Friends/family,
Today was an entertaining day at the very least! Brent woke me up at 3:45 am and said "Hey! Do you want to go for a walk? I'm wide awake!" to which I asked him if he really wanted me to go (of course I knew he did) and he said yes, he wanted me to come walk with him but he could call the nurse if I was too tired. He told me he'd been watching me sleep for awhile and hoping I would wake up, but he was so restless that he had to go for a walk. I asked him to call the nurse because I was just too tired. I felt bad, but I needed some rest last night. The nurse walked in, laughed, and said she'd walk with him. I probably should've just gone because Brent was SO wired, I could hear him talking and talking and talking almost the entire walk. When they got back, I told the nurse he never talks that much and I was sorry. :) It was somewhat amusing, but also unfortunate because Brent was so uncomfortable he couldn't sleep! He laid back down but then lab came to draw his blood! We did rest for about another hour afterwards...until...
For the past 4 nights, we've been laughing about the view from our room - we were in a room at the back corner of the hall - the window was painted and there was scaffolding on the other side, so we basically couldn't see anything. This morning, when we were actually sleeping, we awoke all of a sudden at 8:00 to the sounds of loud construction. We both just looked at each other like "You've got to be kidding me!" and started slowly becoming delirious. It was so loud when I was on the phone with a friend, he actually couldn't hear me. We could hear jackhammers, drilling, and hammering. We decided to go for a walk and thought maybe the whole floor could hear it - nope, just our room. We also figure it would have to stop! We could actually see out a little crack of paint in the window and the guys were literally working and drilling right outside our room. We were laughing about it but wondering what we were going to do. Luckily the nurse came in and tried to listen to Brent's heart and said "Um, we've got to get you in a different room right now, I can't hear anything!" So now we're in a different, quieter room. :)
After we moved into the new room, we were both pretty hyper and giggly - likely from lack of sleep. Brent was particular talkative and I kept telling him he had to rest. Megan (Nurse Practitioner) came in a little bit after we moved and found us giggling and Brent chatting away. I told her we both thought he needed an Ativan (similar to Valium) to help calm him down and get some sleep to which she responded that delirium was perfectly normal at this stage of the recovery because of his lack of sleep and being cooped up in the hospital. We got a big kick out of that! I always knew Brent was crazy, but she diagnosed him! ;) She wouldn't give him any meds because she knew he was just exhausted, which was probably for the best. We talked with Megan for quite some time and then she even came back later and explained more about Brent's condition (Tetralogy of Fallot) to us, which was very nice and helpful. We both love Megan!
We also spoke with the surgeon and the cardiologist this morning. Brent's hemoglobin is slowly going up, so that's a good sign - he's not bleeding internally anywhere. Also his pleural effusion has been steadily decreasing in size, which is good news. Unfortunately his INR (how thin his blood is) has remained the same, ~1.3, and we can't leave the hospital until it's closer to 2. His INR could increase to 2 by tomorrow morning and then maybe we could leave then, but we'll have to wait and see. We're very much hoping to leave tomorrow, but you never know. We've been here for 7 nights now and are both very anxious to leave and rest at home. Brent hasn't had any fresh air or been outside in a week! It's weird to be inside so much! Brent seems ok: we took 4 walks today, he's only taking Tylenol for pain, his incisions are healing well, most of his labs are ok, and his x-rays are improving. It's just his INR! We'll see what the morning labs show.
Brent also had 4 friends from his office come visit today, which was so nice. We had a good time talking with them and I think he was very glad for some contact with the real world. He was a little tired afterwards, but then again, he's always tired - he did just have heart surgery.
Brent's doctor has also switched him to a regular diet. For dinner he ordered a mini-pizza, french fries, potato chowder soup, and cheesecake. I can't believe they let anyone in the hospital eat such meals - but at least he ate! He was very excited to have more options besides the bland cardiac diet foods - although he has taken a strange liking to jello...
Today we also asked Megan (Nurse Practitioner) what her opinion was about the wedding/honeymoon. I think we are all starting to agree that it would be best to postpone it, even if it is just 3-4 weeks later. For all of you that are married that are reading this, I think you can agree your wedding day (and the whole weekend!) is exhausting. We both want to be able to enjoy that time with our family/friends - you only get one wedding and I have my whole life to finish grad school. So we sent an email to the wedding director at Flint Hill to inquire which other days are available later in August and in September. We'll see what she says and decide from there. It's all still up in the air, but I don't want to rush Brent's recovery and we both want to enjoy our wedding day. It's very devastating to think about postponing our wedding because we're more in love now than we were a week ago - but in a few years, we'll probably be grateful that we were able to enjoy our beautiful wedding day. It's also very difficult to have to take a semester off of grad school because I just want to be done - but clearly God has another plan for our future. We'll continue to pray about it and look at options and keep everyone posted. We'll likely decide within the next 10 days so we hopefully can give everyone plenty of time to adjust plans if needed.
I know I sound like a broken record, but please continue to pray for Brent and his recovery. I know it's been 5 days since his surgery and he is doing well - so people tend to forget about how serious his situation is - but he is still uncomfortable and in pain and has 7 weeks of sitting at home, which is not easy for anyone. He's having a horrible time sleeping and getting comfortable, so while we may have laughed some today, he's definitely uncomfortable. Please pray that God will really use this time in his life and that he will make a full recovery. Thanks again; we sincerely appreciate the support!
God bless,
Rachel
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
A few more days in the hospital
Friends/family,
Another early morning today, but we were somewhat excited because Brent is feeling better and we thought today would be our last full day in the hospital! Brent had his labs drawn this morning and his red blood cell (RBC) count and Hemoglobin & Hematocrit (H&H) were still low, but the cardiologist on call said at least his body didn't eat up all the RBCs from the transfusion yesterday, which was a good sign and also his chest xray this morning showed his pleural effusion was shrinking in size. Praise God for healing! So they decided to go ahead and start him back on Coumadin (the blood thinner he takes daily for his mechanical aortic valve.) The surgeon came in a little while later and informed us we would be staying in the hospital until at least Wednesday because his H&H were too low and so was his INR (INR is basically how thin his blood is - Brent's blood has to be thinner than most people's because he has a mechanical valve and you don't want any clots.) We both were upset about having to stay longer. As I said in my previous post, we want to get out of here! Brent's hospital bed is so uncomfortable - it's so hard for him to sleep - and I can tell he's getting upset. He even told me tonight he was upset and wanted to go home. I tried to comfort him as best I could, but I want to go home too. We want to start putting this behind us and start looking forward! On the positive side, Brent is feeling better every day and recovering fairly well, despite the minor setback yesterday.
Brent's close friend from Ernst & Young came to visit us today and entertained us for about 2 hours. Remember how in my first post I talked about the wedding Brent was a groomsman in just a few weeks back and how the boutonniere was very visibly pulsating along with his heart? It was the same friend - he just returned from his honeymoon in Tahiti so he came to tell us all about it since we are hoping to still go to Tahiti for our honeymoon. It was a very nice distraction and Brent went for 2 walks while his friend was here. We are excited for our honeymoon and really hoping it will be sooner rather than later!
Most of the afternoon was spent sleeping for both of us! While visits from friends are so awesome, they wear Brent out. I have adopted his sleep schedule as well - I usually try to sleep when he sleeps. Unfortunately right now he is tossing and turning a lot in the bed because of pain/discomfort. We've tried to ask for a different type of bed, but the hospital is pretty full. Maybe tomorrow one will become available...but please pray regardless for rest for Brent. The post-surgery nightmares have begun and it doesn't seem very fun. :(
Monday and Tuesday will just be spent waiting for his lab values to return to normal. Please pray that by Wednesday his labs DO return to normal because I don't think Brent and I can handle much longer than Wednesday in the hospital. As always, we appreciate the continued thoughts and prayers. Please please continue to pray for the following:
*Strength for both of us as our spirits are starting to fall - we've been in the hospital for a week - poor Brent hasn't been outside in a whole week and we are VERY outdoorsy people!
*Continued faith in God's plan and that God will reveal to us what His plan now is
*Direction for our future and what we should do about the wedding and my masters program
*An amazing recovery for Brent
*A healthy, healed heart and a 20+ year break from ANY heart surgeries for Brent
Thanks again for the amazing outpouring of thoughts, prayers, and concern - we are truly blessed to have such wonderful, caring people in our lives!
God bless,
Rachel
Another early morning today, but we were somewhat excited because Brent is feeling better and we thought today would be our last full day in the hospital! Brent had his labs drawn this morning and his red blood cell (RBC) count and Hemoglobin & Hematocrit (H&H) were still low, but the cardiologist on call said at least his body didn't eat up all the RBCs from the transfusion yesterday, which was a good sign and also his chest xray this morning showed his pleural effusion was shrinking in size. Praise God for healing! So they decided to go ahead and start him back on Coumadin (the blood thinner he takes daily for his mechanical aortic valve.) The surgeon came in a little while later and informed us we would be staying in the hospital until at least Wednesday because his H&H were too low and so was his INR (INR is basically how thin his blood is - Brent's blood has to be thinner than most people's because he has a mechanical valve and you don't want any clots.) We both were upset about having to stay longer. As I said in my previous post, we want to get out of here! Brent's hospital bed is so uncomfortable - it's so hard for him to sleep - and I can tell he's getting upset. He even told me tonight he was upset and wanted to go home. I tried to comfort him as best I could, but I want to go home too. We want to start putting this behind us and start looking forward! On the positive side, Brent is feeling better every day and recovering fairly well, despite the minor setback yesterday.
Brent's close friend from Ernst & Young came to visit us today and entertained us for about 2 hours. Remember how in my first post I talked about the wedding Brent was a groomsman in just a few weeks back and how the boutonniere was very visibly pulsating along with his heart? It was the same friend - he just returned from his honeymoon in Tahiti so he came to tell us all about it since we are hoping to still go to Tahiti for our honeymoon. It was a very nice distraction and Brent went for 2 walks while his friend was here. We are excited for our honeymoon and really hoping it will be sooner rather than later!
Most of the afternoon was spent sleeping for both of us! While visits from friends are so awesome, they wear Brent out. I have adopted his sleep schedule as well - I usually try to sleep when he sleeps. Unfortunately right now he is tossing and turning a lot in the bed because of pain/discomfort. We've tried to ask for a different type of bed, but the hospital is pretty full. Maybe tomorrow one will become available...but please pray regardless for rest for Brent. The post-surgery nightmares have begun and it doesn't seem very fun. :(
Monday and Tuesday will just be spent waiting for his lab values to return to normal. Please pray that by Wednesday his labs DO return to normal because I don't think Brent and I can handle much longer than Wednesday in the hospital. As always, we appreciate the continued thoughts and prayers. Please please continue to pray for the following:
*Strength for both of us as our spirits are starting to fall - we've been in the hospital for a week - poor Brent hasn't been outside in a whole week and we are VERY outdoorsy people!
