Friday, May 1

Hey all, just another update. We went to the doctor on Thursday, and things are pretty much the same. We have been experiencing some problems with John's picc line, which is an IV line that enters in his arm and snakes up into one of the large blood vessels near his heart. It has 2 ports that hang out, one of which is used for his IV milrinone which is the main heart medicine he takes, and the other port is supposed to be used to be able to draw blood. The line has probably shifted, and they are no longer able to get blood out of it, and when I flush it with saline there is a lot of resistance. We have also been getting a lot of alarms sounding with the pump he wears, probably due to the picc line having moved a little. It was originally put in on Halloween, so it is great that it has gone this long without any major issues. (I'm pretty protective about it, since infections are common and can be a huge issue, so I harass the nurses pretty good about cleanliness, etc. whenever they mess with it). The plan is to replace it next Wednesday at Emory, should be pretty routine outpatient surgery. However, they have to be careful of all of the other extra stuff he has in there, meaning the pacemaker/defibrillator and all of the wires that go along with that, so I guess nothing is routine.

We go back to the doctor in 2 weeks, and they will probably put him back into the hospital in about a month and re-do the right heart cath to check his pressures going to the lungs again. The good thing about that is it puts him back to 1A on the list, but it is a big deal to thread those tubes into his neck and then through his heart and out the pulmonary artery that leads to his lungs. When we get to that procedure he stays in the CCU, hooked up to lots of machines and no real mobility, so that isn't too much fun.

Other than that he is feeling about the same, his strength is getting better but he still doesn't have much appetite and has lost about 8 pounds in the last 2 weeks. He can't afford to lose too much!

Here's hoping for a quiet Friday, no visits to the ER for us, and a relaxing weekend for all of you.