Trials of the Heart

I am posting this from inside Justin's hospital room. If you would have told me on Mothers Day that this is were I would be in a weeks time, I don't think I would have believed it. Other than a fading bump on my little boys head, everything was status quo. But that world got turned on its head this past Tuesday when we rushed Justin to the ER for pain in his leg.
Let me try to give the short version of events-
Tuesday night around 9:00 Justin laid down for bed and got a charlie horse like cramp in his leg. So he got out of bed to try and stretch it out. When that didn't work he went downstairs to put some heat on it. He even tried a cold compress when the heat didn't work. The fact that the pain was getting more intense and creeping up his leg, caused him to think it was a little more than a bad cramp. It got so bad he was basically writhing in pain and his leg was going numb. At that point we called an ambulance, since I knew there was no way I could get him out to the car. And I think that might have been the best decision of the night.
When we got him to the ER they were worried about the pain, but they were more worried about his Oxygen levels and the fact that they could not get a pulse in his foot. We were probably only there about half an hour before they were taking him for an ultrasound. The results of that ultrasound started us on the path to where we are now. Basically they found a clot in a vein in his left leg, an arterial clot in his right leg, and multiple Pulmonary Embolisms or clots in his lungs. Clots are bad enough, but the extent of his clotting and the different systems they were finding them in had them very worried, as the only way for a clot to travel between the two systems, is between the two sides of the heart.
At about 10:00 they took him in for a CAT scan to try and get a better idea of what the clot in the right leg was doing. What they found was a clot that ran from his knee to his groin. When they saw the extent of the clot it was full stream ahead. They immediately called me in to sign another form allowing for the insertion of a filter that would be placed on a vein in the abdomen to catch any other clots. Then it was straight up to the ICU unit for a barrage of tests, blood draws, and doctors coming in and out of the room. All of which could not believe they were dealing with a 35 year old male who was a non-smoker.
They scheduled his embolectomy (clot removal) for 6:00 Wednesday evening. And between entering the ICU and 4:45 when they wheeled him down to the OR to prepare for surgery, we didn't have more than 10 minutes of down time- just enough to give him a blessing. Dr. Donahue performed the surgery, and she was amazing. I really liked her and all the nurses sang high praises of her abilities. It took about 2 hours for the surgery to  complete. And there might not have been two longer hours in my life. If you have ever had to wait for someone to get out of surgery you know that feeling!
And the knot that appeared when the nurse came out didn't dissipate until she confirmed that the surgery to remove the clot was a success. She moved us up to a waiting room on the 4th floor where we waited for the doctor and the time when we would be able to see him.
The surgeon came by at about 8:15 or so, and reiterated that the surgery had been a success, but also gave me another dose of bad news. During the surgery they had performed a TEE - which is basically a scope down the esophagus to take a better look at the heart- in this case they were looking for a hole in the heart- something that would have allowed the clots through the heart and into the artery. During the TEE, they found what they were looking for- a hole in the septum wall. She gave us a few different scenarios of what could happen next, and that was it. I was faced with the statement that he had a hole in his heart and not much more information to go on. It was a long night!!

What's worse is I still had to wait two more agonizing hours before they allowed me to even see him. And even then he was still being sedated and was on a ventilator. (that is a scene I really have no desire to see again) It wasn't supposed to take that long, but I guess Justin woke up out of sedation when he wasn't supposed to. It took quite a few of the nurses to stop him from pulling out his own tube!

They didn't take Justin off the ventilator until about noon on Thursday - but I feel lucky it is out. As one of the nurses mentioned that many people who have the extent of PE's or clots in the lungs that he had can sometimes be left on a ventilator for weeks as their lungs work to dissolve the clots and come back up to full working strength.

After that point we just started moving forward with his recuperation. He was able to get up out of the bed and do a small lap on Friday, and then a larger lap on Saturday. They even started him on a dose of coumadin (a blood thinner) on Friday night. So we started planning for discharge in 3-5 days. That was until we saw the cardiologist yesterday. Now we are preparing for another procedure tomorrow. One that will be used to fix the PFO in Justin's heart.

It has been a whirlwind of emotions. And an exhausting trip. But I am feeling very blessed to still have Justin here with me, and am hoping and praying that tomorrows procedure will go without incident. The idea of them working on his heart, freaks me out more than I want to admit.