*Continued faith in God's plan and that God will reveal to us what His plan now is
*Direction for our future and what we should do about the wedding and my masters program
*An amazing recovery for Brent
*A healthy, healed heart and a 20+ year break from ANY heart surgeries for Brent
Thanks again for the amazing outpouring of thoughts, prayers, and concern - we are truly blessed to have such wonderful, caring people in our lives!
God bless,
Rachel
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Blood transfusion day
Friends/family,
Friday night was quite a long night. Unfortunately Brent did not sleep very well and was up about every hour in pain and discomfort. I wake up every time he wakes up as well, so we were a bit exhausted when we woke up on Saturday. He is trying to wean himself off of the stronger pain medications, but it's not working very well, so he still took the stronger meds all day today.
Today was also quite a busy and tiring Saturday! After Brent's early morning lab draw, the nurse came in and informed Brent his red blood cell (RBC) count (hemoglobin and hematocrit) was low and that the doctor wanted to do a whole bunch of tests to see where he was bleeding internally. This was a little concerning to us because we really wanted to avoid him having a blood transfusion - and we were really praying for NO complications and a quick recovery. Unfortunately, his RBC count was too low and he did end up needing 2 units of blood. :( So for 6 hours of the day, Brent was hooked up to an IV having a blood transfusion. I was scared and upset this morning when the doctor came in and said there were a few problems because everything had been going so well, but Brent was too drugged up to care. :)
The doctor first ordered an ECHO (ultrasound of the heart) which as far as we know was ok - the surgeon never actually came in and spoke with us, he called Brent on the room phone. He also ordered more labs and a chest x-ray. It turns out Brent has what is called a pleural effusion. A pleural effusion is excess fluid that accumulates in the pleural cavity - which is the fluid-filled space that surrounds the lungs. Too much fluid can impair breathing by limiting the expansion of the lungs. Luckily he is not having any symptoms like shortness of breath or cough from the effusion. The doctor was going to give him a medication called Lasix (which is a diuretic), but Brent's blood pressure has been low, so the doctor held the Lasix because he didn't want his blood pressure to drop more. Even though I'm a nurse, I was slightly confused today about what was going on and how the effusion is being treated because it's a Saturday and the on-call doctors didn't really explain that much to us. I believe the doctor said he could either be bleeding into his pleural cavity or his heart could just be "eating" too many RBCs after surgery. What I do know is that I was sad he had to have a blood transfusion because that means his body is not producing enough red blood cells after the surgery, or his heart is using too many up right now. These are all normal complications after a heart surgery, I was just hoping Brent would have a complication-free recovery. That being said, he did feel better after the blood transfusion. I asked the night nurse what his RBC count was tonight, but she never came back and told me. I'll find out later when Brent wakes up the first time. :)
We pretty much just hung out in the hospital room today and rested - well, of course we were woken up quite a bit with the multiple blood draws, blood transfusion, ECHO, and chest x-ray. I try to sleep when Brent sleeps, which is an interesting sleep schedule for someone who didn't just have heart surgery. :) It was nice that Brent was awake some during the late afternoon and early evening. We were able to hang out for like an hour and talk, which I desperately needed some quality time with him. I get pretty lonely sitting here in the hospital room all day - and today was a particularly hard day because we were supposed to be in Atlanta this weekend and today was supposed to be my bridal shower. I am so glad Brent is ok, but I couldn't help but get discouraged today because before all this happened, I was very much looking forward to having a bridal shower and being with my friends. We do both get sad about how much has changed in the past week and how different the last weeks of our engagement will be. I think I get more upset because I am just sitting here all day watching him sleep, and though I am SO grateful for God's timing and that we caught this huge aneurysm when we did, sometimes I do question "why": why did this have to happen now, why does this have to happen to Brent, why didn't we get a break this summer, why couldn't we have a normal engagement, etc. I realize it's selfish, but sometimes I can't help but be human - I do wonder why we're sitting in a hospital and everyone else is out having fun and a normal life. I try to keep my faith strong, but sometimes I get upset - and I just want to hug Brent and I can't. In the end though, I know God has a plan and has everything under control and we've been so blessed in both of our pasts - I just wish I knew why this happened now. So I guess I should ask for prayer for my strength as well - and that I can somehow finish planning our wedding in addition to taking care of Brent. I am slightly stressed about how I am going to finish planning our wedding in 6 weeks, but I'm sure it will all work out.
We are still hoping to be discharged on Monday, despite some setbacks today. Brent did still take 2 long laps today and ate a little more. I got him a plain hamburger from In-N-Out for dinner because he's anemic and his doctor told him to eat red meat. Brent and I rarely eat fast food (he hates fast food) so it was funny to watch him wolf down a burger when he's barely been eating jello and soup. Plus I was excited to leave the hospital for 30 minutes and eat an In-N-Out burger myself! I hadn't had one since we started dating. :)
We're both looking forward to tomorrow as we are having some friends come visit, so the day should go by quicker! It will be Monday before we know it!
Please continue to pray for us, we've been in the hospital for a week now and I think we're both ready to get out of here. We're looking forward to being at home on Monday, although it will still be a long recovery. Please continue to pray for a speedy, easy, complication-free recovery for Brent!
God bless,
~Rachel
Friday night was quite a long night. Unfortunately Brent did not sleep very well and was up about every hour in pain and discomfort. I wake up every time he wakes up as well, so we were a bit exhausted when we woke up on Saturday. He is trying to wean himself off of the stronger pain medications, but it's not working very well, so he still took the stronger meds all day today.
Today was also quite a busy and tiring Saturday! After Brent's early morning lab draw, the nurse came in and informed Brent his red blood cell (RBC) count (hemoglobin and hematocrit) was low and that the doctor wanted to do a whole bunch of tests to see where he was bleeding internally. This was a little concerning to us because we really wanted to avoid him having a blood transfusion - and we were really praying for NO complications and a quick recovery. Unfortunately, his RBC count was too low and he did end up needing 2 units of blood. :( So for 6 hours of the day, Brent was hooked up to an IV having a blood transfusion. I was scared and upset this morning when the doctor came in and said there were a few problems because everything had been going so well, but Brent was too drugged up to care. :)
The doctor first ordered an ECHO (ultrasound of the heart) which as far as we know was ok - the surgeon never actually came in and spoke with us, he called Brent on the room phone. He also ordered more labs and a chest x-ray. It turns out Brent has what is called a pleural effusion. A pleural effusion is excess fluid that accumulates in the pleural cavity - which is the fluid-filled space that surrounds the lungs. Too much fluid can impair breathing by limiting the expansion of the lungs. Luckily he is not having any symptoms like shortness of breath or cough from the effusion. The doctor was going to give him a medication called Lasix (which is a diuretic), but Brent's blood pressure has been low, so the doctor held the Lasix because he didn't want his blood pressure to drop more. Even though I'm a nurse, I was slightly confused today about what was going on and how the effusion is being treated because it's a Saturday and the on-call doctors didn't really explain that much to us. I believe the doctor said he could either be bleeding into his pleural cavity or his heart could just be "eating" too many RBCs after surgery. What I do know is that I was sad he had to have a blood transfusion because that means his body is not producing enough red blood cells after the surgery, or his heart is using too many up right now. These are all normal complications after a heart surgery, I was just hoping Brent would have a complication-free recovery. That being said, he did feel better after the blood transfusion. I asked the night nurse what his RBC count was tonight, but she never came back and told me. I'll find out later when Brent wakes up the first time. :)
We pretty much just hung out in the hospital room today and rested - well, of course we were woken up quite a bit with the multiple blood draws, blood transfusion, ECHO, and chest x-ray. I try to sleep when Brent sleeps, which is an interesting sleep schedule for someone who didn't just have heart surgery. :) It was nice that Brent was awake some during the late afternoon and early evening. We were able to hang out for like an hour and talk, which I desperately needed some quality time with him. I get pretty lonely sitting here in the hospital room all day - and today was a particularly hard day because we were supposed to be in Atlanta this weekend and today was supposed to be my bridal shower. I am so glad Brent is ok, but I couldn't help but get discouraged today because before all this happened, I was very much looking forward to having a bridal shower and being with my friends. We do both get sad about how much has changed in the past week and how different the last weeks of our engagement will be. I think I get more upset because I am just sitting here all day watching him sleep, and though I am SO grateful for God's timing and that we caught this huge aneurysm when we did, sometimes I do question "why": why did this have to happen now, why does this have to happen to Brent, why didn't we get a break this summer, why couldn't we have a normal engagement, etc. I realize it's selfish, but sometimes I can't help but be human - I do wonder why we're sitting in a hospital and everyone else is out having fun and a normal life. I try to keep my faith strong, but sometimes I get upset - and I just want to hug Brent and I can't. In the end though, I know God has a plan and has everything under control and we've been so blessed in both of our pasts - I just wish I knew why this happened now. So I guess I should ask for prayer for my strength as well - and that I can somehow finish planning our wedding in addition to taking care of Brent. I am slightly stressed about how I am going to finish planning our wedding in 6 weeks, but I'm sure it will all work out.
We are still hoping to be discharged on Monday, despite some setbacks today. Brent did still take 2 long laps today and ate a little more. I got him a plain hamburger from In-N-Out for dinner because he's anemic and his doctor told him to eat red meat. Brent and I rarely eat fast food (he hates fast food) so it was funny to watch him wolf down a burger when he's barely been eating jello and soup. Plus I was excited to leave the hospital for 30 minutes and eat an In-N-Out burger myself! I hadn't had one since we started dating. :)
We're both looking forward to tomorrow as we are having some friends come visit, so the day should go by quicker! It will be Monday before we know it!
Please continue to pray for us, we've been in the hospital for a week now and I think we're both ready to get out of here. We're looking forward to being at home on Monday, although it will still be a long recovery. Please continue to pray for a speedy, easy, complication-free recovery for Brent!
God bless,
~Rachel
Saturday, June 27, 2009
No more tubes!
