WOW! What A Summer for Ralph

As I had posted, he went back into a-fib. Then late yesterday he had serious GI bleeding and the nurse-line advised him to go to the ER. So off to the ER and triaged ahead of a waiting room full of people (according to the staff most without insurance and really should not be in the ER). Yes, he is in a-fib again. They reversed his blood thinners with Vitamin K and admitted him to the hospital at 12:30am this morning. With the blood thinners out of his system, the bleeding has stopped this morning. The hospitalist doctor had hoped to get the GI and cardiologist doctors talking so that something can be done instead of the run around we have been getting and doctors not talking. So far the GI doctor has been in to see him and with no communication with the cardiologist has scheduled a colonoscopy for sometime tomorrow to see if they can find the source of the bleeding. In the past the cardiologist has said no to any other procedures, so will be interesting to see what happens. The GI doctor agrees with us that cardio has not and is not working so they need to find something else and they need to manage his blood thinners differently. They are trying to manage his heart rate with a drug that has not and is still not working - it lowers his blood pressure but not his heart rate. We told the ER that it has not worked, but they continue to give it to him, so we all agree that they need to look at some other meds. So, after tomorrow we will either know what is causing the bleeding or they will find no cause and we go from there. Then once the cardiologist sees him, we may know what they will try next!

Crazy Pulse------Again!

Judging by Ralph's "funky" pulse, he is more than likely back in a-fib. His heart just seems to prefer a-fib, despite what they try. Nothing to do until Tuesday, since he is still on all the meds. We will call on Tuesday and see when the cardiologist can see him and what next. Stay tuned........

Ralph's Back

After 72 hours of sotalol (rhythmic drug), he did not convert on his own - came real close though. So, they scheduled cardio for Sunday morning. Then his INR level dropped to low, so no cardio that day. Monday morning he was scheduled for a TE&E (camera down his throat to check for clots and his valves) and then if no clots cardio. Well, we waited and waited! His cardiologist was having a bad day - if it could go wrong it had gone wrong and he was way behind. He finally called another cardiologist to do the procedures so Ralph could out of the hospital. No clots, valve not that bad, so they converted him (shock) and he was back in his room at 4pm. His cardiologist finally got up to see him after 5pm and ordered a shot to thin his blood before discharge. We knew that would take 2 hours to get it sent from the pharmacy, so we shared his dinner and a little after 7pm he had his shot and papers and we were out of there. Of course it helped that the nurse doing the discharge was off work at 7pm so she was eager to get him out the door! Now, you never leave the hospital without several prescriptions that have to be filled cause you need them that night. They had faxed them to WalMart, but WalMart never worries about faxes and it would be the normal WalMart wait of 1 to 2 hours. We have had enough of that, so we went to Safeway, got flu shots, prescriptions and groceries in less time than waiting at WalMart. Got back to the rig after 9pm - one long day! Today, we moved to a park Mount Vernon. It is a beautiful little park with a great manager and friendly people. And, we are 15 minutes from the doctors instead of 40+ minutes. We are glad they made us leave and find a new place. It was just stressful with Ralph in the hospital. He then had to get another INR test today to be sure his blood was thin enough and he wouldn't need more of those expensive shots in the stomach. For the 2 days after cardio you are at a higher risk of clots, so they want to be sure the blood is thin and his was finally thin enough!! No more shots! Yea!!! Now we can do some relaxing and hope he stays in normal rhythm this time!

Latest Plan for Ralph

We met with his cardiologist today. He consulted with some other experts in a-fib. They all agreed that the best way to get and keep him in a normal rhythm is to put him on anti-rhythmic drugs and do cardio-version while he is on the drugs. These drugs can cause other rhythm problems, so they will only do them in the hospital under close monitoring. So he will be admitted to the hospital tomorrow morning and will start on the drugs. Friday they will do cardio-version and he will be out of the hospital late Sat. or more likely Sunday morning. Hopefully, this will work and he will stay in a normal rhythm! More later............

Not Good News

Ralph had a follow up with his regular doctor and he is back in a-fib. His cardiologist was on vacation this week, so the cardiologist on call had some lab work done, adjusted medications and he goes in to see his cardiologist next Wed. In talking to the cardiologist office, he will very likely be schedule for another cardio. The park where we are staying will not allow us to extend (this park is a real pain!) so we will be moving Sept. 1 to a park in Mount Vernon. The park in Mount Vernon is where we have reservations for next summer and the manager was kind enough to find us a spot in her very full park for Sept. More later...........

Happy Anniversary

Wow! What a day to celebrate our anniversary. We started at 5am to get to the hospital just after 6am. He was admitted to the Special Observation Unit (an outpatient ICU) and they prepped him for the cardioversion and then we waited and waited. They were paging the cardiologist and finally he came at 8:15. Since they were now running very late they decided to do the cardio and the angiogram in the cath lab so off he went. A little over an hour later he was back for 3 hours of bedrest and close observation - except for one small glitch! His heart went back to normal rhythm with the first cardio - YEA!!! However, the angio showed a 70 to 80% blocked artery feeding the atrial, so to quote the doctor -"since I was already in there I just put a stent in there". That is an automatic admission for overnight observation in the hospital. They finally got the doctor to sign all the necessary papers and he finally was in a room at 4pm. He will be discharged tomorrow morning as long he is stable - doesn't even need a doctor to see him so we don't have to wait and wait! So far he is doing very good and his heart is still in normal rhythm. He will see the doctor in a month and if he is still in normal rhythm he will be off of blood thinners - he is looking forward to that! He will be on plavix and a beta blocker long term. So, time for me to eat and relax in a quiet place - at home!

Update on Ralph

They have been forecasting rain for days and it finally happened - showers that in western WA means light rain all day!

We met with the cardiologist today and really like him - quite a sense of humor and spent a lot of time with us explaining exactly what a-fib is, what treatment options are available and what he recommended. His echo cardiogram showed a slightly larger heart than normal and a minor leaking valve. Neither are cause for concern. He will have another echo cardiogram in 6 months and if no change in the size of the heart then that is just the way it is. The leaking valve and elevated blood pressure are probably the cause of the a-fib. He is younger than the usual a-fib patient - 1 in 10 people over age 75 will have a-fib!

On Friday they are doing an angiogram to make sure there are no blocked arteries. Then they will be able to do any of the treatment options with no further testing. After the angiogram (if normal) they will do cardioversion (external shock of the heart) and hope it goes back to normal rhythm. This is the first treatment option to try. The cardiologist says this will last from 10 seconds to 10 years - we are hoping for the 10 years! If that does not work, then we have 2 more options to try. Friday are outpatient procedures and will last all day!

And - the cardiologist says we will be out of here Sept. 15!!!! Sure hope he is right!