A Day at the Zoo

 Today is Friday, and I had my follow-up with the LVAD team, along with a chest X-ray, and blood work.  When I met with the team, Kevin hooked me up to the power source and started looking and recording numbers from my pump.  He discovered on June 19, my pump flow had decreased from 4.5 to 2.2.  Normally in a situation like that, the pump would alarm very loudly, and then we would contact the team.  However, my pump did not alarm, and that is certainly a scary thought and feeling.  Kevin swapped out my controller, so everything should be okay now. 

As far as my blood work, I was high on my INR (coumadin level) and low on my potassium.  This past week I've felt several of the PVC's (irregular heart beats and/or palpitations), which I found out was due to the low potassium levels.  Some minor adjustments to my medications, and it should be better in a couple of days.

I have not heard anything today from Dr. Vega about my chest x-ray, however I did have the opportunity to look at the x-ray and saw that my left lung is still retaining fluid.  (I was unable to get the x-rays to post).   Hopefully Monday I will have good news.

After my clinic visit today, I walked over to the hospital to visit with Mr. Walden.  Mr. Walden is a LVAD patient who received his pump 3 weeks before me.  He is such a sweet heart, and he's grown near and dear to my heart.  I first saw him in the ICC unit when I was transferred to Emory.  He was in his bed, weighing only around 95 pounds and barely alive.  I honestly didn't think he would ever make it out of the ICC.  Now he's doing great, walking everywhere, gaining weight and feeling so much better.
I also got to visit a young man today diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, and heart failure.  He is scheduled for the LVAD surgery soon, and had lots of questions.  I talked with him for about 30 minutes and just tried to encourage him and answer any questions he could come up with.  It's nice to know that other people out there are sharing the same types of fears and have similar questions.

After all that.... I had the greatest afternoon date with my nieces and my boys at Zoo Atlanta.  The weather wasn't too bad, and the crowd was light.  Kasen and Kuper had a wonderful time, even though we have season passes and they've gone several times, and I think Kaylee and Kennedy had fun (except for the smell).

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, and I will post again as soon as I find out more info from the Dr. about the fluid.  Thanks again for all the many thoughts, prayers, and well wishes.

Monica