Friends/family,
Brent is feeling better and better every minute! It's hard to believe he just had open-heart surgery 2 days ago. He woke up early this morning (5:00 am!) and we moved him up to the chair. He sat up for a little bit, ate a little breakfast, and had his foley catheter removed. They also took out his extra IV's and just left one IV in (in case he needs fluids/meds) but there is currently nothing running through his IV. After a chest x-ray, Megan (Nurse Practitioner) took out his chest tubes, which has greatly decreased his pain. I can't even imagine what it's like to have chest tubes in your body - and how painful it is to have them removed but Brent took it like a champ.
Side note - I love Megan! She's such a smart Nurse Practitioner - she spends so much time with us, answers all of my many questions, and really encourages both of us. I never knew Nurse Practitioners did rounds in the hospital and were so involved with surgery. Her role is so advanced for an NP; it's amazing.
So now Brent is not attached to anything! It's been great - he has been getting out of the bed into the chair mostly by himself and walking to the bathroom with little help. I really think taking the chest tubes out helped a lot. We took 3 long laps today around the Telemetry floor, and Brent did so well. His pulse ox stayed right around 95%, even on the longer walks! (Pulse oximetry measures the oxygenation of blood, normal range is 94%-100%) He still has a lot of pain (they did crack open his chest 2 days ago!), but it's well-controlled with meds. He started cutting down on his pain meds starting tonight, which is good. I'm so proud of him for walking 3 laps today - it's encouraging. We also started reviewing our discharge instructions today - he'll be going home most likely on Monday mid-day. I honestly don't know how post-op heart surgery patients recover without a nurse taking care of them! The instructions are detailed; I've certainly got my work cut out for me.
We did speak with both the surgeon and the cardiologist today and both agreed Brent's making wonderful progress. I really like Brent's cardiologist (Dr. Berdjis.) We spoke with him at length this afternoon. We had read more earlier about the trials going on for transcatheter valve replacement. Transcatheter valve replacement is when heart valves are replaced via a catheter inserted into the femoral artery in the groin instead of a sternotomy (sternal division/open-heart surgery.) (Catheters are small tubes that can be inserted into body cavities or vessels to allow drainage, injection of fluids, or surgical access.) Transcatheter valve replacements are already approved in Europe and hopefully within the next year the FDA will approve them in the USA. The surgeon that researched, invented, and performed the original transcatheter valve replacements (Dr. Philipp Bonhoeffer) is a good friend of Dr. Berdjis as they're both German. :) Dr. Berdjis said he still sees Dr. Bonhoeffer at least once/year and I said "Can you please personally tell him thank you from us?" His research and work is amazing. Dr. Berdjis told us that Brent's new pulmonic valve (which is a pig valve) can last anywhere from 10-20 years. I think we can all agree that Brent deserves a 20 year break! As I've said, we're all praying for that 20 year gap and hoping this was his last sternotomy. It was very encouraging talking with Dr. Berdjis and hearing about all the new research. God bless all of the surgeons who are researching adult congenital heart disease!
Brent has been sleeping most of the day/night - he's probably awake for about 5 hours total of every day. He has been eating - not much, but enough. Hopefully tomorrow he will be more awake yet still feel rested and be able to take less pain medication. I am so excited that he can walk to the bathroom by himself - that's huge! We had date night tonight in the hospital - we turned Jeopardy on the TV, I ate yucky cafeteria food, and Brent ate a little chicken noodle soup. We've been here a week - I needed a date night, especially after my day on Wednesday. ;) Brent stayed awake for at least 4 minutes of our date night, so that was good. We'll try again Saturday night for 6 minutes of awake time. ;)
Things really are progessing well and I am very excited to go back to San Diego on Monday. It will be nice to be at home and I can get back to wedding planning while Brent recovers. Again, we are so grateful for the continued support, prayers, thoughts, phone calls, texts, etc. We have such a great network of friends and family in our lives and there's no way we could do this without you. Brent pulled through his 8th heart surgery because of the prayers of literally thousands of people! THANK YOU so much for praying for my amazing fiance!
Please continue to pray for the following:
*quick and easy recovery
*no pain/discomfort
*healing for Brent's sternum
*no nightmares/peaceful sleep for Brent
*a healthy heart in Brent's future
*no more heart surgeries for 20 years
*a beautiful wedding on August 9th with a fully recovered Brent
*God to use the next 8 weeks in Brent's life for His purpose
Brent is feeling better and better every minute! It's hard to believe he just had open-heart surgery 2 days ago. He woke up early this morning (5:00 am!) and we moved him up to the chair. He sat up for a little bit, ate a little breakfast, and had his foley catheter removed. They also took out his extra IV's and just left one IV in (in case he needs fluids/meds) but there is currently nothing running through his IV. After a chest x-ray, Megan (Nurse Practitioner) took out his chest tubes, which has greatly decreased his pain. I can't even imagine what it's like to have chest tubes in your body - and how painful it is to have them removed but Brent took it like a champ.
Side note - I love Megan! She's such a smart Nurse Practitioner - she spends so much time with us, answers all of my many questions, and really encourages both of us. I never knew Nurse Practitioners did rounds in the hospital and were so involved with surgery. Her role is so advanced for an NP; it's amazing.
So now Brent is not attached to anything! It's been great - he has been getting out of the bed into the chair mostly by himself and walking to the bathroom with little help. I really think taking the chest tubes out helped a lot. We took 3 long laps today around the Telemetry floor, and Brent did so well. His pulse ox stayed right around 95%, even on the longer walks! (Pulse oximetry measures the oxygenation of blood, normal range is 94%-100%) He still has a lot of pain (they did crack open his chest 2 days ago!), but it's well-controlled with meds. He started cutting down on his pain meds starting tonight, which is good. I'm so proud of him for walking 3 laps today - it's encouraging. We also started reviewing our discharge instructions today - he'll be going home most likely on Monday mid-day. I honestly don't know how post-op heart surgery patients recover without a nurse taking care of them! The instructions are detailed; I've certainly got my work cut out for me.
We did speak with both the surgeon and the cardiologist today and both agreed Brent's making wonderful progress. I really like Brent's cardiologist (Dr. Berdjis.) We spoke with him at length this afternoon. We had read more earlier about the trials going on for transcatheter valve replacement. Transcatheter valve replacement is when heart valves are replaced via a catheter inserted into the femoral artery in the groin instead of a sternotomy (sternal division/open-heart surgery.) (Catheters are small tubes that can be inserted into body cavities or vessels to allow drainage, injection of fluids, or surgical access.) Transcatheter valve replacements are already approved in Europe and hopefully within the next year the FDA will approve them in the USA. The surgeon that researched, invented, and performed the original transcatheter valve replacements (Dr. Philipp Bonhoeffer) is a good friend of Dr. Berdjis as they're both German. :) Dr. Berdjis said he still sees Dr. Bonhoeffer at least once/year and I said "Can you please personally tell him thank you from us?" His research and work is amazing. Dr. Berdjis told us that Brent's new pulmonic valve (which is a pig valve) can last anywhere from 10-20 years. I think we can all agree that Brent deserves a 20 year break! As I've said, we're all praying for that 20 year gap and hoping this was his last sternotomy. It was very encouraging talking with Dr. Berdjis and hearing about all the new research. God bless all of the surgeons who are researching adult congenital heart disease!
Brent has been sleeping most of the day/night - he's probably awake for about 5 hours total of every day. He has been eating - not much, but enough. Hopefully tomorrow he will be more awake yet still feel rested and be able to take less pain medication. I am so excited that he can walk to the bathroom by himself - that's huge! We had date night tonight in the hospital - we turned Jeopardy on the TV, I ate yucky cafeteria food, and Brent ate a little chicken noodle soup. We've been here a week - I needed a date night, especially after my day on Wednesday. ;) Brent stayed awake for at least 4 minutes of our date night, so that was good. We'll try again Saturday night for 6 minutes of awake time. ;)
Things really are progessing well and I am very excited to go back to San Diego on Monday. It will be nice to be at home and I can get back to wedding planning while Brent recovers. Again, we are so grateful for the continued support, prayers, thoughts, phone calls, texts, etc. We have such a great network of friends and family in our lives and there's no way we could do this without you. Brent pulled through his 8th heart surgery because of the prayers of literally thousands of people! THANK YOU so much for praying for my amazing fiance!
Please continue to pray for the following:
*quick and easy recovery
*no pain/discomfort
*healing for Brent's sternum
*no nightmares/peaceful sleep for Brent
*a healthy heart in Brent's future
*no more heart surgeries for 20 years
*a beautiful wedding on August 9th with a fully recovered Brent
*God to use the next 8 weeks in Brent's life for His purpose
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend; please feel free to come visit us at St Joseph Hospital in Orange County or at home next week!
God bless,
~Rachel
Friday, June 26, 2009
We're walking!
Friends/family,
Today was post-op day 1 and I think it went very well! The surgeon came by briefly at 7:00 am and then at about 7:15 am, the nurse moved Brent to the chair. He sat there for about an hour, used his incentive spirometer (small device used to help expand his lungs), and then moved back to the bed. Unfortunately, when he moved back to the bed, he started having severe pain and was very distressed. He was squeezing my hand and crying out to the nurse to please make it stop. He was very tense and just looking at me with these tearful eyes that said "please make it stop!" I didn't know what to do except hold his hand, tell him to relax, kiss his forehead, and silently pray. I was trying so hard not to tear up and upset him. I was afraid it was going to be a bad day at that point! His nurse called another nurse and she rushed in and gave him some Morphine, and he slowly started to relax. It was not a fun experience - it's so hard to see loved ones in so much pain - and I can't even imagine how much pain he was in! We then slept until about 11:00 am - I think we both needed the rest! Brent continued to sleep for the majority of the day - when he was awake he began to eat jello, drink broth, juice, and hot tea. So he's eating again!
Ever since the morning pain incident, Brent's pain has been well-controlled and he's made a lot of improvement on the incentive spirometer. The anesthesiologist came by this morning as well and informed us that the aneurysm on Brent's heart was the size of a fist! I can not believe how big it was - and how amazing it is that we caught this last Friday! The "what-if's" are horrible to think about - that aneurysm was almost the size of his entire heart! Praise the Lord that we caught it before it ruptured. I am so glad he made that cardiologist appointment at 4 months instead of waiting until after the honeymoon. What a blessing - and how amazing that they were able to fix him! So while it's disappointing that all of this has happened within the past 6 days and so close to our wedding day, I am SO grateful that everything has happened the way God intended. I might not have had a wonderful man to marry if we would've waited!
