Good morning to you all. I have not had a chance to write any posts in this blog due to my husband having developed heart issues in the last month or so. It's been a roller coaster of a ride for him and me. Starting with him getting very short of breath by just walking a few steps. He is a strong man and never had any heart issues at all. He has always been healthy for the most part. He has type 2 diabetes which is at times hard to control but for the most part has been controlled by medication and a low carb diet.
Well, on Feb. 24th his shortness of breath and overly tired feeling just got the best of him. I took him to the emergency room at Island Hospital in Anacortes and when we walked into the hospital his vitals were off the charts. They started to do an EKG, took x-rays and discovered he had pneomonia, of course they admitted him right away and he was in ICU for about a day. The next day he began to have chest pains and of course they gave him a nitro pill and it took the pain away so that meant more testing for the Drs. At that time they discovered he also had (AFIB) artifibulation which is an irregular heart rate which was beating way too fast and was possibly the cause of the backed up fluids in the lungs. So they wanted to do an angiogram which is where they place a tube through your groin area and can check for blockages. Mind you my poor husband has never been hospitalized in his life, this was not good. He hated being in the hospital and he hated the food, absolutely no appetite to speak of.
So they transferred him to Skagit Valley Hospital in Mt. Vernon by ambulance. The reason they transferred him was because at Island Hospital they did not do that particular procedure. He was checked into the hospital the evening of the 25th around 6:00 pm. He had a much nicer and larger room there which was great. I couldn't stay with him because I had not brought any change of clothes but promised I would the following night. He didn't like staying there and gave the nurses a bit of a hard time that evening.
The next few days were rough, I stayed with him and didn't get any sleep whatsoever. He would sleep at half hour intervals so the sleep was not good. Besides they woke him up every few hours for blood work or vitals. Whoever said people can get rest in a hospital has never had the pleasure of spending time there themselves.
So they did the procedure and thank goodness his sister and daughter came to be there and a close neighbor friend as well. The procedure went well and they did not find any blockage but they did find that he as a bad aorta valve which is not pumping blood at the rate it should be. This is a big problem, the AFIB they can control with medicine but the valve will need to be replaced.
So he was released on Feb. 28th and we rushed out of there because he wanted to get home, he was so sick of being in the hospital. The nurses did not do a good job at explaining medications or gave me good instructions on how to treat him at home. This was a big problem because after only 5 days when we went to see his cardiologist the mistake was caught. They took him off 4 medications because the Dr. stated that Larry was taking double of the lower blood medications and that was the reason his blood pressure was so low. Thank God he caught this.
On March 9th he was hospitalized once again with low blood pressure and congestive heart failure, so here we go again. This hospital visit was much better because by now he was used to being in a hospital but that didn't mean he liked it. His appetite still was not good and his spirits were a bit crushed. The good thing about this visit was we had a great nurse a couple of days in a row, her name was Devyn. She was a Christian lady and was a joy to be around. One morning when Larry and I were having coffee at about 6:00, Larry was sitting on the edge of the bed and he began to sob quietly, he began to feel God's presence. He had never experienced this before and was so over joyed. He began to say Jesus you are so clever. He began thanking God and praising him for being with him during this aweful and trying time. I hugged him and we prayed. What a wonderful moment that was for Larry experiencing God's presence in his life. Later on that morning Devyn came in again to take his vitals and then we started talking about Larry's experience. She looked over to us and with wide eyes she said: "This morning about 6:00 I got in my car and I began to lift Larry up to the Lord in prayer for healing and for comfort". We all looked at each other and in amazement we Praised God, she hugged us and we all smiled. We know that God sends his Angels to protect and care for us and this was living proof of his faithfulness.
So fast forward Larry had a procedure to try and get his heart back into rythm called cardioversion. This is where they shock the heart a couple of times in hopes that the heart will convert to regular rythm and that didn't work unfortunately. But they had to do a procedure first to see if there were any blood clots and that came back negative on the clots. So with new medicine the AFIB is controlled and possibly will help the heart revert back to normal rythm, that is what we are praying for. Then the Drs. plans is to get him stronger to be able to have the heart valve replacement in the near future. Today we find out the time line for this and go from there.
He was released back to my care on March 13th, this time the nurses went over every single item in great detail thank goodness and the effects of some medications and what to do if, etc. This was so helpful and I appreciated that so much. He is doing much better and eating a bit more than before. See one of the medications is a diet water pill which takes away his appetite, but he has to take it so he doesn't retain fluids. So it's a catch 22, but with the Lord's help I know he can do it. The other thing that happened after he was released the second time was his arm got infected where they had placed 2 IV's. It was so red and soar poor guy, so we had to go back to the emergency for that as well.
