"You surprised, Clark?"

"You surprised, Clark?"

Yep. Funny I was just having some fun with quoting this movie the night before taking Bernie in for this "maintenance" appointment. We're feeling a little like we woke up with our heads sewn to the carpet regarding the news this week. Although I think I would certainly choose Cousin Eddie visiting in the old "R-V", some crazy relatives, and unwelcome animals over what we have going on this week and for the immediate future.

Just to recap what was on Facebook, we showed up for some dental work under anesthesia on Wednesday as well as our routine ECHO.  The dental work was a success: 2 crowns, 1 filling, x-rays, sealants, and a cleaning. Bernie's ECHO showed increasing pressures across her mitral valve, one of several signs that the 16mm CarboMedics valve is getting too small.

 Bernie voluntarily participated in her rounds today and wanted the circle of professionals to see her IV. Yay for patient and family centered care!

 Taking a deep breath.

 Back to the rice table!

Painting Elsie in the Child Life craft room.

We've endured the dreaded Lovenox shots daily this week and it will remain our method of anticoagulation until next Thursday, January 26 when we have Bernie's 5th open heart surgery scheduled to upsize her mitral valve.  We are seeking some home nursing help twice a day for about 15-30 minutes so if you have skills or have a good referral, please share it with us.  I have some skills, but this can't be one of them at this time. It's hard and stressful and my daughter/patient is not so understanding of the need to maintain these injections that are given subcutaneously (in her abdomen). She's looking like a bit of a pincushion.

Tia came to see Bern off before her cath lab visit.

 Her cardiac catheterization validated all of the findings of the ECHO and confirmed the need to replace the valve on the sooner side. In the photo below, the green arrows represent the flow of blood from her left atrium to her left ventricle.  The black line in between is Bernie's prosthetic mitral valve (topview).  It should be as wide as the space between the blue lines.  Clearly it is not that big and you can see how the dyed area in the atrium is darker and seems to be needing more room to flow through the valve.

Coumadin (or Warfarin as the generic) is a very tricky drug to go on and off of since it takes so long to become effective and also be flushed from her system for surgery.  We just don't have that kind of time between now and next Thursday.

Bernie in the recovery area after her catheterization.

Although this is not an emergency, it is an urgency.  Her pulmonary hypertension is starting to show up again as well and we feel it's better to just get this done now as opposed to waiting as long as 6-8 weeks. The stress of waiting and leading up to the operation can really be a lot to manage and she's already off her Coumadin. We are just going to tackle this one head on.

Dr. Grifka checks Bernie over after the procedure.

 in the recovery area.

As you might imagine, I really will not be taking many phone calls or responding to too many messages.  I need to spend some quality time with Izzy, Sadie, and Lucy before we leave next week and Jeff and I need to tie things up with work to go on hold as needed.  This is where any updates will be posted and know that your comments and love notes are very much appreciated.

Some atheletes from the UM rowing and field hockey teams came for a visit this evening and signed a hat for Bernie. She had just finished 3 eggs, a cheeseburger, grapes, and potatoes!

Jeff and I will accompany Bernie to Ann Arbor next Wednesday afternoon.  We are still wrapping our brains around schedules and logistics.  This will take time and as meal schedules and coverage for the big kids is established, we will post links to opportunities to assist here.

We know this could be as efficient as being home again 10 days after the surgery or as complicated as living across the state for many months.  Time will tell.  Thank you for your love, support, good vibes, light, and prayers. Our extended family has lots of health concerns right now beyond Bernie and prayers for healing on many fronts would be appreciated.