6 Week Follow-up

We had Jayme's 6 week follow-up appointment yesterday. 6 weeks has passed since surgery, yay! All went well. He had another EKG before we met with Dr. Petracek and he said that everything looks good. He is still going to keep him on the Coumadin (blood thinner) for 3 more weeks and in 3 weeks he will wear another 48 hour heart monitor at home followed by another appointment with Dr. Petracek. If all looks good then, then he will take him off the Coumadin. He plans to keep him on the Sotalol for 3 more months to make sure his heart remains in rhythm. He hasn't lowered the dosage yet, but I'm hoping he will in 3 weeks. This also means that I am looking for a liver supporting supplement since the Sotalol can really take a toll on your liver. It's potent stuff but of course, "Jayme's young, seems to be excreting it just fine. He'll be o.k." I'm not going to take that risk, thank you. 

Jayme feels great and it's only going to get better. At this point, he feels slightly better than he did just before the surgery. He is noticing more energy and less shortness of breath in his daily life. He has also begun his cardiac rehab 3 times a week which he will do for 5 weeks. This has been so great for him, and they are really pushing him. 

He did volunteer a work day at church for an event they were having and at the end of an 8 hour day he realized he is still not quite ready to return to work, it wiped him out. But I think for sure especially with the rehab, he will be perfectly ready to return as planned, June 1st. 

As many qualms that I have with the medical industry and medication, I will say that it is astounding what another human can do. To operate on the heart, are you kidding me!? To stop someone's heart to work on it, and then in all essence bring them back to life! Crazy. And I am thankful.

EKG Follow-Up

Jayme had an EKG on Wednesday and we received the results yesterday. Everything is perfect. His blood pressure and heart rate have been perfect this week and we seem to be on the up-swing on the way to full recovery. 

He begins cardiac rehab next week which he is really looking forward to. The limitations on his physical exertions have been frustrating to him so he's ready to be able to jog, lift weights etc. while being monitored so he doesn't overdo it. 

The follow-up appointment with Dr. Petracek is April 24th so only 2 weeks away. We're still praying that at that point they will allow him off all of his medication. 

SO good to be home...again

We're all home again, yay! They discharged Jayme at 11:30 this morning. All is well and his heart continues to beat in good rhythm. We all took the best nap any of us has had in a long while this afternoon and tonight we just stayed home, and watched American Idol. These pictures are of Jayme and Evangeline watching AI. Poor Jayme, you can see all the irritation on his skin from the EKG monitor leads. 

It is so good to be home! Now I will be ecstatic when we get to the point where we're not messing with any medications anymore. 

Thank you all for your prayers that helped to sustain us each minute of every day. I have to say that I truly believe we went into the hospital this time around as different people than we are now. In 4 days many lessons can be learned, much faith can be tested, multiple questions can be answered, and a whole lot of refinement can happen. 

I'm going to get Jayme to write a bit soon from his perspective since you guys only hear from me :) It's very difficult to be the person walking their spouse through it but it's a different thing to be the one going through it. Jayme's faith is unwavering and it has been tried like never before on this journey. I'd like him to share some of that. And if there was no other reason for the medication to not work and to have to wait it out for 3 days and endure the thoughts and trials within that time, than to be able to walk alongside another friend who faces a possibly scary diagnosis with firsthand experience with the fear and the tumultuous thoughts than we are so willing to endure to hold up our friends with empathetic, powerful prayers! 

p.s. Please pray for our incredible friend who is in that period of waiting to hear the news of his diagnosis. Nothing in me doubts that he is healed and perfected by the blood of Jesus but please agree with me and pray for peace over his mind and heart as he waits. 

We're Back In Rhythm!!!

They just called me from downstairs to let me know that everything went well and his heart is back in rhythm!!!!! They had to perform another TEE first to make sure that there was no clotting and all went well! He is still down there and will be back up in about 20 minutes but all is well! Thank you for your prayers. More updates soon.

Mid-Version

They took Jayme back at 1:15 to do a TEE and then the cardioversion. Jesus let it work! I have been pleasantly distraced from thinking too much about by our dear friend Joe who was visiting with us. And now our friend Jen is here. Thank you Lord.

Shock to the Heart

We're just sitting. waiting. The medication has not done the trick so at some point today they will take him to have the cardioversion. Pray that it works and that we can go home tomorrow. Thanks.

Wrong Spelling

p.s. I have been spelling the medication wrong. It is Sotolol. 

On The Drive

Ok the ranting is over. On the drive over to the hospital I opened my mouth and began speaking to God. I confessed that my issue is, and almost always is, control. Why do I continue trying to keep control when I know that deep down I don't have it. And He told me that "Yes, but deep down you also don't believe that I do".  Ouch. True. It's moment to moment to moment for me. Sometimes I can let go and then I allow my mind to get busy again and fool myself into believing that I can do far more than I really can to change a situation. 

The Lord also reminded me of something the guy on my workout DVD says all the time. He always reminds you to be watching that you are not doing a co-contraction. That would be when, say you are doing bicep curls and you are gripping your weights so hard, the focus shifts from the muscle it is supposed to be working to the grip itself. "It's wasted energy people", he says. Funny, wasted energy. That's what the Lord told me I'm doing every time I strive to keep control of a situation. My focus shifts from Him and what He can do to "what about this"? "what if we made the wrong decision?" "Maybe something's not happening because I'm not doing something I should be".  It's double-minded, it's unstable, and it's not faith. This is the God who would take a decision that may have been wrong anyway, and if your heart is truly seeking Him, it won't matter. He'll make it work for your good. He is quite able, quite willing, and amazingly loving!! 

It definitely helps if you actually talk to Him. I have a habit of bottling up thoughts and I think them all day long but there is something about intentionally bringing them before Him, even if at the moment they're full of frustration and rants. He answers. "Even if we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself". --2 Timothy 2:13

Frustration

  **This is us taking a nap in the hospital. That's all there is to do really**

Today Jayme is at the highest dose of Sotorol. I am intentionally not looking up information on this drug, though it's taking everything in me not to. I feel like there must be a better way, a more natural way to control his heart and I'm afraid of later regretting just sitting on our hands and doing whatever the doctors tell us to. He is not a person to them, not a husband, a son, or a father. He is a name on a lot of pieces of paper. What is it to them if the "best" thing for him is to be on medication for the rest of his life? It's not their life. Ok I am ending the ranting now. But obviously it was all in me, so I might as well get it out. There, I'm done. 

This is not my strongest moment as you can see. I would say that "frustrated" best describes me right now. I suppose the frustration is just added to by other things going on in life that I can't elaborate on that begin to pile up and before you know it, you're having a morning like I'm having today :) 

It's a focus issue really. I have to choose to keep my eyes forward. Not to things in the past, even just as recent as yesterday, and not to things closing in on either side of me. Only forward, only on my Father. He's the only one with the right answers anyway. He's the only one with the real control even when we like to pretend we have it. 

Jayme will be in the hospital until Wednesday at least. He will be on this dose of Sotorol until tomorrow morning and if it has not worked, then they will schedule a cardiovert (?) which is the shock. If it does work, then it will still be 24 hours after his heart goes back into rhythm before he is released. The same goes if the cardiorevert works. They think and hope that this dose should move his heart into rhythm. Amen and Amen.

p.s. sorry I'm grumpy

Prayer Needed

They doubled Jayme's dose of Sotorol today because they haven't seen any change in his heart rhythm. If they still haven't seen change by tomorrow they want to do shock therapy. I really don't want that!! Would you please agree with u sin prayer for perfect heart rhythm and function?