Thank God, we are safely back home tonight, after being in Gainesville for the biopsy at Shands today. We got to exercise patience because though we arrived at the appointment time, 6:45 AM, Vernon's procedure wasn't started until 11:30 AM. He was lying on a hospital bed, gowned and prepped with IV in his arm for four hours. Normally, he would have been taken to the cath lab for the biopsy by 8 or 8:30 but today there were in-hospital patients who took priority plus Dr. Hill had an hour conference call that put everything on hold. Then because the access to his heart was through the artery and vein in his groin, he had to lie flat for two afters after the procedure and then sit for another hour before being released from the cath lab holding area.
We had to go to two other parts of the hospital for more tests: echocardiogram and chest x-ray. Those are routine to check the functioning of his heart and lungs. So it was 4:30 PM before everything was accomplished. Though tired, Vernon wanted to make a quick walk through the 5th floor and CICU on 2 to see the nurses. He really loves to give away candy to anyone and had only two pieces left when we exited the hospital.
We broke up our two hour drive home by stopping for dinner and stopping again for him to walk a few minutes. He is warned against sitting upright for more than an hour while the groin area heals. He also isn't supposed to drive so I did that and enjoyed the light of the nearly full moon while he reclined his seat and napped.
I had lots of time to sit beside Vernon's bed today and used it to read the rough draft of a book written by one of our heart transplant friends, Howie Bolton. The current title is The Valley of the Shadow. I enjoyed it very much and sure hope you get a chance to read it once published. He and his wife, Jenni, live in St. Cloud which isn't far, really (30 miles?). We probably wouldn't have known them apart from this transplant journey. He was the first person we knew to get transplanted after we arrived at the hospital. One of their close friends works at Campus Crusade for Christ, like I do. I shed some tears while reading it and finished just as Vernon's time in the cath lab holding area came to an end.
Back to work tomorrow for both of us! And I'll sign off because I still need to do some things before going to bed.
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1 comment:
thank you for your descriptions of your time there, Deb! I can picture the hospital, the rooms and hallways, some of the nurses (especially the one from Russia (I think) heavy accent- blonde pretty, very kind.
So grateful that Vern's heart has been such a great fit for him.
I must say - the pictures of you eating the kalua ice cream dessert are priceless!! your face and expressions tell it ALL!! I can taste it by looking at your expressions!! ummm good!! love to you! Becky
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