Hospital Life Part III

Life settled into a routine. Tuesday morning Edward brought Joel and Simon along. I wanted the baby there too, so they brought him along, even though I couldn't really take care of him. It just seemed right to have him there. Dr. Prya was so fascinated at how the boys cared for him. She asked Joel if he would take such good care of a baby girl too. :) I held him awhile and he did seem to relax and know that I was his Mom. I was afraid he wouldn't even know who his Mother is since I couldn't take care of him. :( He was a calm, contented baby which was such a blessing. Thank God! My last three babies had been very fussy.

That morning Dr. Holmberg came into my room followed by several students with their pens and note pads. He said he is taking over for Dr. Biddle. He's one of the cardiologists that comes out to Atlantic. I'm wondering if that is why he took over. Anyway, he is a really nice doctor and I like him. He gave an outline of what would be happening the rest of my stay. On Thursday they would do a CT angiogram. I did not know what that would be except he said it's a non-invasive procedure. They wanted to check other arteries, especially the renal arteries, to make sure they all look OK.  Also, someone from physical therapy would be coming to get me out of bed and walking. The students didn't say a word, but they were taking notes. It was so interesting. I liked to keep my door open to watch the activity. These older doctors would go into a room with some students. After a while they came out, then they would stand in the hallway and he would be talking to them. I decided maybe one of our sons should become a cardiologist! I would point out to Edward different doctors that visited me regularly. Some of these always came in early before Edward came in, so he searched them out in the hall to talk with them. They said what happened to me is very unusual. They called to other university hospitals as far away as Japan and Australia to get more information. I think it was Dr. Holmberg who said that in his 20 years of practice I was his third patient with a dissection like this.

Dr. Holmberg

After a while Josh, the physical therapist (PT), came in. He was going to take me on a walk in the halls. So far I had spent all my time in bed except to use the bedside commode. My hips or lower back were badly out of shape. I could hardly stand up and get started walking. Once I was going, it didn't bother me much. This had started before I was in the hospital. Laying in bed all the time had just made it worse. It was a big ordeal to get out of bed and start walking. First he got me to sit on the edge of the bed, then he checked my heart rate and blood pressure. He kept the blood pressure cuff on my arm and had a little thing on my finger that showed how fast my heart was beating. It took a little bit to get all my wires and stuff organized. Then we were off. We stopped every few minutes so that he could check my BP and heart rate. It all stayed fine. I was up for about 10 minutes. It was amazing how tired I got! He told me I could sit out on a chair awhile if I wanted to, but I could hardly sit because of my hips, so I went back to bed. I felt so disheveled it was embarrassing to be out in the halls where everyone could see me. Sunday night my headache was so bad I took everything out of my hair except two barrettes to keep it out of my face. I of course did not have the foresight to bring a brush along, so I had been unable to do anything with it. Although my hair has thinned quite a bit it's long, well below my waist, so it was always in the way.

That afternoon Dave and Mary came again. We had asked Mary to bring along my hair brush from home. She brushed and braided my hair, which felt so good, but we had no band to put on the end of the braid. We could probably have found something somewhere in this big hospital. One of the nurses thought she might have something, but must have forgotten. 

On Sunday already I had strong desire for an anointing. So now we had an anointing service according to James 5:14-15 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

 God did not miraculously heal me right then and there, but He gave me the peace and assurance that we are in His will. I was still struggling with that monster, fear. I will talk more about that later. When I look back now and understand better some of the serious complications that could have happened there is no doubt in my mind that He kept me safe. Sometime after I came home we were studying SCAD. One source said that 90% of SCAD patients have a recurrence in the first week and 50% have one in the first two months. A recurrence is when another dissection happens in another artery. So I praise God that I am one of the 10% that did not have a recurrence.

Late afternoon Chris and Royale Charles came to visit. We were so encouraged. Royale mothered Michael for me. :) She changed his diaper and fed him his bottle. Edward and the boys were doing a good job, but they just didn't have that "mother's touch". We still hadn't figured out the bottle. It was a Nuk nipple with a vent. Which way do we hold it? Should the vent be on top or bottom? One way it seemed he couldn't get anything out. It wasn't till months later when we got the bigger bottles and read the directions on the box that we learned we were holding it upside down! :) Oh well, he got what he needed. Chris and Royale were very generous and brought a huge gift... 356 diapers, 900 wipes, and formula. They also gave large bottles of fish oil and vitamin D, supplements that are good for the heart. A mere thank you doesn't seem enough...

We are so blessed! I wondered about the other patients there in the Cardiac Care Unit. How did they cope if they did not have faith in God? Did they have caring friends and family? None of our family lives close to us, but they did very well in calling and showing their support in  that way. My mother called every day. She has Parkinson's disease and cannot travel anymore, so that made all the more special.

After Chris and Royale left Edward and the boys got ready to leave too. For some reason my heart rate was higher, around 120. I was kind of worried. Simon was very worried. The nurses didn't say anything about it, but they did increase my dose of metoprolol. Edward prayed and then they left. Irene stayed with me again. We gave Michael to Mabel Chupp for the night. :(::: I was sad. I so much wanted to be able to take care of my newborn baby. I always relished those special moments with a newborn. It seemed my body had gone into survival mode after my heart attack and I lost my motherly feelings. All those special warm and cuddly fuzzy feelings that go with snuggling your newborn - GONE! I felt robbed. I could not bring them back. They did come back to a certain extent, but it took a long time. It feels as though I missed all of that newborn bonding time. God still left that song phrase stuck in my mind - "Rejoice in the Lord HE MAKES NO MISTAKE".