Friday, April 6, 2012

Pacemaker Surgery Update

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 10:58 PM, CDT
Anastasia did great today!!  It was such a relief to see her big, beautiful eyes looking at us as we walked into the recovery room.  It turns out she did not need a Rolls-Royce, rather a Cadillac would do.  All that really means is that her conduction was better than they expected so instead of putting in a 5 lead pacer they were able to put in a smaller 2 lead pacer.  Woo hoo!!!!!

Her belly is super swollen and she has been in A LOT of pain, but I am hopeful that they can get it under control as the night progresses.  For whatever reason her nurse in the ICU right after her surgery was not overly keen on giving her pain medication and for some idiotic reason I ignored my motherly intuition and went with the flow (i.e. didn’t demand for them to give her pain meds).  Um, hello, do you see the large bulge below her heart?  Think it might hurt?  I have had enough surgeries to know that once the pain gets away from you it is hard to get it under control.  The good news is that Anastasia finally graduated from ICU to the acute care floor this afternoon and it is a lot more peaceful for all of us.  Our nurse rocks and has the same pain management philosophy as I do (i.e. bring on the morphine…or margaritas).  Hopefully we will be sprung from the hospital altogether in a couple of days.

I am SOOOOO very thankful that Anastasia came through today with flying colors but I am also very sad today.  They handed me an owner’s manual (okay, it is technically a patient manual, but you get the idea) for her pacemaker, and low and behold the cover only had pictures of senior citizens on it.  How depressing.  The marketing folks really need to reevaluate!!  I think a picture of Anastasia would be a perfect addition to their cover, don’t you?  Anyway, again, I am extremely relieved and happy that she did so well today, but that doesn’t take my sadness of the situation away.  I also miss Alexander like crazy and feel so guilty for being away from him so much.  He is in wonderful hands with his daddy and our parents, but I still feel so bad for him.  My heart aches to be with him. 

Thank you for the prayers…..Anastasia is proof that they work!  Please pray that her pain eases and she recovers from this surgery as quickly as she did last week.  She is a fighter, that’s for sure!

Monday, April 11, 2011 7:53 PM, CDT
Well, they tried to get Anastasia on the surgery schedule today to no avail.  They had her all ready to go, yes, that means she was STARVING most of the day, but just couldn’t make it happen based on the other cases that were going on.  She is now scheduled for tomorrow morning at 8 am.  Apparently she is in need of a “Rolls-Royce” of pacemakers.  I still don’t really understand much beyond the very basics as far as pacemakers go, but I am hoping to get an explanation at some point in the near future. 

It has been a long day of hurrying up and waiting…..for instance they told me I should get Stephen here by 10:30 because she was a go for 11.  At 11:30 they came to tell us hopefully it would be in a couple of hours.  At 2 they came and told us never mind, it will be tomorrow.  Oh well, at least everyone will be nice and fresh since she will be the first case!  Annie was fussy again today, even after she finally got to eat.  She has been sleeping all afternoon and evening so hopefully she will feel better when she wakes up!

We had a very strict day nurse today, which was interesting.  The good news is that she still gave Anastasia excellent care, AND it gave us something to joke about.  Too bad it wasn’t April Fool’s Day otherwise we would have definitely played some jokes to get her goat!  She definitely needs to take a chill pill, or a shot of tequila !

I really miss my other baby, Alexander!  It is hell to be away from him for so long!  Hopefully we will be home soon!  At least he LOVES all three of his grandparents and his daddy, so he has been in excellent hands during my absence.

Rolls-Royce, here we come!   

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