So around 4:00 pm, 2 of Brent's co-workers came over to visit. Even though Brent's been exhausted all day and in and out of consciousness, it was very good for him to see them. It was also good for me to have some outside contact today. :-) After they left, the nurse told Brent it was time to start walking. I know that it's so hard for him to walk and very painful, but I encouraged him that he could do it and that it would speed up his recovery. We started with one lap around the ICU and then he settled into the chair. Sitting up in a chair is also very good for recovery - even though he sleeps in the bed in a somewhat sitting up position - the chair is better. (Brent and I had planned on getting a new couch after we got married but I realized today I'll definitely be getting a new couch the first day we get home to help his recovery - mine is very uncomfortable and not post-surgery friendly!) He had me turn on the NBA draft - he told me yesterday right after surgery "Don't forget the NBA draft is on tomorrow at 5:00 pm!" - so he watched that today. And by watched it, I mean he slept through it but I think he was happy it was on. :-)
Brent sat up in the chair for about 30 minutes and then told me he was in so much pain, that he wanted to lay back down. I asked him to please take one more lap around the ICU, that it would help him so much and even one extra lap today would speed up his recovery! He said he couldn't do it. A very sweet woman from Elevate church made us a large gift basket, and in the basket was a jar filled with scriptures. I brought the jar over to Brent and said "Ok, here - pick out a bible verse for encouragement to help you walk." He reached his hand in the jar and pulled out the following verse "Stand and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes." (1 Samuel 12:16.) We both looked at each other and I was like "Honey, God just told you to stand up!" He agreed and was encouraged for lap #2. :-) It was so awesome - and so God! It was a really special moment for us. Brent got up and took another lap like a champ! I was so proud of him for doing 2 laps around the ICU - and so were all the staff! We all told him he would be perfectly fine walking down that aisle in 6 weeks. It was so encouraging after a tough morning.
Around 6:30 pm, Brent was transferred out of the ICU and into the Telemetry unit, where we will remain for 4 days. We are now in room 1340 (building 1, 3rd floor for those coming to visit!) We watched Jeopardy and now Brent has fallen back asleep. :-) Tomorrow all of his tubes will be removed, which will greatly decrease his pain.
As I said before, just because the surgery is over does not mean life is going to be easy for Brent. He's got a long 8 weeks ahead of him and we will continue to need prayers and support! 2 walks around the ICU just 24 hours after surgery is definitely a praise, but he's got a long way to go for our wedding in 6 weeks! He will recover very well and I know God is blessing him immensely, but I ask that you all please continue to keep Brent in your prayers. We've worked so hard planning our dream wedding and honeymoon - and we want Brent to be close to 100% in 6 weeks, which will certainly be a miracle from God!
Thank you again for your support and prayers thus far, we would not be where we are right now without that support and the huge outpouring of prayers!!! I truly believe that the reason Brent is doing so well is because of the tremendous amount of people asking God to heal Brent! I can guarantee it was not an easy surgery and probably one of his more complicated ones - yet he's doing better than ever. Thank you God!!!
I will continue the updates tomorrow!
God bless,
Rachel
Today was post-op day 1 and I think it went very well! The surgeon came by briefly at 7:00 am and then at about 7:15 am, the nurse moved Brent to the chair. He sat there for about an hour, used his incentive spirometer (small device used to help expand his lungs), and then moved back to the bed. Unfortunately, when he moved back to the bed, he started having severe pain and was very distressed. He was squeezing my hand and crying out to the nurse to please make it stop. He was very tense and just looking at me with these tearful eyes that said "please make it stop!" I didn't know what to do except hold his hand, tell him to relax, kiss his forehead, and silently pray. I was trying so hard not to tear up and upset him. I was afraid it was going to be a bad day at that point! His nurse called another nurse and she rushed in and gave him some Morphine, and he slowly started to relax. It was not a fun experience - it's so hard to see loved ones in so much pain - and I can't even imagine how much pain he was in! We then slept until about 11:00 am - I think we both needed the rest! Brent continued to sleep for the majority of the day - when he was awake he began to eat jello, drink broth, juice, and hot tea. So he's eating again!
Ever since the morning pain incident, Brent's pain has been well-controlled and he's made a lot of improvement on the incentive spirometer. The anesthesiologist came by this morning as well and informed us that the aneurysm on Brent's heart was the size of a fist! I can not believe how big it was - and how amazing it is that we caught this last Friday! The "what-if's" are horrible to think about - that aneurysm was almost the size of his entire heart! Praise the Lord that we caught it before it ruptured. I am so glad he made that cardiologist appointment at 4 months instead of waiting until after the honeymoon. What a blessing - and how amazing that they were able to fix him! So while it's disappointing that all of this has happened within the past 6 days and so close to our wedding day, I am SO grateful that everything has happened the way God intended. I might not have had a wonderful man to marry if we would've waited!
So around 4:00 pm, 2 of Brent's co-workers came over to visit. Even though Brent's been exhausted all day and in and out of consciousness, it was very good for him to see them. It was also good for me to have some outside contact today. :-) After they left, the nurse told Brent it was time to start walking. I know that it's so hard for him to walk and very painful, but I encouraged him that he could do it and that it would speed up his recovery. We started with one lap around the ICU and then he settled into the chair. Sitting up in a chair is also very good for recovery - even though he sleeps in the bed in a somewhat sitting up position - the chair is better. (Brent and I had planned on getting a new couch after we got married but I realized today I'll definitely be getting a new couch the first day we get home to help his recovery - mine is very uncomfortable and not post-surgery friendly!) He had me turn on the NBA draft - he told me yesterday right after surgery "Don't forget the NBA draft is on tomorrow at 5:00 pm!" - so he watched that today. And by watched it, I mean he slept through it but I think he was happy it was on. :-)
Brent sat up in the chair for about 30 minutes and then told me he was in so much pain, that he wanted to lay back down. I asked him to please take one more lap around the ICU, that it would help him so much and even one extra lap today would speed up his recovery! He said he couldn't do it. A very sweet woman from Elevate church made us a large gift basket, and in the basket was a jar filled with scriptures. I brought the jar over to Brent and said "Ok, here - pick out a bible verse for encouragement to help you walk." He reached his hand in the jar and pulled out the following verse "Stand and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes." (1 Samuel 12:16.) We both looked at each other and I was like "Honey, God just told you to stand up!" He agreed and was encouraged for lap #2. :-) It was so awesome - and so God! It was a really special moment for us. Brent got up and took another lap like a champ! I was so proud of him for doing 2 laps around the ICU - and so were all the staff! We all told him he would be perfectly fine walking down that aisle in 6 weeks. It was so encouraging after a tough morning.
Around 6:30 pm, Brent was transferred out of the ICU and into the Telemetry unit, where we will remain for 4 days. We are now in room 1340 (building 1, 3rd floor for those coming to visit!) We watched Jeopardy and now Brent has fallen back asleep. :-) Tomorrow all of his tubes will be removed, which will greatly decrease his pain.
As I said before, just because the surgery is over does not mean life is going to be easy for Brent. He's got a long 8 weeks ahead of him and we will continue to need prayers and support! 2 walks around the ICU just 24 hours after surgery is definitely a praise, but he's got a long way to go for our wedding in 6 weeks! He will recover very well and I know God is blessing him immensely, but I ask that you all please continue to keep Brent in your prayers. We've worked so hard planning our dream wedding and honeymoon - and we want Brent to be close to 100% in 6 weeks, which will certainly be a miracle from God!
Thank you again for your support and prayers thus far, we would not be where we are right now without that support and the huge outpouring of prayers!!! I truly believe that the reason Brent is doing so well is because of the tremendous amount of people asking God to heal Brent! I can guarantee it was not an easy surgery and probably one of his more complicated ones - yet he's doing better than ever. Thank you God!!!
I will continue the updates tomorrow!
God bless,
Rachel
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Longest day ever!
Friends/family,
Today was without a doubt the hardest, longest, most anxiety producing day of my life. I feel like I should give some more background to help everyone understand.
Brent and I were close friends during his heart surgery in 2007 and I very clearly remember when he told us in September of 2007 that he had a congenital heart defect and would have to have surgery in November. I was so upset then - I had only know him for 2 months and I remember running out of my house crying when I read an email from him because I already knew I was going to marry him. I started asking God then "Really? This is the guy I am supposed to marry?" long before we were even dating. I questioned God for months but I always knew deep down Brent was the one. On November 19, 2007 - I thought that day was the worst day of my life because it was surgery #7. He didn't want any visitors at the hospital and I didn't get to talk to him for a week! I remember praying non-stop all day during his heart surgery, just begging God for him to be ok and for this to be the last surgery for a LONG time. He recovered so quickly and I think I won him over during his recovery. :) I cooked for him, walked with him, watched movies with him, and just encouraged him. Fast forward 6 months later and we're happily dating. He recovered so well - I just knew that would be the last surgery for awhile. He planned a softball tournament that raised over $10,000 for the Adult Congenital Heart Association, started running, we traveled overseas together...everything was great. It's like we totally forgot his heart condition. I struggled with it at first and cried about it a lot because I knew what I was getting into and I knew the first surgery would be incredibly difficult, but I never imagined in my worst dreams that it would happen today.
So that's our background, or at least from the heart surgery perspective. Our wonderful story is on our wedding website: http://www.mywedding.com/rachelandbrent. Brent is truly an inspiration to everyone he comes in contact with and he's even the poster child for St Joseph Hospital in Orange county: http://www.sjo.org/Clinical_Services/Heart_and_Vascular_Center/Specialty_Areas/Adult_Congenital_Heart_Program/Patient_Testimonial.aspx
He was asked to speak at an event in May of 2008 regarding Congenital Heart Disease and he did an amazing job! I've always been so proud of him and aside from constantly reminding him he's working too hard, we do forget most of the time that he has a heart condition - well, except for that audible ticking mechanical aortic valve that I can hear across the room. :-) Brent is so active - he loves to surf, hike, run, do yoga, go to the gym, etc. I always say you'd never know he had a heart condition!
Anyways, back to today...I woke up at 5:00 am after about 4 hours of sleep and just sat down next to Brent and hugged him while he slept. Our friends Chris & Kelly from Elevate church arrived at 7:00 am - about 20 minutes before we went down to pre-op. We prayed together, Brent joked around a lot, and off we went. My stomach started to twist up when we arrived in the pre-op room because it became so real. We were only down in pre-op for about 30 minutes when they said "Ok, say your goodbyes, we're going to start medicating him." We held each other and I started crying, and Brent (being the incredible guy that he is) starts asking one of the nurses to take care of me. I tried so hard not to cry at all in front of him for this reason, but when you're saying goodbye to the love of your life before his 8th heart surgery, it's hard to choke back tears. I thought that was the hardest moment of my life, hugging him goodbye and watching them wheel him away, knowing what they were about to do to his body. I was terrified that was it - I'd never see him again, never get to hold him again. It was a horrible feeling I don't wish upon anyone and I also hope I continue to value the precious things in life. I knew Brent was a fighter but I also knew what 7 heart surgeries can do to your body. The O.R. nurses promised they'd take good care of him for me, so off I went to the waiting room for the longest wait of my life.
