Heart-Ache: Part VII

Waking up on Saturday morning was a much better feeling than the morning before as I actually got some sleep.  Again, first thing on the agenda this morning was rounds.  I don't remember much that went on this time except the fact that Dr. Ghandi said that the drain could be removed this morning, she should have an x-ray, ECG and Echocardiogram to ensure that her heart was functioning properly before being discharged.  Much of the morning was simply waiting for all these things to happen.

The Nurse Practitioner came in mid-morning sometime to remove the drain.  This was quite an extraordinary thing to watch.  About an inch or two below Eva's incision was a this drain sticking out of her back.  The actual site had been bandaged the whole time, so this was the first time I actually saw it.  There was one stitch in the skin which held the drain in place.  So the NP first removed that stitch.  Then, with Eva on her side, I in front of her face and the NP behind her, the NP proceeded to pull this drain out of her back.  It made me cringe so much!  Eva was just screaming and this drain kept coming and coming!!  There was about 12 inches of it inside her body that the NP pulled out!  Ew.  No wonder this was causing Eva so much discomfort!  I'm not sure if I'll ever forget that little "video" inside my head of that drain being pulled out.  It made quite the impact on me!

The spot where the drain had been was bandaged and Eva calmed down shortly after.  I was so thankful that thing was out of her body!  The NP also checked her incision, which another nurse had shown us how to clean the day before.  It looked pretty red to her, but the redness had already decreased from the day before, so that was good.  She was happy with how the incision looked otherwise.

Russ' parents came to the hospital again this morning sometime.  They had to head back to the Island early in the afternoon, so they just spent some time with us in Eva's room and then also in the playroom while Eva slept.

Just before Eva's x-ray was scheduled, they finally took the stickers off her chest that kept track of her heart rate and removed the probe on her toe.  And that was it!  Nothing else attached!  Freedom at last.  We rolled her down to radiology in one of those old prams and she had to endure that awful position again, sitting on that chair with her hands tied above her head while I (and my mom-in-law) stood behind the glass across the room.  Two pictures and then it was done, we took her back upstairs.  Later that afternoon a nurse came in to do an ECG on her and then later another Echo.  The Echo was done by a "Fellow".  Fellows, I believe, are a term used for people who are already experienced Doctors who are studying/training/practicing for a certain specialty.  Like cardiology.  (I hope I got that right!)  Anyway, this guy was pretty nice and chatty.  I got a little lecture from him for my not-so-positive attitude when he came in.  I made some kind of comment of how Eva was sure to respond poorly to yet another person coming into her space.  She ended up handling it really well and then he gently reprimanded my negativity!  I felt like I was put in my place.  But also felt a little sad that he probably thought that I was a really negative person!  I'm usually more positive than I am negative.  Oh well!

We didn't see Dr. Ghandi again, but all of these tests results went before his eyes before we were discharged.  The nurse told us that everything looked really good and that we were allowed to leave.  Eva still was not peeing very much, but Dr. Ghandi was not concerned about this.

Praise the Lord!  Eva looked so good in her "street clothes" - it made her look normal again, and well.  It was just so amazing to us that 4 days after having heart surgery, she was well enough to leave the hospital!  The medical system is amazing.  Technology is astounding and that surgeon who performed Eva's surgery is a genius.

We went back to the hotel again for one more night - all four of us!  Fred and Regina offered to bring us dinner to the hotel and we gladly accepted!  It was so great having a hot, home-cooked meal in our hotel room.

We went to bed early that night and headed to Abbotsford first thing Sunday morning.  We had to stay in the area until the next Wednesday (one week post-op) for a follow-up appointment at BCCH.  We stayed at my parents' condo in Abbotsford and we pretty much stayed put!  We just longed for some routine and normalcy.  Akeyla is really comfortable at the condo, so it's easy to have a normal life there.  Eva's incision had to be cleaned once each day, she wasn't allowed to have a bath yet and we weren't allowed to pick her up under her arms (thus hurting/irritating her incision site).  Otherwise, she was allowed to just be herself!

