Continuing

 Hiya.  My tiny $5 emergency cell phone that is not smart, has been beeping up a storm lately.  Only a few inches, highly sensitive, and crooked fingers of mine have sent an update to Dominos, my landscaper, hair stylist, and possibly a few more that got in the way.  Nothing compromised or names, just brief status.

Carole had a TEE done today that confirmed her previous echocardiogram in more detail.  Her aortic valve replacement done six years prior is the culprit and must be done again.  Tomorrow.  Severity of valve disease is graded 0-4 and her mitral is 4, aortic is 2+, which is a surprise to everyone.  We were expecting surgery at end of week to repair the mitral with a clip in a general anesthesia and intubated surgery which terrified her.  I spoke with her doctor and once the aortic is replaced, they will know within 24-48 hours whether the mitral will need repaired.  If so, it will be done at another time.  All this surprised us because we were told her mitral valve was the predominate issue and for over a year, expecting new drugs to do the trick.  Who knew that a bad aortic could be the cause of a worsening mitral?  In the past.... let's move forward.  Dr. Kapadia at the Clinic is one of the best in the country and when I asked if the balloon will be removed before the replacement, I was told this doctor is so good he will work around it.   All in all, this is a change in plans that we're happy about.  It is not considered surgery since no intubation or heavy sedation is required as with the mitral, no cutting since it is a catheter through the groin, and we are all hoping this will improve her quality of life.  No visitors and she will return to the ICU after.  It should start around noon or earlier and they will call when she is recovering.  

I hope to get a few stitches in this evening and Mark will go out for my RXs.  I won't be leaving the house. 

I've not been taking time to enjoy online photos and blogs so I apologize for not keeping up.  I did happen to see a NWP post with a lovely sampler (Cordelia Ransbery, Samplers Remembered) so immediately looked for it and thank goodness I enlarged the screen before ordering.  House fill and motifs are over one!!  My eyesight has worsened and I need to see a new doctor, haven't purchased a new mag light and the arm of my Dazor needs adjusting.

I hope and expect to post tomorrow evening that all went well and Carole may be resting at home this weekend.   Although traffic and multiple lane highways are white knucklers for me, I will certainly enjoy this one.

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A glimmer of hope

 Last night, Carole called to tell us they were inserting an IABP - intra-aortic balloon pump and I'm glad she did.  We did not have any other notification.  A short time later I checked the MyChart site and it was a success.  Mark spoke with her an hour after insertion, she was not as breathless, reduced meds, higher BP, and feeling safer.  But since the phone rang at 7am and we saw it was the Clinic, I have not been able to breathe comfortably and still trying to calm my stomach.  So many of you have also dealt with this same anxiety, third time in six years of fearing these calls for us.  New doctor for the weekend reported that she is continuing to do well, kidney function improved slightly, still seeing things and recites her vivid dreams during sleep.  I talked to Carole this morning, extremely grateful for their care and this device.  She must lay flat for 3 days, very difficult to eat, tubing from it taped to the leg, a few others poking out of neck and behind ear, extreme pain in her feet which no one has been able to diagnosis, but grateful for her misery.  I do hope to hear a strong and sensible voice in another day or two, it hasn't even been 24 hours. 

This device is used for a number of heart issues, such as Carole's cardiogenic shock.  Very often, learning from online sites whether CC, Mayo, Hopkins, AMA, and so many others, is very scary.  There are risks - clots, strokes, malfunction, but you have a choice to follow the provider's advice or possibly die. We are all relieved, accepting the benefits over the risks, hoping this will give her strength and time for doctors to create a medication plan.  Never knew of this device, and it's pretty darn slick.  It is programed for the balloon to inflate and push the blood flow toward your coronary arteries. When the heart contracts, the balloon deflates and allows more blood to be pumped with less work.  Controls offer testing and needs for each patient, such as reducing the number of inflations or pausing to test the heart strength before removal, and we were told it could stay in for a month.  Finally some hope.  But still cautious and fearful.  The infection is not a UTI, still extreme pain in her feet, no answers on either yet.

Learn more about IABP here

We're not quite as confident and cocky as this guy.  Yet.

