Day 1 of 2nd Hospital Visit

All is well. I just got home from spending time with Jayme at the hospital again. At least we got a night out together - Hahaha, now come on, that deserves credit for some positive thinking. ;)

Our friend Brian drove Jayme to the hospital this afternoon and stayed with him for a while as he got settled. He called me to let me know how things were going and was laughing as he told me how Jayme was playfully arguing (but serious) with the supervisor and a med student in opposition to the student being the one to put his IV in. The supervisor continued to call him a wuss, the med student tried their best to convince him of his/her ability and Jayme proceeded to present his case of how his left arm still aches from his IV 3 weeks ago. I can just picture it all. 

I didn't make it down there until about 8:30 this evening after my sister got here to watch Evangeline. Like I said, at least we got some time together out of the house. He has a great staff tonight and will be well taken care of. 

He will have to be there until tomorrow night at least, possibly until Monday. His heart is in Afibrilation flutter. So it's a flutter, not a quiver. Take notes. They said it takes 5 doses of this new medication before it really gets into his system, hence the longer than we'd like hospital stay. And they continue to assure us that this is a very common side-effect for post cardiac surgery patients. 

Oh, and included in this post is a picture of the "Respiratory Therapy". Jayme asked for another one...just because he can. (and because insurance is paying for it;) Maybe we'll Ebay it for $4,000.00 Any buyers?

Video from Hospital...again

Back To The Hospital

No, I'm not kidding. We do have to go back to the hospital. Jayme's blood pressure machine has been reading an irregular heartbeat for the last few days and they finally called us back yesterday late afternoon. The nurse said that it is somewhat routine for post-surgery patients to develop this irregular heartbeat and that he would just need to come back in for another EKG and more than likely will have to stay the night for observation as they adjust his medications. 

She said it isn't urgent as in we needed to leave that minute but she doesn't want us to go another day with his heart in Atrial fibrillation if it's already been there for a couple days previous. 

Please think of Jayme today and hold him in your prayers as this tedious hospital visit just adds to the frustration of feeling like a full recovery is prolonged. Also please continue to pray for his heart to be functioning in perfect condition with no damage. I admit it's a little scary to be messing around and finding things that "work" and to be dependent on medications for the stability of his heart. 

Once again we can rest knowing that this season has purpose even in the moments when we feel like bumps on a log just sitting around ready for the rest of life to begin. This is life and it is full of purpose if we're willing to dig a little deeper to discover it. 

As always, I'll keep you posted! :) 

The Bill...*dun dun dun*

In the mail today we got the big bill from Vanderbilt. Can I just say it is laughable. Not to undermine what these men and women do daily to save lives but some of it is just "come on, really!?" 

You wanna see the breakdown? Here goes:

Coronary Intensive Care 1 Day $ 3,450.00

Coronary Step Down 3 Days $ 4,875.00

Procedure Room $28,712.00

Anesthesia, Materials & Serv. $ 3,749.00

Radiology $ 1,057.00

Pharmacy $11,271.51

Laboratory $ 4,871.00

Central Supplies $10,752.00

IV Solutions $ 2,045.86

EKG/EEG $    424.00

Respiratory Therapy $ 3,908.00

Pulmonary Function $     465.00

Total Charges $75,580.37

All I have to say is that if "Respiratory Therapy" is the small plastic breathing exercise thing that they gave him that looks like it could have been manufactured for the Dollar Store I will die. 

All this does not include the Heart Catheter procedure from Williamson Medical either. We haven't received that bill yet.

However, I will also say that this is the first time I have been thankful for our Insurance. As I begrudgingly pay what I think is an extreme amount of money each month to rarely ever reap the benefits from it, I am finally grateful. Although even with Insurance our part is unfortunately more money than we can pay at the moment so if you would please continue to pray for financial breakthrough in this season for us, that'd be much appreciated!! 

Oh yeah, and Jayme is feeling a lot better even just this afternoon. He slept better last night but still not great. He hasn't taken a Percocet at all today but took some more Ibuprfoen this evening and is feeling so much better. It must have been inflammation. We're looking forward to hopefully a great night's sleep tonight! 

Restless Night

Whew, what a night. This healing process is so unpredictable. Jayme has been doing so well and taking only 1 Percocet for the pain each day and was having just a normal, good day yesterday until he got in bed last night. Almost as soon as he laid down he was in instant pain right around the incision area. He took another Percocet about 30 minutes into it and it wasn't even touching the pain. He tried to get comfortable and I drifted in and out of sleep for the next 4 hours until finally sometime around 3 or 3:30 a.m. we called the hospital. 

We spoke with the doctor on-call and he told him to take another Percocet and some Ibuprofen because it sounded like pain caused by inflammation. He also said that heat may help it. So Jayme took that, we heated up some rice 'socks' that Laurel made for me for my labor with Evangeline and he finally found a position in the bed that helped put some pressure on the area that hurt and got a little bit of sleep. Thankfully Evangeline slept until 9:30 this morning, yay! :) 

Needless to say it was not the most rested night either of us has ever had but at least he got some sleep and is doing a bit better this morning. It's always better when he's up and moving. We spoke with Dr. Petracek's nurse this morning and she said that while it stinks right now he will probably feel 100% better this time next week. And she confirmed that it sounded skeletal, like it is just his rib cage moving back into alignment. 

This pain just kind of snuck up on us unexpected since things have been going so well but we continue to be thankful for what is overall an exceptionally quick and easy recovery. 

A New Norm

Jayme's parents went home Saturday afternoon. It was so nice having them here with us and now we're just getting used to a new normal in our daily life. 