She started playing again, sitting up, trying to pull herself up on things.  She resumed her eating and nursing schedule and seemed to make up for lost time.  The doctor was right not to be concerned about her not peeing very well because all of those functions resumed normalcy as well.

Sunday evening, Christoph & Karleigh & kids (my bro & his family) joined us for a pizza dinner at the condo and brought extra food and dessert. They braved really snowy conditions to meet us there that night!!  It just DUMPED snow that night!  It was so great to see them and feel supported by them through all of this.  The day after Eva's surgery my nieces were participating in Jump Rope for Heart and they jumped for Eva that day!  That was so touching for me to see them show their love for their little cousin in that way.  Those girls sure love my girls!  And we sure love that family.

On Monday, we did very little.  I took Akeyla out to pick up some finger paints and paper so that we'd have something new to do, but other than that, we really did nothing.  Our good friends Dan and Anna cooked us an amazing meal and brought it over.  Well, Anna did the cooking, but Dan supplied the beer.  It was a home brew and I'm told it was really good!  Their family was somewhat under the weather, so Anna just dropped the food off and went back home.  It would have been awesome to have a visit, but it was still so loving and supportive of them to do this for us.  And it was an amazing meal!

On Tuesday, Russ took Akeyla out to a playground at Mill Lake where they played and fed the ducks. Which you're not really supposed to do.  Oops.  That evening some other good friends, Matt and Mel made us dinner, brought it over and stayed to enjoy it with us!  Another great meal and so good to hang out with friends.  The kids played really well together and again - such a loving expression of friendship, to be fed and visited.

During these few days Eva was doing really well.  Eating, sleeping and playing.  She was smiling and laughing again.  She seemed as happy as we were to be out of the hospital and free of all those lines.  I'm sure that if any stranger would have seen her they never would have guessed that she had heart surgery less than a week earlier.  We just kept on being so thankful and amazed at God's goodness.

Wednesday morning we headed back out to Vancouver for one last trip to the hospital.  We dropped Akeyla off at Regina's again so that we could focus on Eva.  When we got to the hospital, Eva had to have another x-ray, but no other tests.  She got the x-ray done first and then we proceeded to the Heart Centre.  We met with Connie there again which was really nice.  Connie was the first friendly face that we got to know in the hospital so it felt comforting and safe to speak with her for a while.

We then met with the nurse practitioner who weighed Eva and checked her incision.  She was very happy with how it looked and informed us that she no longer needed it cleaned on a daily basis or bandaged.  The drain site was also doing good.  Another half week before Eva could have a bath and no swimming in pools for her until 6 weeks post-op.  We then met with Dr. Ghandi who looked at the x-ray and was very happy with it.  Eva had had no fevers or other signs of infection so Eva was free to go.

We were out of there within a couple of hours with smiles on our faces and relief in our hearts.  We picked Akeyla up again from Regina's place and headed back to Abbotsford.

My parents ended up coming into Abbotsford that day because my Oma (dad's mom) was in hospital in Abbotsford and was not doing well at that time.  She has since recovered, but we got back to the condo and then I left almost immediately to go meet my parents and see Oma in the hospital.  It was odd going into another hospital after finally getting out of the first one and to see another loved one at the opposite end of the age spectrum laying there in the hospital bed.  I'm so thankful for my Oma.  She is really a wonderful lady and has been an amazing Oma and Great-Oma to all of us cousins, cousin-in-laws and great-grands.  I really love her.

My parents made bar-b-que that night at the condo and although they were back in Abbotsford for unfortunate circumstances, it was really nice to spend a bit of time with them.  We miss living in the same community with them and spending lots of time with them.

On Thursday morning, we left Abbotsford and headed back home to Lumby.  All told, we were gone for 11 days and we were so happy to get back to our own beds and back to normal life.  There was another mobile Cardiology clinic coming to Vernon from BCCH in March, so Eva was scheduled to see the team there for a follow-up, about a month post-op.

What a journey.  We had travelled through a really dark tunnel and were now out on the other side.  In the Light.  Praise the Lord.