1/10/13- Discharge Day!

Dr. Jorde came in this morning and seemed to have given me credit for fixing the swelling in my legs, since I was the one telling him for days to diurese me. Whatever, the swelling is gone and I am going home soon, so I am happy. Marisa came, and I went up and down two flights of stairs. It was slow and steady, but better than yesterday. Finelle came with all my discharge paperwork; I signed it, and got all my prescriptions and instructions from her. She told us that a pharmacy across the street from the hospital would have the pain meds in stock that I needed, since the hospitals on Long Island typically do not carry it in stock. When mom finally arrived, she went to fill the prescription, and I went for a walk to the cafeteria by myself! I wasn’t as overwhelmed as I thought I would be. As usual, I let my thoughts get the best of me. I treated myself to a Snapple for working so hard and accomplishing so much.

At approximately 2PM, a tech came in to do an echocardiogram, but I told her that I had already been discharged. She said that it was just ordered, and she was unsure of why. I figured, ‘why not. Just do it and get me out of here!’ About an hour later, Dr. Jorde and Dr. Naka came in my room to see me. Dr. Jorde said that he had finally looked at my CAT Scan results from the day before, and they see what appears to be a foreign object in or around my heart. If the object, which appears to be a catheter, is outside of the heart, they would leave it there. So… you forget to remove something from my body, and you are just going to leave it?!? Then they said that if it is inside the heart, they would have to open me back up to remove it. They would have to do a special test, where they place an echocardiogram camera down my throat to get a closer look at the object and its relationship to the heart. It was determined that my chest had to be cut open again! So… at 1130PM, I entered the 4^th floor operating room for the test and my second open heart surgery. After the test, around 130AM, Dr. Takayama went to talk to my family. He explained that somehow the tip of a catheter had been cut off during the first surgery. At around 430AM, Dr. Takayama went into the waiting room to talk to my family again. He explained more about what he found, and told them that before they closed my chest, he had to make sure the bleeding stopped (caused by the Coumadin medication I am on). When it was done, Dad left for work, and Mom and OK Lori came up to see me before they left for home.

http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy245/Stemmle/catheter_zpsa061de32.jpg

^The catheter they left inside my heart^