The first update came from Megan, the Nurse Practitioner, around 10:00 am. They had not gotten to his heart yet (they were still cracking his sternum), but they were almost there. Chris and Kelly were there to occupy me, so I was ok at that point because Megan reassured us everything was going ok. The next hour and a half was a little harder because I knew he would be on the heart-lung bypass machine by that point - which basically means you are "flat-lining" and a machine is pumping blood through your body for you. Thank God for modern medicine but what a scary feeling, knowing your fiance's heart isn't beating. Megan updated us around 11:30 and said he had been on bypass for over 60 mins and that was all she knew. She was very sweet, answered all of my questions, but just didn't have much more info for me at that point. I knew that 60 minutes is ideal for heart-lung bypass, but when you start to go over 60 minutes, it gets scarier. At 12:15 she called me and said he was still on bypass (about 100 minutes) and that they were almost done. I started to freak out at the point because that's too long to be on bypass. I asked Megan what they were doing and how much longer would he be on bypass and she simply didn't know. She just knew that they had done a total pulmonic valve replacement (same thing he had done in 2007) and were "almost done." I wanted to run into the O.R. and tell the surgeon to hurry up and get his heart going again!
Let me tell you...the 30 minutes from 12:15-12:45 were MUCH harder than saying goodbye. We were all on edge, watching the corners for the surgeon to come out, trying to make small talk, etc. All that could go through my mind is that he'd been on bypass so long and praying please God let us heart start beating again when they take him off. It was like no other feeling I'd felt before. I knew people were praying and I was trying to trust in God, but in that moment, all I could think in my head was "Please God let him live, please God let him live" over and over again in my mind. I couldn't even find the words to pray. I was terrified I was going to receive bad news. FINALLY Megan called me back and told me he was off bypass and they were finishing closing him up and the surgeon would come speak with me shortly. It was this huge wave of relief and then this huge wave of "Ok, here comes a long recovery." The surgeon came out about 30 minutes later and informed me that they replaced his pulmonic valve where the aneurysm was and reinforced it so it wouldn't happen again. They also put a patch over where his missing rib is so his chest wall is stronger. The valve they replaced should last 10-15 years and the surgeon said next time he needs it replaced, they should be able to do it through the femoral artery in the groin - it's amazing how advanced medicine has become and I truly attribute that to God! Even though Brent is usually the exception, I still pray and feel confident we'll have a nice, 10-year long break from this heart surgery stuff. When I asked his surgeon about patients that had had multiple surgeries and what was the most he'd seen, he replied with the number 8. Brent truly is a miracle and he's such a fighter. He defies the research on congenital heart defects and amazes everyone he comes in contact with.
After the surgeon came and spoke with me, I had to wait about another hour to see Brent. They wheeled him by me and it was heartbreaking - his eyes were taped shut, he was intubated, he had tubes coming out of numerous places, he was on a huge monitor, and he was covered in betadine and dried blood. It's a picture I want to forget as soon as possible, but unfortunately as I write this, I'm still staring at him. I had to wait another 30 minutes to be let in to the CardioVascular ICU (CVICU) and when they finally let me near him, I just kept smiling and kissing his forehead and telling him how amazing he is and what a perfect surgery he had and how excited I was to marry him. He slowly started to wake up, nodding his head, squeezing my hand, etc. He even wrote a few notes! I'll have to take a picture of the paper he scribbled on - pretty hilarious because we had no idea what he was saying, I had to figure out the words by guessing the first letter.
At one point when Brent was still intubated, he started waving his right hand and when I kept telling him everything was ok, to relax, and to let the tube breathe for him - he still kept indicating something was wrong. I started to freak out and then he grabbed my hand, and spelled out the letters "I L O V E Y O U" in my right hand. It was so beautiful, but I told him to not do that again because he scared me. I thought something was really wrong! I love him more though. :-)
Around 4:15 pm, Chris & Kelly left to go back to San Diego. It had been a long day for everyone and I was so grateful they had been there with me for so long. At that point, Brent was ready to be extubated. Yay! They removed the tube and then he could whisper to me. It was beautiful to hear him say something simple like "My right biceps hurts." :-) For the past few hours, he has been uncomfortable and been sick a few times, but for the most part, considering ALL he's been through today, he's doing great. It's so hard to see him like this, but I know he'll get better every day. Around 6:00 pm, I become absolutely physically and emotionally exhausted. It's been a long day - so I hope Brent continues to sleep as he's doing now. I think they're about to get him up in the chair - the doctors like to have their patients sitting up within 6 hours of surgery!
I can't even express how grateful I am for the prayers, support, texts, calls, facebook comments, etc. I wish I could call you all individually and tell you how amazing every single comment has been, even the short comments and texts! I have been so encouraged today and it means so much to me reading things from people I haven't even seen in years. I am so touched by how many people have been praying and will continue to pray for Brent. I know we got through this day because God hears our prayers and answers them and Brent's an amazing man of faith as well. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for ALL of your support, even the people I don't know - I thank God for your concern, thoughts, and prayers!
We do have a very long recovery ahead of us, one filled with uncomfortableness and pain for Brent - plus heart surgery patients typically become depressed after surgery. Please don't stop praying - we'll be in the hospital for another week and I know Brent typically keeps his spirits up, but there's always somewhat of a change. He also told me prior to surgery that he has horrible nightmares after surgery and doesn't sleep well. Please pray he will sleep peacefully and rest well. We are SO grateful the surgery is over with and we can start moving away from this nightmarish 4 days, but it will be hard to not get upset and disappointed over the next few weeks about how this affects life and our upcoming wedding/honeymoon and also our financial situation. I think any female can agree this is a bride's worst nightmare - but we WILL pull through and we are still praying for our August 9th wedding date. Please just continue to pray for a quick, painless recovery, and peaceful rest.
I will update the blog tomorrow and possibly tonight if we're not sleeping. Thanks again for your support today - it was certainly a day I would never like to relive again and I will continue to ask God to heal Brent's heart and give him a LONG break this time. I appreciate so much the support we've been given! If anyone would like to come visit, please let me know! A few people have asked for Brent's address - we had an "emergency move" into my house this weekend about 6 weeks earlier than planned, but it had to be done so I could care for him. His new address is Brent Weinberg, 2155 1st Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101.
I'll be in touch and please please continue to lift us up in your thoughts and prayers - even though the surgery is over, we've got a long way to go. :-)
God bless,
Rachel
Today was without a doubt the hardest, longest, most anxiety producing day of my life. I feel like I should give some more background to help everyone understand.
Brent and I were close friends during his heart surgery in 2007 and I very clearly remember when he told us in September of 2007 that he had a congenital heart defect and would have to have surgery in November. I was so upset then - I had only know him for 2 months and I remember running out of my house crying when I read an email from him because I already knew I was going to marry him. I started asking God then "Really? This is the guy I am supposed to marry?" long before we were even dating. I questioned God for months but I always knew deep down Brent was the one. On November 19, 2007 - I thought that day was the worst day of my life because it was surgery #7. He didn't want any visitors at the hospital and I didn't get to talk to him for a week! I remember praying non-stop all day during his heart surgery, just begging God for him to be ok and for this to be the last surgery for a LONG time. He recovered so quickly and I think I won him over during his recovery. :) I cooked for him, walked with him, watched movies with him, and just encouraged him. Fast forward 6 months later and we're happily dating. He recovered so well - I just knew that would be the last surgery for awhile. He planned a softball tournament that raised over $10,000 for the Adult Congenital Heart Association, started running, we traveled overseas together...everything was great. It's like we totally forgot his heart condition. I struggled with it at first and cried about it a lot because I knew what I was getting into and I knew the first surgery would be incredibly difficult, but I never imagined in my worst dreams that it would happen today.
So that's our background, or at least from the heart surgery perspective. Our wonderful story is on our wedding website: http://www.mywedding.com/rachelandbrent. Brent is truly an inspiration to everyone he comes in contact with and he's even the poster child for St Joseph Hospital in Orange county: http://www.sjo.org/Clinical_Services/Heart_and_Vascular_Center/Specialty_Areas/Adult_Congenital_Heart_Program/Patient_Testimonial.aspx
He was asked to speak at an event in May of 2008 regarding Congenital Heart Disease and he did an amazing job! I've always been so proud of him and aside from constantly reminding him he's working too hard, we do forget most of the time that he has a heart condition - well, except for that audible ticking mechanical aortic valve that I can hear across the room. :-) Brent is so active - he loves to surf, hike, run, do yoga, go to the gym, etc. I always say you'd never know he had a heart condition!
Anyways, back to today...I woke up at 5:00 am after about 4 hours of sleep and just sat down next to Brent and hugged him while he slept. Our friends Chris & Kelly from Elevate church arrived at 7:00 am - about 20 minutes before we went down to pre-op. We prayed together, Brent joked around a lot, and off we went. My stomach started to twist up when we arrived in the pre-op room because it became so real. We were only down in pre-op for about 30 minutes when they said "Ok, say your goodbyes, we're going to start medicating him." We held each other and I started crying, and Brent (being the incredible guy that he is) starts asking one of the nurses to take care of me. I tried so hard not to cry at all in front of him for this reason, but when you're saying goodbye to the love of your life before his 8th heart surgery, it's hard to choke back tears. I thought that was the hardest moment of my life, hugging him goodbye and watching them wheel him away, knowing what they were about to do to his body. I was terrified that was it - I'd never see him again, never get to hold him again. It was a horrible feeling I don't wish upon anyone and I also hope I continue to value the precious things in life. I knew Brent was a fighter but I also knew what 7 heart surgeries can do to your body. The O.R. nurses promised they'd take good care of him for me, so off I went to the waiting room for the longest wait of my life.