God is an amazing God and he has given us strength to get through some of the most difficult times ever. I needed so much strength myself to do what needed to be done and God showed up for me as well. Praise be to God and to him be all the Glory. More to come and thank you for all your prayers for Larry!!!!!!
Well, on Feb. 24th his shortness of breath and overly tired feeling just got the best of him. I took him to the emergency room at Island Hospital in Anacortes and when we walked into the hospital his vitals were off the charts. They started to do an EKG, took x-rays and discovered he had pneomonia, of course they admitted him right away and he was in ICU for about a day. The next day he began to have chest pains and of course they gave him a nitro pill and it took the pain away so that meant more testing for the Drs. At that time they discovered he also had (AFIB) artifibulation which is an irregular heart rate which was beating way too fast and was possibly the cause of the backed up fluids in the lungs. So they wanted to do an angiogram which is where they place a tube through your groin area and can check for blockages. Mind you my poor husband has never been hospitalized in his life, this was not good. He hated being in the hospital and he hated the food, absolutely no appetite to speak of.
So they transferred him to Skagit Valley Hospital in Mt. Vernon by ambulance. The reason they transferred him was because at Island Hospital they did not do that particular procedure. He was checked into the hospital the evening of the 25th around 6:00 pm. He had a much nicer and larger room there which was great. I couldn't stay with him because I had not brought any change of clothes but promised I would the following night. He didn't like staying there and gave the nurses a bit of a hard time that evening.
The next few days were rough, I stayed with him and didn't get any sleep whatsoever. He would sleep at half hour intervals so the sleep was not good. Besides they woke him up every few hours for blood work or vitals. Whoever said people can get rest in a hospital has never had the pleasure of spending time there themselves.
So they did the procedure and thank goodness his sister and daughter came to be there and a close neighbor friend as well. The procedure went well and they did not find any blockage but they did find that he as a bad aorta valve which is not pumping blood at the rate it should be. This is a big problem, the AFIB they can control with medicine but the valve will need to be replaced.
So he was released on Feb. 28th and we rushed out of there because he wanted to get home, he was so sick of being in the hospital. The nurses did not do a good job at explaining medications or gave me good instructions on how to treat him at home. This was a big problem because after only 5 days when we went to see his cardiologist the mistake was caught. They took him off 4 medications because the Dr. stated that Larry was taking double of the lower blood medications and that was the reason his blood pressure was so low. Thank God he caught this.
On March 9th he was hospitalized once again with low blood pressure and congestive heart failure, so here we go again. This hospital visit was much better because by now he was used to being in a hospital but that didn't mean he liked it. His appetite still was not good and his spirits were a bit crushed. The good thing about this visit was we had a great nurse a couple of days in a row, her name was Devyn. She was a Christian lady and was a joy to be around. One morning when Larry and I were having coffee at about 6:00, Larry was sitting on the edge of the bed and he began to sob quietly, he began to feel God's presence. He had never experienced this before and was so over joyed. He began to say Jesus you are so clever. He began thanking God and praising him for being with him during this aweful and trying time. I hugged him and we prayed. What a wonderful moment that was for Larry experiencing God's presence in his life. Later on that morning Devyn came in again to take his vitals and then we started talking about Larry's experience. She looked over to us and with wide eyes she said: "This morning about 6:00 I got in my car and I began to lift Larry up to the Lord in prayer for healing and for comfort". We all looked at each other and in amazement we Praised God, she hugged us and we all smiled. We know that God sends his Angels to protect and care for us and this was living proof of his faithfulness.
So fast forward Larry had a procedure to try and get his heart back into rythm called cardioversion. This is where they shock the heart a couple of times in hopes that the heart will convert to regular rythm and that didn't work unfortunately. But they had to do a procedure first to see if there were any blood clots and that came back negative on the clots. So with new medicine the AFIB is controlled and possibly will help the heart revert back to normal rythm, that is what we are praying for. Then the Drs. plans is to get him stronger to be able to have the heart valve replacement in the near future. Today we find out the time line for this and go from there.
He was released back to my care on March 13th, this time the nurses went over every single item in great detail thank goodness and the effects of some medications and what to do if, etc. This was so helpful and I appreciated that so much. He is doing much better and eating a bit more than before. See one of the medications is a diet water pill which takes away his appetite, but he has to take it so he doesn't retain fluids. So it's a catch 22, but with the Lord's help I know he can do it. The other thing that happened after he was released the second time was his arm got infected where they had placed 2 IV's. It was so red and soar poor guy, so we had to go back to the emergency for that as well.
God is an amazing God and he has given us strength to get through some of the most difficult times ever. I needed so much strength myself to do what needed to be done and God showed up for me as well. Praise be to God and to him be all the Glory. More to come and thank you for all your prayers for Larry!!!!!!
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