Friday

waiting.......
Colonscopy, what time?  No one knows....
But today... prep all done...   just waiting.

When an LVAD patient has any procedure, they have to take them off of warfarin, get their INR down so they wont bleed to death, do the procedure, then get the INR back up....  to prevent blood clots.
These are the steps....  so what could be outpatient for most, require a 2-5 day stay....  NEW NORMAL,  and each time we will come back to this floor in the hospital.....

Havent seen results of latest blood labs to know if he is still losing blood.

Will update here when I know anything.....

Btw, yesterday after the endoscopy he did great, was wide awake when he came back, but could only get clear liquids since he had test today...  surprisingly not grumpy at all.....

I do think while this is a setback, a complication, it is at least good to know it wasnt his heart or lvad that was causing his slump....  we both thought it might have been...



*  went down at 9:00  

Out,,, no bleeding...  couple of polyps is all....   so are gonna let him go home.....

Endoscopy

The endoscopy was done....  did him earlier than planned....
 he does not go to preop, they do that from this floor and take him directly to surgery.....
And bring him back up here soon.

Good news, nothing found in upper area.
Bad news, colonscopy for tomorrow.

But this morning Dr Ransom said his bleeding has slowed, because his hematocrit was staying the same...

Update

On third unit of blood...  will decide after that, either later today or in morning as to next step...

So no news, other than he is feeling ok...



2 pm
Positive for GI bleed, waiting for newest lab results before deciding what to do and when...
New meds to take before he eats to coat his stomach lining...


Upper scope in the morning....  will be asleep, and heartmate doctors will be there too.....

Back in hospital.

never a good thing to be admitted to the hospital, but in this case, it almost felt comfirting....
larrys red blood cells, hematacrit, hemoglobin....   all those red things are too low...  so he is up on the LVAD floor again for at least a couple of nights....   and a couple of bags of blood, those are already started....  we are on the same floor, always will be...  but in the same room....  the big room with the wall of windows, what they refer to as the penthouse....  with his same nurses....  the staff makes it easier...

He most likely has a GI bleed, but will be running tests to find out....   dont need anything but positive thoughts....   but he is feeling ok...  spirits are low, but I am trying to keep him smiling....

More tomorrow....   i will be going home in a little while to sleep....

Ups and down

I guess this is still part of getting adjusted to the new normal....  the ups and downs...

Ok....  the ups....
Truly was an up, revved up his rpm's last week and had a great weekend...  went to Dr office today for appointment, and finally he got to advance to every other day dressing changes, with a sorbiview shield dressing....  that also means he can begin to shower......   with a wrap around of press and seal plastic wrap, and putting his controller and batteries into his water bag....  but only every other day right before the dressing change.
Went out to eat lunch,

Downs.......
 got home, then Tori texted us with the labs....  so not good....  extremely low hemoglobin count, which means he needs blood....  go in tomorrow for transfusion, then will figure out what.....  Most probably a GI bleed...  so that means a round of more tests....

GI bleeds are more common with the HeartMate 2 than the 3, so were hoping he would not... but with  kidney disease, and diabetes the risk increases...  but this is probably what was causing his shortness of breath and sugar level jumping all over....

irony> I get my last iron infusion,of the series of 7, tomorrow......  my iron deficiency anemia...
but like I told Larry this afternoon, to me, he is still with me...  so that I am always on an up....