The first update came from Megan, the Nurse Practitioner, around 10:00 am. They had not gotten to his heart yet (they were still cracking his sternum), but they were almost there. Chris and Kelly were there to occupy me, so I was ok at that point because Megan reassured us everything was going ok. The next hour and a half was a little harder because I knew he would be on the heart-lung bypass machine by that point - which basically means you are "flat-lining" and a machine is pumping blood through your body for you. Thank God for modern medicine but what a scary feeling, knowing your fiance's heart isn't beating. Megan updated us around 11:30 and said he had been on bypass for over 60 mins and that was all she knew. She was very sweet, answered all of my questions, but just didn't have much more info for me at that point. I knew that 60 minutes is ideal for heart-lung bypass, but when you start to go over 60 minutes, it gets scarier. At 12:15 she called me and said he was still on bypass (about 100 minutes) and that they were almost done. I started to freak out at the point because that's too long to be on bypass. I asked Megan what they were doing and how much longer would he be on bypass and she simply didn't know. She just knew that they had done a total pulmonic valve replacement (same thing he had done in 2007) and were "almost done." I wanted to run into the O.R. and tell the surgeon to hurry up and get his heart going again!
Let me tell you...the 30 minutes from 12:15-12:45 were MUCH harder than saying goodbye. We were all on edge, watching the corners for the surgeon to come out, trying to make small talk, etc. All that could go through my mind is that he'd been on bypass so long and praying please God let us heart start beating again when they take him off. It was like no other feeling I'd felt before. I knew people were praying and I was trying to trust in God, but in that moment, all I could think in my head was "Please God let him live, please God let him live" over and over again in my mind. I couldn't even find the words to pray. I was terrified I was going to receive bad news. FINALLY Megan called me back and told me he was off bypass and they were finishing closing him up and the surgeon would come speak with me shortly. It was this huge wave of relief and then this huge wave of "Ok, here comes a long recovery." The surgeon came out about 30 minutes later and informed me that they replaced his pulmonic valve where the aneurysm was and reinforced it so it wouldn't happen again. They also put a patch over where his missing rib is so his chest wall is stronger. The valve they replaced should last 10-15 years and the surgeon said next time he needs it replaced, they should be able to do it through the femoral artery in the groin - it's amazing how advanced medicine has become and I truly attribute that to God! Even though Brent is usually the exception, I still pray and feel confident we'll have a nice, 10-year long break from this heart surgery stuff. When I asked his surgeon about patients that had had multiple surgeries and what was the most he'd seen, he replied with the number 8. Brent truly is a miracle and he's such a fighter. He defies the research on congenital heart defects and amazes everyone he comes in contact with.
After the surgeon came and spoke with me, I had to wait about another hour to see Brent. They wheeled him by me and it was heartbreaking - his eyes were taped shut, he was intubated, he had tubes coming out of numerous places, he was on a huge monitor, and he was covered in betadine and dried blood. It's a picture I want to forget as soon as possible, but unfortunately as I write this, I'm still staring at him. I had to wait another 30 minutes to be let in to the CardioVascular ICU (CVICU) and when they finally let me near him, I just kept smiling and kissing his forehead and telling him how amazing he is and what a perfect surgery he had and how excited I was to marry him. He slowly started to wake up, nodding his head, squeezing my hand, etc. He even wrote a few notes! I'll have to take a picture of the paper he scribbled on - pretty hilarious because we had no idea what he was saying, I had to figure out the words by guessing the first letter.
At one point when Brent was still intubated, he started waving his right hand and when I kept telling him everything was ok, to relax, and to let the tube breathe for him - he still kept indicating something was wrong. I started to freak out and then he grabbed my hand, and spelled out the letters "I L O V E Y O U" in my right hand. It was so beautiful, but I told him to not do that again because he scared me. I thought something was really wrong! I love him more though. :-)
Around 4:15 pm, Chris & Kelly left to go back to San Diego. It had been a long day for everyone and I was so grateful they had been there with me for so long. At that point, Brent was ready to be extubated. Yay! They removed the tube and then he could whisper to me. It was beautiful to hear him say something simple like "My right biceps hurts." :-) For the past few hours, he has been uncomfortable and been sick a few times, but for the most part, considering ALL he's been through today, he's doing great. It's so hard to see him like this, but I know he'll get better every day. Around 6:00 pm, I become absolutely physically and emotionally exhausted. It's been a long day - so I hope Brent continues to sleep as he's doing now. I think they're about to get him up in the chair - the doctors like to have their patients sitting up within 6 hours of surgery!
I can't even express how grateful I am for the prayers, support, texts, calls, facebook comments, etc. I wish I could call you all individually and tell you how amazing every single comment has been, even the short comments and texts! I have been so encouraged today and it means so much to me reading things from people I haven't even seen in years. I am so touched by how many people have been praying and will continue to pray for Brent. I know we got through this day because God hears our prayers and answers them and Brent's an amazing man of faith as well. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for ALL of your support, even the people I don't know - I thank God for your concern, thoughts, and prayers!
We do have a very long recovery ahead of us, one filled with uncomfortableness and pain for Brent - plus heart surgery patients typically become depressed after surgery. Please don't stop praying - we'll be in the hospital for another week and I know Brent typically keeps his spirits up, but there's always somewhat of a change. He also told me prior to surgery that he has horrible nightmares after surgery and doesn't sleep well. Please pray he will sleep peacefully and rest well. We are SO grateful the surgery is over with and we can start moving away from this nightmarish 4 days, but it will be hard to not get upset and disappointed over the next few weeks about how this affects life and our upcoming wedding/honeymoon and also our financial situation. I think any female can agree this is a bride's worst nightmare - but we WILL pull through and we are still praying for our August 9th wedding date. Please just continue to pray for a quick, painless recovery, and peaceful rest.
I will update the blog tomorrow and possibly tonight if we're not sleeping. Thanks again for your support today - it was certainly a day I would never like to relive again and I will continue to ask God to heal Brent's heart and give him a LONG break this time. I appreciate so much the support we've been given! If anyone would like to come visit, please let me know! A few people have asked for Brent's address - we had an "emergency move" into my house this weekend about 6 weeks earlier than planned, but it had to be done so I could care for him. His new address is Brent Weinberg, 2155 1st Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101.
I'll be in touch and please please continue to lift us up in your thoughts and prayers - even though the surgery is over, we've got a long way to go. :-)
God bless,
Rachel
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
First update
Megan, the Nurse Practitioner, gave me an update about 20 minutes ago. They are not through Brent's chest/sternum yet, but they are working on him and everything is going fine so far. By this time, hopefully they have put him on bypass and are working on his heart. Hopefully he'll be done in about 3 hours. I should get another update around 12:00 pm PST. Please continue to pray.
Off to the O.R.
Friends/family,
Brent was taken to the O.R. around 8:30 am. I have to say it was extremely hard and I am very emotional, but I have faith he'll be ok. A pastor from Elevate church and his wife are sitting here with me keeping me occupied, so that's good. Only about 5 more hours to go...it's very hard to just sit here and wait, not knowing what's going on. We should get an update in about an hour, so I'll post again then.
Thanks for your continued prayers, I'll be in touch.
God bless,
Rachel
Brent was taken to the O.R. around 8:30 am. I have to say it was extremely hard and I am very emotional, but I have faith he'll be ok. A pastor from Elevate church and his wife are sitting here with me keeping me occupied, so that's good. Only about 5 more hours to go...it's very hard to just sit here and wait, not knowing what's going on. We should get an update in about an hour, so I'll post again then.
Thanks for your continued prayers, I'll be in touch.
God bless,
Rachel
Surgery tomorrow
Friends/family,
We spoke with the surgeon, the cardiologist, and the Nurse Practitioner this morning and they informed us Brent's surgery will start at 8:30 am PST (11:30 am EST.) I know many of you have asked exactly what time his surgery is so you can be thinking about him and praying for him at that time, so I just wanted to give you that time update.
The team will come get him around 7:00 am for pre-op and thankfully I am able to go with him for the first hour or so. My friends from San Diego (Chris & Kelly) will be here at 7:00 am as I am sure I will be very emotional when I have to say goodbye. The surgery is expected to last between 4-6 hours. I will post updates as I receive them from the Nurse Practitioner, but the first update won't be until about 11:00 am, or 2-3 hours after they actually begin. The surgery seems to get more complicated daily, but they always reassure us it is very fixable. They are not 100% sure what the surgery will entail - the surgeon said he doesn't know for sure until he opens him up and can visualize his heart. The aneurysm is near where his pulmonary artery meets his pulmonic valve (which in his case is a conduit.) Nobody is sure what caused this, again, they will know more tomorrow after the surgery and we can go from there to prevent this from ever happening again. We'll also know more tomorrow about future restrictions and such, but everyone is thinking after his total recovery time (~3 months), he should be able to resume normal exercise. Brent is very active, loves to play sports, run, hike, etc - so we're hoping he'll still be able to do all of those things. Regardless of whether they replace the valve or simply strengthen it, he will have a stronger pulmonic valve after tomorrow. Replaced pulmonic valves can last anywhere from 10-20 years, depending on the type of valve, which is why we had been praying the past year for the next surgery to not be until at least 2017 - but here we are in 2009. We know there's a reason.
After this, he really shouldn't have to have surgery again for anywhere from 10-20 years. Please don't forget to also pray that this will be a very effective surgery and we will finally have that 20 year gap between surgeries. He definitely deserves it! Medicine will be so much more advanced in 20 years! Brent had 2 heart surgeries at the age of 2, and then other open heart surgeries at age 7, age 8, age 16, age 19, age 25, and now age 27. That doesn't take into account all of the other non-open heart surgeries he's had and various tests throughout the years - so we are REALLY praying for a 20 year gap after this. As I said, I've learned Brent is always the exception, but this time, we are convinced he is going to be the norm! Yesterday I heard the cardiologist say "I've never seen such a big aneurysm" and today I heard the surgeon say "I've only had to remove a rib twice in 15 years." It's somewhat amusing - volunteers and staff are always coming through our room asking what such a young person is doing on the Telemetry floor and then Brent tells people he's having his 8th open heart surgery - people's jaws definitely drop. :) We've been explaining a lot about Tetralogy of Fallot!
After Brent's surgery, he will experience pain, so please pray for relief for him. We'll be in the ICU for at least 24 hours (likely until Friday morning.) If anyone would like to come visit, please just let me know first so I can coordinate visits. The hospital address is: St Joseph Hospital, 1100 West Stewart Drive, Orange, CA 92868. I don't know room numbers or anything like that, but I'll let you know when I do know. We will hopefully be headed back down to San Diego on Sunday, June 28th and I'll be at home with Brent for 2-3 weeks before returning to work. Brent's new home address is 2155 1st Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101.
Thank you so much for your support and prayers. We sincerely appreciate it and are expecting a successful day tomorrow. We have a long recovery ahead of us but we're very much looking forward to August 9th! If we receive any more information, I'll post again tonight, but for now, I simply ask for prayer, prayer, prayer tomorrow from 8:00 am onward. I'll post first thing in the morning (around 8:00 am PST) to update everyone on how pre-op went.