Well this is unnerving.  I went to Photo Gallery to upload another turkey, and this appeared on my screen.  Looking directly at me!!!  

Edit - when I saw Robin's comment, I realized I failed to mention the woman looking right at me from my screen is my sister!!  I guess that would explain my shock.

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 I've never seen this before, but more disturbing is how it just appeared when I opened my photo program, which I did yesterday and it was not there!!  The source is not specified, file location is my desktop  (nothing downloaded at specified time).   This appears to be the foyer in Cleveland, possibly the first visit for ID?  Date shows 3/18/21 (obviously not when created) when she was tubed to a bed in ICU. There was CC website maintenance early morning and the site was down, maybe that had something to do with it.  Bottom rung is where I sit regarding tech knowledge and I'm sure there is an explanation.  Regardless, can you imagine my shock when she appeared on my screen?  Yoi.  Good thing I postponed my heart monitor or it would have sent an ambulance.

In case it is CC property, I plan to delete it from here shortly.

Be well, safe, enjoy your weekend.

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Sun

 It takes a plain critter to eye catching.  Shining a light shows the hidden beauty and these belly and wing colors are the same I chose for the sampler.  Not iridescent like the hen's, but very close. And after removing the miscounted first and only bloom, they will return when stitched again.  

502, 356, 434, 3031, 926

Nit attacked Petey this morning and rolled him, Petey is still cool and holding back.  He is much larger than Nit who is silly to not remember that Petey is why his ear has two sections (one paper thin and the other very thick and hairless).  Bud has not eaten anything in days, fresh chicken puree, alone or added to pate, or the flavor he loved Sunday (so we bought a load) and he won't touch it now.  Have you noticed the lack of canned pate?  All these new items are coming out, almost twice the price, and the dozens in our family over the years would never eat anything chunky, sliced or diced.  Bud bolts and paws at his mouth even with liquid.  He's hungry, but afraid.  Put the dish outside, he'll eat.  Garage, he'll eat.  But after two times of bolting from those locations, he's done.  Mark thinks we should take a chance with the mouth surgery regardless of the dire prognosis.  It gives him a slight chance, rather than none and starvation.  But how could we schedule at this time?  This crisis started weeks ago.

This pig will eat anything, anywhere.

Trying to remove as much aggravation as possible.  My last laptop purchase was Lenovo and I am ready for it to leave through a window.  I have never had a touchpad this erratic, frustrating, unstable, and unpredictable as this one made by Elan.  Tried everything, not as many adjustments as Synaptics, online, emails, tech sites, no help.  Tried following advice for driver and such, worse.  Not a big deal unless you can't handle simple disappointments any longer.  Every time the phone rings, it takes me at least 20 minutes to settle down.  It just did.  Chris called Carole, nurse took her phone and told him she is having difficulty breathing and can't talk.  I handled all her doctors, treatments, surgeries, test results, questions, procedures, spewed blame, criticism, irresponsibility, insults, and demands regarding her proper treatment for 20 years.  And now, I don't have the strength to call the nurse for fear of distressing news, and that is unacceptable.  From witch to wimp.  Good book title.

Enjoy your weekend.

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Too shaky to stitch

 I just talked to carole's nurse.  Carole is critical and they said we were called at 5pm but there is no number from the clinic shown on our phone.  So Mark called and verified it is correct.  She said we may get a call during the night. I'm having him take care of verbal tasks because I start crying and no one can understand). They just can't raise pressure and she arrived coherent, mobile, alert, breathing.  Can no longer walk and they (like here) do not know why her feet are so painful and swollen they can't be touched, sharp pains to numb, how this all started.  And now she is immobile, gasping, seeing things, and making no sense.  Matter of days.  I was there with her twice during failure and never saw this.  They have no idea about the infection or where so broad spectrum will be continued.  I asked the nurse why she never had a low BP problem with other infections from pneumonia to cellulitis.  ????  She doesn't want to but informed us that she may call for the balloon pump again, during the night or tomorrow.  The two new drugs (one begins with L another N) to help pumping and raise pressure are what caused her crisis.   Six days of great decline and I know this is possible with heart failure, but so many of my questions can't be answered and that is very frustrating.  Would answers make a difference?  Only for my sanity, not her health.  Best nurses, docs, and hospital, but you have to excuse me after suffering with my misdiagnosis, my father's slow suffocation for weeks when a pulmonologist failed to recognize a pulmonary embolism causing his death,  Chris failing to be diagnosed until 22 for his Type 1 diabetes after many hospitalizations telling Carole he eats too many sweets, my biopsy showing cancer and after ripping out an organ, oops.  This is why I get very nervous when they (even the best) cannot give me a verified reason.  But that's medicine.  More miracles than mishaps.

