birthday

Birthday dinner at Purple Cow......  

One had ice cream for dessert, the other had bubble gum....  we enjoyed it...  their parents were there as well.....

Today was a great day.  Larry was feeling better, the weather was perfect (low humidity), and it is his birthday.....   celebrate each minute, each hour, each day, and now each year.....

We had thought about going out to eat tonight, but then I suggested we make an adventure trip.....  lol... went shopping...  there is a new outlet mall about 7 miles from our house, yet we had never been in the 2 tears since it opened....  shopping wasnt big on our list....

Last week, Larry wasnt feeling like even walking to the jeep, but got his rpm's revved up and said he wanted to go......  so left here before 11, walked, shopped, then ate lunch, walked and shopped.  He made it around the entire complex...  he was the winner... he bought like 8 new shirts, large enough to wear over his bags when he wants.....   i tried to explain cotton wrinkles more, but those were what he liked, so I guess I get to start ironing again.....

But it was good to see him out and doing.... i forgot to take any pictures, just the ones in my mind...
He then went on facebook, and IRV2, and even here....  so that was again HUGE.....  stopped on the way home at Coldstone Creamery...  lol  not as good as anticipated.... were still so full that we just did cheese and crackers for a night meal.....

Pages, not just posts...

Have you noticed the pages on the left......  in that column...
Been adding, and have many more to come...
Newest page is a photo page.........

<---------   Go look....

FRIDAY is Larry's birthday

Friday is Larry's 66th birthday....   

so if you want to post a birthday wish for him, feel free....  

i will read them to him if nothing else....  

but he is beginning to randomly read some of my blog entries....  

there are lots of the days that he has no memory of.....  

he does not get on Facebook much, and hasnt been back on IRV2...  

While we arent planning anything, just getting to another birthday is a major accomplishment......

Hooray to my strong gemini husband......

SO POST YOUR BIRTHDAY WISHES HERE.....

Happy Birthday Larry

INR scare over..

INR check this morning was much better, back up into normal parameters.....  Larry did have to take 4 injections of a fast acting blood thinner to get him back unto range....   2-3 is acceptable, lower than 2 gets into blood clot scare, over 3 gets into internal bleed scares.....   this is why we watch his Vitamin K intake.....  i dont know what happened on that... i try to monitor this very carefully.

havent heard anything from the PFT, Pulmonary Function Test.....   but that was at 8 am this morning....  we both took a nap when we came home...  just one more thing left today... dentist for me...  doesnt seem like a lot, but for now it is...  

When we leave home, we take his rolling bag.....  even if it is a quick trip to the store, we go, it goes. it is beginning to become a habit....   I was getting it each time, now Larry is packing it and getting it ready......  

One of the problems with changing Larry's driveline dressing, was the foley security sticky thing just never would stick....   even in the hospital these were being changed almost daily....   now I have no idea what they cost, but it has been 3 months and that is a lot of stickies, and even that is hopefully just a beginning.....

I did create a band for him to wear in place of the anchor......   but last week when I called in a reorder of supplies,,, the guy on the phone asked me if I needed more...  i just said no, they dont stick anyway....   so he suggested he try these new anchors....   notice the black writing in top right corner...
Put one on Sunday, and it is still sticking.........   and yes I thought about duct tape...  there is velcro on the band....  but with all of the duct tape colors hmmmmmm..


Edit....... wed am.... it came off last night...  

On Thursday our new home INR machine will be delivered and we will be given instructions...  so while that will be great, we will miss seeing Trina, and Kim every week.....   we will still be in contact with Tori, just wont have our regular visits....  good and bad....

Today Larry is feeling better, whether from having more rpm's or blood flowing better...  not sure, but breathing isnt as hard....  two weeks ago he could walk all over Walmart, Sams, and Home Depot...  so hopefully this will get him back to there....  two steps forward and one slide back....  he wants to be able to go and do some of his projects.....

Test

Test

Diane Ziemski

Http://www.dianeziemski.com/

Wasn't due back to the Dr until the end of the month, but shortness of breath issues had him call on Friday, and went in today. Yes, in emergency we woukd have quickly gone to ER with a call to LVAD coordinator on the way.....

Lab, chest xray, then echocardiogram.....  no swelling, lungs clear, so did a increase on diuretic, and ramped up his pump rpm's....  faster the pump, faster the push of blood to cells...  5600 to 5800....  he said walking in the house that he could already feel the difference....

Going to do a pulmonary function test on wed, then back to Dr a week from today...
later this month, he will be seeing an Endocrine Doc for his diabetes.....

I talked about seeing Dr Ransom everywhere....  saw him as we were waiting to get xray, on 3rd floor at Heart Transplant Center, he said, he might not get to see us because of a transplant..   So then up to 4th floor for clinic, he came through the wait room again, said he would get to see us.......   ..
 later, when we were in the room, and we did get to see him, we found out the transplant didnt happen....   we would have seen one of the other doctors....  both Dr Campbell and Dr Narisetty were in the hall at different times....

Then got a text from Tori with dates and times of other appointments and she will text up when his labs are done.....

Thank you all......  

Edit:

Well.... labs were not very good....  INR was scary blod clot low, so I ended up going to pharmacy to get blood thinner injections, 1 tonight, 2 tomorrow, 1wed, then go back to clinic on Wed for another INR check....

 click here for a good INR explanation

Changes in da blog......   since my original purpose for this blog has changed slightly, I am making some changes in its functionality and appearance.  Will be looking at ways to make it easier for other LVAD patients and their caregivers to stumble upon it.   And as Richard mentioned, even non LVADers might can benefit....  his wife Ann has other health issues, but care is similar....

So any suggestions are welcome...  like the red?  Red is heart color....
Not sure on if it will stay red, but expect changes... as I experiment.....
 first I need to learn how to properly create a blog....  research...