God bless,
~Rachel
We spoke with the surgeon, the cardiologist, and the Nurse Practitioner this morning and they informed us Brent's surgery will start at 8:30 am PST (11:30 am EST.) I know many of you have asked exactly what time his surgery is so you can be thinking about him and praying for him at that time, so I just wanted to give you that time update.
The team will come get him around 7:00 am for pre-op and thankfully I am able to go with him for the first hour or so. My friends from San Diego (Chris & Kelly) will be here at 7:00 am as I am sure I will be very emotional when I have to say goodbye. The surgery is expected to last between 4-6 hours. I will post updates as I receive them from the Nurse Practitioner, but the first update won't be until about 11:00 am, or 2-3 hours after they actually begin. The surgery seems to get more complicated daily, but they always reassure us it is very fixable. They are not 100% sure what the surgery will entail - the surgeon said he doesn't know for sure until he opens him up and can visualize his heart. The aneurysm is near where his pulmonary artery meets his pulmonic valve (which in his case is a conduit.) Nobody is sure what caused this, again, they will know more tomorrow after the surgery and we can go from there to prevent this from ever happening again. We'll also know more tomorrow about future restrictions and such, but everyone is thinking after his total recovery time (~3 months), he should be able to resume normal exercise. Brent is very active, loves to play sports, run, hike, etc - so we're hoping he'll still be able to do all of those things. Regardless of whether they replace the valve or simply strengthen it, he will have a stronger pulmonic valve after tomorrow. Replaced pulmonic valves can last anywhere from 10-20 years, depending on the type of valve, which is why we had been praying the past year for the next surgery to not be until at least 2017 - but here we are in 2009. We know there's a reason.
After this, he really shouldn't have to have surgery again for anywhere from 10-20 years. Please don't forget to also pray that this will be a very effective surgery and we will finally have that 20 year gap between surgeries. He definitely deserves it! Medicine will be so much more advanced in 20 years! Brent had 2 heart surgeries at the age of 2, and then other open heart surgeries at age 7, age 8, age 16, age 19, age 25, and now age 27. That doesn't take into account all of the other non-open heart surgeries he's had and various tests throughout the years - so we are REALLY praying for a 20 year gap after this. As I said, I've learned Brent is always the exception, but this time, we are convinced he is going to be the norm! Yesterday I heard the cardiologist say "I've never seen such a big aneurysm" and today I heard the surgeon say "I've only had to remove a rib twice in 15 years." It's somewhat amusing - volunteers and staff are always coming through our room asking what such a young person is doing on the Telemetry floor and then Brent tells people he's having his 8th open heart surgery - people's jaws definitely drop. :) We've been explaining a lot about Tetralogy of Fallot!
After Brent's surgery, he will experience pain, so please pray for relief for him. We'll be in the ICU for at least 24 hours (likely until Friday morning.) If anyone would like to come visit, please just let me know first so I can coordinate visits. The hospital address is: St Joseph Hospital, 1100 West Stewart Drive, Orange, CA 92868. I don't know room numbers or anything like that, but I'll let you know when I do know. We will hopefully be headed back down to San Diego on Sunday, June 28th and I'll be at home with Brent for 2-3 weeks before returning to work. Brent's new home address is 2155 1st Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101.
Thank you so much for your support and prayers. We sincerely appreciate it and are expecting a successful day tomorrow. We have a long recovery ahead of us but we're very much looking forward to August 9th! If we receive any more information, I'll post again tonight, but for now, I simply ask for prayer, prayer, prayer tomorrow from 8:00 am onward. I'll post first thing in the morning (around 8:00 am PST) to update everyone on how pre-op went.
God bless,
~Rachel
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Checking in to the hospital
Friends/family,
We checked into St. Joseph Hospital today up in Orange County and Brent had a CT scan of his chest to help his doctors figure out exactly what is wrong. It turns out he has an aneurysm (a blood filled dilation of a blood vessel) on his heart. The location is related to his last surgery (~19 months ago) when his pulmonic valve was replaced. The vessel wall has weakened (nobody can really explain why) and the aneurysm has been getting bigger and bigger the past few months, which is why you can see his heart beating more through his clothes. Basically the doctor said "This is really rare, I've only seen it 2-3 times in my life" (and he's not a young doctor!) and that Brent's aneurysm is the worst he's ever seen. The clinical case manager even came in and videotaped his heart beating for future research purposes. :) Brent told me he's been told his whole life by doctors that they've never seen a case like him, he always has weird things happen with his heart. Apparently he's always the "exception", never the norm. But Brent takes it all in stride, laughs everything off, makes his whole healthcare team laugh, keeps smiling, and is ready to face this surgery like it's a regular day.
When I sent my last email, we were hoping he would be able to have a more "minor" heart surgery, but now we know he will have to have a full sternotomy (the sternum will be divided) which is a full-on open heart surgery and he will be put on a heart-lung bypass machine. The surgery will most likely be Wednesday morning; I'll update everyone again tomorrow with the exact time/details.
We were not expecting this and our lives have been turned upside down the past 3 days! Brent was planning on moving into my house a few days before our wedding, but we made the tough decision yesterday that he needed to move in with me immediately so I could care for him best and he won't be able to move anything for a long time! Some very gracious friends gave up their Sunday to help us move and I have to say, it was pretty impressive how quickly we moved the majority of his stuff into my house! We also have a wonderful dog-sitter who offered to care for Sadie (our yellow lab) as long as we need help, which is a huge blessing because Sadie is like our child. :) We are so appreciative of all of you who have been so helpful and continue to offer help! We have a long road ahead of us, but it's been smooth so far because of the amazing people in our lives.
As far as the wedding, the surgeons/doctor said don't change the date yet as Brent could bounce back very quickly (he always does!) and we could still get married August 9th. We'll know a LOT more a week from now after we see how the first 5-6 days post-op go. We are more in love now than we were before and really are hoping to get married August 9th! Please pray for a speedy recovery!
So while it is disappointing that Brent has to have another heart surgery just 19 months after the last one, we do believe he will be fine and after this, we should be ok for 7-8 years. It really changes your perspective on life. Last week we were just going along, happily planning our wedding, looking forward to our lives together, not worried at all about the cardiology appointment last Friday. Since I see Brent most every day and he obviously looks at his chest every day, we didn't think the heartbeat was that much more prominent. Everyone else did, but we always remembered his heart beating out of his chest since he's missing a rib. We'll definitely be more vigilant in the future of any signs of heart problems! I honestly always thought I was pretty good at watching out for him and keeping track of everything, so I have to admit I felt badly for not being more concerned about this.
Please continue to pray for Brent, his medical team, and our families. Brent is doing great, our families are naturally concerned, and I am coping as best I know how - smiling and laughing with Brent and then crying to my friends. :-) It's comforting that one of his main healthcare providers in the hospital is a Cardiac Nurse Practitioner - she's been SO helpful and very supportive. I have a good friend coming up to sit with me during his surgery so I don't freak out the entire time, and I am very grateful for that!
I will update everyone again tomorrow - the surgeon hasn't looked at the chest CT scan but we spoke with the Nurse Practitioner. His doctor, surgeon, and the NP all agreed it's an aneurysm even before the CT scan. We are also hoping they'll be able to place some sort of prosthetic rib or shield in during the surgery, which would be great. We are trusting in God and know that while we may not know why this happened right now, there is a reason and one day we'll look back and thank God this surgery happened when it did. We are already praising God we saw Brent's cardiologist on Friday because a heart aneurysm is serious and needs to be repaired! Now I can't believe he was walking around like this! We are also so blessed because this CAN be repaired and it should be a shorter surgery (3-4 hrs) as opposed to some of his super long surgeries. And Brent recovers faster from heart surgeries than most of us recover from a cold. ;-)
Hope everyone is doing well, I'll continue to post updates and I appreciate all of the prayers, emails, texts, etc.
God bless,
~Rachel
We checked into St. Joseph Hospital today up in Orange County and Brent had a CT scan of his chest to help his doctors figure out exactly what is wrong. It turns out he has an aneurysm (a blood filled dilation of a blood vessel) on his heart. The location is related to his last surgery (~19 months ago) when his pulmonic valve was replaced. The vessel wall has weakened (nobody can really explain why) and the aneurysm has been getting bigger and bigger the past few months, which is why you can see his heart beating more through his clothes. Basically the doctor said "This is really rare, I've only seen it 2-3 times in my life" (and he's not a young doctor!) and that Brent's aneurysm is the worst he's ever seen. The clinical case manager even came in and videotaped his heart beating for future research purposes. :) Brent told me he's been told his whole life by doctors that they've never seen a case like him, he always has weird things happen with his heart. Apparently he's always the "exception", never the norm. But Brent takes it all in stride, laughs everything off, makes his whole healthcare team laugh, keeps smiling, and is ready to face this surgery like it's a regular day.
When I sent my last email, we were hoping he would be able to have a more "minor" heart surgery, but now we know he will have to have a full sternotomy (the sternum will be divided) which is a full-on open heart surgery and he will be put on a heart-lung bypass machine. The surgery will most likely be Wednesday morning; I'll update everyone again tomorrow with the exact time/details.
We were not expecting this and our lives have been turned upside down the past 3 days! Brent was planning on moving into my house a few days before our wedding, but we made the tough decision yesterday that he needed to move in with me immediately so I could care for him best and he won't be able to move anything for a long time! Some very gracious friends gave up their Sunday to help us move and I have to say, it was pretty impressive how quickly we moved the majority of his stuff into my house! We also have a wonderful dog-sitter who offered to care for Sadie (our yellow lab) as long as we need help, which is a huge blessing because Sadie is like our child. :) We are so appreciative of all of you who have been so helpful and continue to offer help! We have a long road ahead of us, but it's been smooth so far because of the amazing people in our lives.
As far as the wedding, the surgeons/doctor said don't change the date yet as Brent could bounce back very quickly (he always does!) and we could still get married August 9th. We'll know a LOT more a week from now after we see how the first 5-6 days post-op go. We are more in love now than we were before and really are hoping to get married August 9th! Please pray for a speedy recovery!
