For the past 3 days, the patient info screen in Conk’s room has displayed her expected discharge date as the following day. When it didn’t happen that first day, we weren’t too upset; it did seem a little ambitious. Then yesterday, when the screen showed today’s date for most of the day, and we were eventually told that no, she really needed one more day, we were discouraged but accepting. We started out today sure that we’d be leaving tomorrow, but it almost didn’t happen once again. It took most of the afternoon for us to track down and meet with all the parties involved in the decision, but we finally discovered that the PT dept was causing the holdup, not her cardiac surgeons. We managed to convince PT that Conk seemed fine to us, maybe just somewhat sleep-deprived, and so, barring any unforeseen complications, she’ll be released tomorrow. Al will be driving up from Baltimore, collecting us all, and then driving back to Virginia.

Finally it’s the right date!

(Conk’s pain score has always been 0)

These daisies from Dancy arrived today!

Conk’s progress continues, and there is a chance that she’ll be released tomorrow. She certainly hopes to get out, but she may have to wait until Thursday. We’ve gotten no sense of how and when the decision will be made. She does have a long ride home, so that may be a consideration.

In the meantime, she gets stronger by the hour. She has her phone now, but only to listen to podcasts during the night (she says.)

Stay tuned!

Today’s milestones included a walk down the hallway, removal of the IV that was delivering Milrinone to help her heart, and removal of the supplemental oxygen tube; love seeing her being released from almost all of the beeping machinery. And she asked for, and got, her first cappuccino post-surgery.

No blog post yesterday evening because Jane & I watched part of the Tony awards with Conk and got home past our bedtime.

Conk has graduated to the step-down unit!! Shedding more IVs and monitors along the way. The central line was removed this morning; the last one to go was an arterial line that continuously monitored her blood pressure.

She’s still on oxygen and pacemaker assist, but all her vitals are good, she’s much more alert, and she’s no longer complimenting the hospital food. She’s really on her way back.

Another day in the ICU.

The (hopefully) temporary pacemaker that has been keeping Conk’s heart in rhythm since surgery was switched from constant to back-up mode; it’s hard to tell how often or if it kicks in, but it’s a promising step. Conk ate a little breakfast and lunch and thought the food was delicious. She started PT, which today meant sitting up in a chair for 3 hours. And her chest tube was removed, which also meant that the extremely noisy and annoying pleurovac machine is gone.

More good news tomorrow!

And all is going well according to her nurse, Iris (too bad it’s not Daisy but at least it’s a flower.) Conk is awake and responsive; still a little groggy, but asking about Chickpea and hoping she can have some apple juice soon. The breathing tube was removed around noon and all her vitals are good. Hopefully she’ll be able to leave the ICU tomorrow.

Dr. Smith says the valve procedures (2 replaced, 1 repaired) went very well. The more difficult part was stopping the bleeding – even though Conk went off blood thinners 5 days ago, her blood was still thin. But all’s well and we should be able to visit her in the ICU in about an hour.

After meeting with her 3-person anesthesiology team, Conk was finally wheeled into the OR at 2.

Jane and I retired to the nearest Irish bar, where the bartender’s name is Daisy!

Nothing has happened yet. We’re still waiting in the pre-op area for the OR to be free. Had a quick visit from Dr. Smith, but it may be another hour before he can get started.

Daisies from the restaurant where Jane and I had dinner last night.

Since I’ll be updating the blog while Kathy (who I’ll refer to as Conk from now on; it’s what I’ve always called her, and the only name my Grandmother knew her by) is recovering from surgery, she urged me to write a pre-op blog post to introduce myself. And to make sure that I didn’t encounter any technical difficulties, esp since my first few unsuccessful attempts to sign up to follow the blog didn’t inspire confidence. So Conk, if you’re reading this, you have one less thing to worry about.

This is my third time accompanying Conk during her hospital stays. There was Christmas in London in 2007, spent in St Thomas’ hospital by the Thames across from Big Ben. And a scary extra 2 weeks in Frankfurt at a hospital beside the Main in September 2016. New York City is the first trip built around a planned hospitalization, but like the first two, she’ll have a great view of a river, this time the Hudson.

Frankfurt 2016

Peg