Things have been going well, and Jayme's INR levels continue to stay in a good place but I know we both can't wait for him to fully feel like himself again. No more pain, odd sensations and trying to figure out what's causing them...yes, that will be nice. 

I also can't wait to see what comes of this whole process, this whole year of our lives. We believe that our steps are ordered by God and that all things happen with purpose. I'm nothing but excited and ready to see what else life holds for us and why we have to walk through what we're walking through to get to the rest. 

Looking Back

I'm so glad we're at the point where we can already look back and laugh. We're sitting here this evening looking at the papers where Jayme was trying to communicate by writing while he still had the breathing tubes in right after coming off anesthesia. His sister Michele saved them knowing that eventually we would laugh at them. Oh my goodness I'm so glad we can laugh at that horrific night. 

Things continue to go well. Nights seem to be the hardest part of the day, bringing the most pain and discomfort. The act of laying down feels as if it puts a lot of pressure on his chest so finding a comfortable position is tricky. For some reason Jayme has a lot of pain in his left arm that comes and goes. I can't fathom why aside from the bruising left from the IVs but he says it's pretty significant pain. The incision is starting to heal and look even better. 

We have to begin going to have his INR levels checked twice a week which he's not thrilled about but hopefully after our follow-up appointment with Dr. Petracek Jayme won't need to be on the Coumadin anymore. His blood pressure is great but his heart rate is still higher than we'd like. 

We are going to attempt to make it out to church tomorrow. If you know Jayme, you know he does not like being cooped up for too long so maybe we'll just make "mini-outings" here and there. 

Whata Year

All goes well here in the Braun household. We are so thankful for those of you who have cared for us in such a variety of ways. Prayers are felt, encouragement is received, and meals are enjoyed! 

I was reflecting today on this past year and wondering if it was a particularly difficult year or if this is just what life is like as you grow older. For those of you who don't know, it was April when Jayme was diagnosed with mitral regurgitation, and May when Evangeline was born. In September Jayme's father passed away, and in October my brother had brain surgery. November was Jayme's dad's memorial service and December was spent contemplating whether to move forward with Jayme's surgery or not. In the midst of all that were many more smaller instances of challenges and trials that I'll leave out for now. For the last 6 months to a year it seems that it has always been something. 

I say all that, not to complain but to reflect on just how faithful God is through it all. And even if Evangeline were the only good thing to have come out of all of that (though there are many more), she would be enough. She is true joy. God is truly a sustainer. He has kept us not only alive through it all but happy and peaceful. There are things we experienced this year that I hope we never have to experience again, and things that I don't have answers to or the rhyme or reason, but I hope to understand one day. There are things that have happened that have pushed us to grow and I hope that at the end of it we are stronger, bolder, and wiser individuals. I pray that we allow God to mold us into the people He has called us to be so that we can fulfill everything He has called us to do. This is our journey and all of these events are part of it. Pray for us that we would embrace the inner work that God is doing and yield to the changing of our hearts. I'm afraid I'm not doing such a good job of it these days. 

Scary Night

Last night was a little scary. Jayme started feeling slightly feverish later in the evening and by the time we got in bed he was very warm and his heart rate was really high. Of course we didn't have an accurate thermometer in the house except for the one I use on Evangeline and we weren't going to use that one ;) So I left the house in my pajamas and a sweatshirt and headed to Walgreens at 11 p.m. to buy a thermometer. (Can I just say that I think I'd be o.k. to never see the inside of a Walgreens again after this week). 

He fluctuated between a fever of 100 and 101. In the paperwork we received at the hospital they want you to call if you get a fever of 101.5 or higher because of the threat of Endocarditis, which is a life-threatening infection in the heart. Of course no one was there when I called so it was the choice of spending the night in the E.R. or at home. 

I sent out a text message to some of our faithful prayer warriors and we stayed home and prayed. I continued to pray over him as he tried to rest and by 12:30 a.m. the fever was gone! His heart rate went down but not a whole lot, and of course I fought the thoughts of "What if this whole thing doesn't even take? What if it doesn't work and the valve breaks again?" But what can I do about it? I chose to fight the thoughts and hand it to God and trust Him with it regardless of outcome. And for the most part we both slept peacefully. 

Jayme's still resting this morning but I will keep you posted as to how he is doing.

Home and Settled

I can hardly believe Jayme's progress. Today feels almost as if the surgery never happened. Jayme's pacing around the house on the phone talking business talk that I don't understand and I can't help but wonder if the person on the other end even knows that he went underwent heart surgery just 5 days days ago. hahaha.

The Lord is our strength. Quite literally. It is God who is strengthening, rejuvenating, and refreshing us. 

I have to say it is really fun to listen to his heartbeat now! I used to be able to lay my head anywhere on his torso: over his heart, on his stomach, on his back and the beat was just as loud and as hard each place. I could even feel it strongly even if he just layed his stomach by my leg, this was one crazy loud, strong heartbeat. Well now I can only hear it in the place that I should!!! It's just amazing to me! 

We are also so very blessed. Our friends and family who have gotten us through this week and the weeks to come are just the most precious gifts. Helping with Evangeline, cleaning, calling, praying, running errands, visiting Jayme, letting us borrow some most useful objects, donating, bringing meals, surprise payments for all the prescriptions...you all are wonderful! 

We're still taking each day as it comes and I am still trying to balance my day to make sure that I take time to rest in the Lord. Otherwise my mind gets busy very quickly and I begin to worry about future things, mainly finances. But I can't wait to be able to share with you how our faithful Provider provides as amazingly as He is healing.