So while it is disappointing that Brent has to have another heart surgery just 19 months after the last one, we do believe he will be fine and after this, we should be ok for 7-8 years. It really changes your perspective on life. Last week we were just going along, happily planning our wedding, looking forward to our lives together, not worried at all about the cardiology appointment last Friday. Since I see Brent most every day and he obviously looks at his chest every day, we didn't think the heartbeat was that much more prominent. Everyone else did, but we always remembered his heart beating out of his chest since he's missing a rib. We'll definitely be more vigilant in the future of any signs of heart problems! I honestly always thought I was pretty good at watching out for him and keeping track of everything, so I have to admit I felt badly for not being more concerned about this.
Please continue to pray for Brent, his medical team, and our families. Brent is doing great, our families are naturally concerned, and I am coping as best I know how - smiling and laughing with Brent and then crying to my friends. :-) It's comforting that one of his main healthcare providers in the hospital is a Cardiac Nurse Practitioner - she's been SO helpful and very supportive. I have a good friend coming up to sit with me during his surgery so I don't freak out the entire time, and I am very grateful for that!
I will update everyone again tomorrow - the surgeon hasn't looked at the chest CT scan but we spoke with the Nurse Practitioner. His doctor, surgeon, and the NP all agreed it's an aneurysm even before the CT scan. We are also hoping they'll be able to place some sort of prosthetic rib or shield in during the surgery, which would be great. We are trusting in God and know that while we may not know why this happened right now, there is a reason and one day we'll look back and thank God this surgery happened when it did. We are already praising God we saw Brent's cardiologist on Friday because a heart aneurysm is serious and needs to be repaired! Now I can't believe he was walking around like this! We are also so blessed because this CAN be repaired and it should be a shorter surgery (3-4 hrs) as opposed to some of his super long surgeries. And Brent recovers faster from heart surgeries than most of us recover from a cold. ;-)
Hope everyone is doing well, I'll continue to post updates and I appreciate all of the prayers, emails, texts, etc.
God bless,
~Rachel
The story begins...
Dear friends & family,
As most of you know, my fiance Brent, has a congenital heart defect. He has had 7 open heart surgeries in his 27 years of life! His most recent surgery was November 19, 2007. During that surgery, his pulmonic valve was replaced, or he was given a "tune-up" as he likes to say. Unfortunately his previous pulmonic valve had fused to a rib and they ended up taking a rib out as well. Since that surgery, his heart has been "exposed" and you can visually see it beating through his clothing even. Over the past 2 months, we've been noticing that it was getting more prominent but we attributed it to the fact that he was working out more: doing a lot of push-ups, running, etc. We thought maybe his chest muscle was pushing out more. However, over the past month, people in Brent's life have really started to notice more and more that his chest is pulsing and it's been very noticeable. Most recently, Brent was in a friend's wedding and the boutonniere was pinned directly over his heart and moving quite a bit. It was somewhat amusing to the guests. :)
Anyways, I praise God for the following: Brent meets with his cardiologist every 6 months. We last met with his cardiologist in February, just 4 months ago. His next scheduled appointment would've been while we were on our honeymoon. His cardiologist is vacationing most of July and we are gone for part of August, so his doctor said "Let's go ahead and get you in here earlier rather than later." Praise God for that! We had an appointment with his cardiologist yesterday and Brent mentioned that he thought his heart was beating more noticeably out of his chest. The cardiologist and a cardiologist fellow were both in there and I heard the cardiologist say to the fellow "I've been following Brent for a long time and this is not normal." My heart absolutely sank at the point because I knew something was wrong and it was very unexpected. Brent immediately had an Echocardiogram (ultrasound of his heart) and they found a small hole that was leaking a large amount of blood into his chest wall space where the more prominent heartbeat is showing. Even as a healthcare professional, I am a little unsure of the details because I immediately went into shock mode, and selfishly thinking I wasn't ready for another heart surgery right now, that I couldn't handle the emotional roller coaster that was now upon us. The cardiologist called me over, put his arm around me and pointed out on the Echo the hole and the problem and tried to explain it to me professionally, but all I could think was "Please God, no no no, not right now, we're supposed to get married in 7 weeks." Brent had a few more tests done and was immediately referred to his cardiac surgeon in Orange County.
We are meeting with the surgeon on Monday (we are awaiting the surgeon's phone call) and Brent will likely be having heart surgery #8 on Monday. It should not be a full sternotomy (where they cut open his chest) but rather a more "minor" procedure for Brent. (Most people would consider it a major procedure but Brent has been through a lot!) As I said, we have not spoken with the surgeon yet, but his cardiologist thinks that they should be able to place a cardiac catheter in his femoral artery (in his leg) to put him on cardiopulmonary bypass and then make an incision over his chest to "stitch up" the hole that is causing the blood pooling. Hopefully it will be an easy procedure with a shorter recovery than his last heart surgery and everything is still in place for our August 9th wedding!
Best case scenario (and Brent has always had the best case scenarios with his surgeries!), he will have surgery on Monday and we'll be back in San Diego recovering on Wednesday or Thursday. Originally we were supposed to fly to Atlanta on Thursday for some last minute wedding planning, but I am not sure if that will happen. On the positive side, since Brent did have a rib unexpectedly removed during his last surgery, the surgeon might now be able to place a prosthetic rib in with this surgery and that would be a huge blessing as his heart would not be exposed!
I am writing this email and asking you for prayer, prayer, and more prayer. Brent's heart is fragile and has already been through 7 surgeries. As a faithful servant, I trust God but as a healthcare professional, unfortunately I know a lot about medicine and surgeries are very grueling on the body. I have absolute faith that he will be fine, recover, and we will have a beautiful wedding on August 9th. I was just very surprised and not expecting having to witness another of Brent's heart surgeries for about 8-10 more years.
Please pray for Brent's surgeons, nurses, and everyone involved in his surgery. Please pray that God gives them all wisdom to fix him, guides their hands during surgery, and that God watches over Brent in the operating room. Please pray for us emotionally, that we will stay strong, focused, and remember God has a plan for our lives and that this surgery is no surprise to God...in fact it's all part of His will. Please pray for Brent's future health, that the next surgery will be many many years away.
I will try to keep everyone updated this next week. I know we will be fine and this weekend we are just trying to spend a lot of quality time together and continuing on like nothing changed. Brent is a very strong person and takes it all in stride. I am learning to be a very strong person. :) I simply ask for prayer. Thanks everyone, sorry to be the bearer of bad news!
God bless,
Rachel
As most of you know, my fiance Brent, has a congenital heart defect. He has had 7 open heart surgeries in his 27 years of life! His most recent surgery was November 19, 2007. During that surgery, his pulmonic valve was replaced, or he was given a "tune-up" as he likes to say. Unfortunately his previous pulmonic valve had fused to a rib and they ended up taking a rib out as well. Since that surgery, his heart has been "exposed" and you can visually see it beating through his clothing even. Over the past 2 months, we've been noticing that it was getting more prominent but we attributed it to the fact that he was working out more: doing a lot of push-ups, running, etc. We thought maybe his chest muscle was pushing out more. However, over the past month, people in Brent's life have really started to notice more and more that his chest is pulsing and it's been very noticeable. Most recently, Brent was in a friend's wedding and the boutonniere was pinned directly over his heart and moving quite a bit. It was somewhat amusing to the guests. :)
Anyways, I praise God for the following: Brent meets with his cardiologist every 6 months. We last met with his cardiologist in February, just 4 months ago. His next scheduled appointment would've been while we were on our honeymoon. His cardiologist is vacationing most of July and we are gone for part of August, so his doctor said "Let's go ahead and get you in here earlier rather than later." Praise God for that! We had an appointment with his cardiologist yesterday and Brent mentioned that he thought his heart was beating more noticeably out of his chest. The cardiologist and a cardiologist fellow were both in there and I heard the cardiologist say to the fellow "I've been following Brent for a long time and this is not normal." My heart absolutely sank at the point because I knew something was wrong and it was very unexpected. Brent immediately had an Echocardiogram (ultrasound of his heart) and they found a small hole that was leaking a large amount of blood into his chest wall space where the more prominent heartbeat is showing. Even as a healthcare professional, I am a little unsure of the details because I immediately went into shock mode, and selfishly thinking I wasn't ready for another heart surgery right now, that I couldn't handle the emotional roller coaster that was now upon us. The cardiologist called me over, put his arm around me and pointed out on the Echo the hole and the problem and tried to explain it to me professionally, but all I could think was "Please God, no no no, not right now, we're supposed to get married in 7 weeks." Brent had a few more tests done and was immediately referred to his cardiac surgeon in Orange County.
We are meeting with the surgeon on Monday (we are awaiting the surgeon's phone call) and Brent will likely be having heart surgery #8 on Monday. It should not be a full sternotomy (where they cut open his chest) but rather a more "minor" procedure for Brent. (Most people would consider it a major procedure but Brent has been through a lot!) As I said, we have not spoken with the surgeon yet, but his cardiologist thinks that they should be able to place a cardiac catheter in his femoral artery (in his leg) to put him on cardiopulmonary bypass and then make an incision over his chest to "stitch up" the hole that is causing the blood pooling. Hopefully it will be an easy procedure with a shorter recovery than his last heart surgery and everything is still in place for our August 9th wedding!
Best case scenario (and Brent has always had the best case scenarios with his surgeries!), he will have surgery on Monday and we'll be back in San Diego recovering on Wednesday or Thursday. Originally we were supposed to fly to Atlanta on Thursday for some last minute wedding planning, but I am not sure if that will happen. On the positive side, since Brent did have a rib unexpectedly removed during his last surgery, the surgeon might now be able to place a prosthetic rib in with this surgery and that would be a huge blessing as his heart would not be exposed!
I am writing this email and asking you for prayer, prayer, and more prayer. Brent's heart is fragile and has already been through 7 surgeries. As a faithful servant, I trust God but as a healthcare professional, unfortunately I know a lot about medicine and surgeries are very grueling on the body. I have absolute faith that he will be fine, recover, and we will have a beautiful wedding on August 9th. I was just very surprised and not expecting having to witness another of Brent's heart surgeries for about 8-10 more years.
Please pray for Brent's surgeons, nurses, and everyone involved in his surgery. Please pray that God gives them all wisdom to fix him, guides their hands during surgery, and that God watches over Brent in the operating room. Please pray for us emotionally, that we will stay strong, focused, and remember God has a plan for our lives and that this surgery is no surprise to God...in fact it's all part of His will. Please pray for Brent's future health, that the next surgery will be many many years away.
I will try to keep everyone updated this next week. I know we will be fine and this weekend we are just trying to spend a lot of quality time together and continuing on like nothing changed. Brent is a very strong person and takes it all in stride. I am learning to be a very strong person. :) I simply ask for prayer. Thanks everyone, sorry to be the bearer of bad news!
God bless,
Rachel
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