck Kate back in bed with as little pain as she could. She definitely has the touch! If you decide to have heart surgery, I recommend this hospital and Emily for your care! Make sure and let her I know I sent you :)
As nice a hospital as we had, we're glad to be back home. We still have 6 weeks of recovery left but it's well worth it. A piece of literature we got from the hospital said that many people who go undiagnosed with Katie's condition die in the 40's! I can't imagine being a widower and single father of 14 year old and without Katie!!! I am SO grateful to God and his instruments, Dr. Faulkner, for this discovery and Dr. Baldwin for his skilled hands!
Katie's cardiologists have asked her to stop taking her high blood pressure pills she's been on since she was 16! Her blood pressure was so good in the hospital they want to see if it'll continue without medication. So we monitor and pray for that as well! That would be FANTASTIC!!!
My girls are asleep in bed and after a few emails I'll join them. Thanks again everyone for your prayers through this intense time of our lives. Please continue to pray as we still have a lot of recovery to do!
We expected we'd walk in the door and Elena would tackle Momma but that didn't happen. It was actually kind of odd. She just looked at Katie. We had to carry her over to Katie and she didn't seem all that interested in her. After a few minutes though she started running between Katie, me, and Marcia and giving us a hug. Eventually she got reacquainted with Momma and didn't want her to leave her sight. Even if Mom was just going into our bedroom Elena would start crying. She would go up to Katie's legs and say "up. up." We're all glad to see them back together again.
From a pain perspective, Katie seems to have transitioned to the Vicodin pills. There hasn't been any increased complaint of the pain that I've noticed. What has increased with the pills is the nausea. She seems to complain about that more now and it is affecting her appetite. Please keep that in your prayers. She needs to be able to eat to continue to walk and heal.
Now that we're out of the hospital I want to take a minute to acknowledge the staff at Memorial Hermann Southwest. We have interacted with A LOT of people there and with the exception of a couple of instances we had as great an experience as I think you can have under the circumstances. Food wait staff, house cleaning, registrar, pre-op, surgery nurses, ICU nurses, pain management nurses, vital signs nurses (PCAs), physical therapists, telemetry monitoring staff, home care coordinator, nurse liaison,... It really is incredible the number of people that are involved in the care we received.
I'd also like to give a big thank you to Catherine Haskew and Rod Brace. Both work for the Memorial Hermann system and attend our church. They both visited us early on while we were there, offering us their support, encouragement, and services should we need them. Thank you for that! It was great to know we had that support if we needed it!
A couple of my personal favorite ladies (Katie can add her own later if she wishes) - I gotta give Brenda from the ICU props. She was so sweet, gentle and kind. Whatever Katie wanted or needed she did it and with a beautiful smile on her face. You could tell she cared about everyone from the depths of her soul.
Then there's Emily. She was Julie's old roommate from college and Katie's nurse for the three nights she spent in Telemetry. Wow!!! I can't articulate what kind of peace of mind we had knowing that when we were going to be the most tired and out of it, Emily was going to be in charge of Katie's care. She was fantastic and I could tell she was that way with all of her patients! Not to mention that two of her coworkers commented on how great of a nurse she is without knowing she's a friend. More than a few times I'd wake up drowsy eyed and laying on the "bed" and seeing Emily enter the room with the light of the hallway serving as her angelic aura and thinking, good - Emily is here! Nobody could tuck Kate back in bed with as little pain as she could. She definitely has the touch! If you decide to have heart surgery, I recommend this hospital and Emily for your care! Make sure and let her I know I sent you :)
As nice a hospital as we had, we're glad to be back home. We still have 6 weeks of recovery left but it's well worth it. A piece of literature we got from the hospital said that many people who go undiagnosed with Katie's condition die in the 40's! I can't imagine being a widower and single father of 14 year old and without Katie!!! I am SO grateful to God and his instruments, Dr. Faulkner, for this discovery and Dr. Baldwin for his skilled hands!
Katie's cardiologists have asked her to stop taking her high blood pressure pills she's been on since she was 16! Her blood pressure was so good in the hospital they want to see if it'll continue without medication. So we monitor and pray for that as well! That would be FANTASTIC!!!
My girls are asleep in bed and after a few emails I'll join them. Thanks again everyone for your prayers through this intense time of our lives. Please continue to pray as we still have a lot of recovery to do!
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Gregory "talked" the rest of the afternoon and I'm sure he was sharing about how exciting it was to play with his cousin and tio. Love y'all. :)