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Another day

Edit - Spoke with nurse again, now has a fever, no Lasix because of low bp, has not lost any fluid since arriving, and she is talking to deceased family that came to sit with her.

 Hi folks.  I wasn't able to speak with Carole yesterday, so weak.  I just did this morning, she is miserable, very shaky and still weak.  Blazing infection that I saw on her report yesterday (myChart), they don't know where and are culturing today but started a broad spectrum until answered.  I did not know that could cause b/p to drop (70/40) which prevents fluid release.  But her numbers were good for two weeks with no fluid releasing so don't understand.  Meds to raise it are being monitored closely because I guess this affects arterial pressure (which is high) when HF is present.  Her nurse in ICU is outstanding, so informative, and takes her time with your calls.  We still don't know what to expect, and I'm afraid to ask. 

I started the sampler with color changes, have very little stitched, and love it already.

Raining today, the boys are in their happy places, and Missy is somewhere inside making trouble.  Nit is still not happy with Petey and tries to steal his house, but had to settle for the old one today.  Since the weather has warmed, he prefers being outside.

Bud is so very thin, wants to eat, and does get a little in before he bolts.  

Enjoy your day.

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Change

 We're packed and ready to leave, but aren't going to Cleveland now.  She had a right heart cath this morning and will spend several days, tube still in place, in the Heart Failure ICU.   But since there is no chance of a bed in that section for days, she must wait and stay at the ICU she is currently in.  They haven't been able to remove a drop of fluid, still swelling, can't correct the leg blockages until her heart is better.  They don't know if they can help but will try different medications, the first is nitroprusside drip.  No visitors.

Mark was going with me and would have had to stay at the hotel all day, and that will be the case when we get there, maybe next week, if they can help her.  The doctor said once they get the efficiency improved, the fluid should start to reduce.  Her initial visits after the TAVR mentioned the surgical mitral valve repair that would greatly reduce the heart strain, if she can handle it.  We also learned that the TAVR surgery from Cleveland is not optimal.

Your kindness and concern regarding Carole is so appreciated.  We all at some point in our lives need to address loved ones suffering or our own.  Those of us that only have a few remaining, can't seem to deal with it.  My months of anxiety dealing with the incorrect diagnosis really affected me in several ways, and I am grateful that I sought another opinion before Carole's crisis.  All those fears and emotions are now directed toward my sister.  We are hoping to have better news in the coming days, and I will certainly be happy to report them.

I decided to jail all three brats inside since they do spend time here, moved things to accommodate two litter boxes, two trays for various foods, Feliway for the terrycloth beneath Bud's dish which helps, notes everywhere as to which doors are most likely an escape route, Petey's dish sunk into a low crock so the critters can't carry away, supplies and food notes.  The garage is also a good choice if we can add perches to get an outside view.  We'll see what happens.

Decided to take the new chart with us and pulled several additional colors for the border.  Original chart photo and a few ideas for color options.  

I think I prefer the brighter colors but will probably not change the colors in the body.

I was studying Jane Southward's chart.  Did I pay attention to the over one section, usually a feature that removes a sampler from my wish list?  Did not.  IG photos of a new start was so lovely that I investigated no further.  Always an option when it is contained to substitute other elements.  A reader mentioned that she doesn't stitch many reproductions because most have reference to God or religion.  Started me thinking ..... do you ever consider the message/verse in a sampler when choosing?  Would it cause you to purchase or reject?  I have to be honest, I don't care and most times don't even read it until it's in my hand.  But she brought up an interesting question for sampler lovers.  Does the verse influence your choice?

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