Chris's Journal

It\'s been a while since I last posted. Truth be told, after the failed mitral valve repair and a second surgery to re-repair it, I went with the \"out of sight out of mind\" approach while I waited for my three month follow up echo. During that time, we left Brookfield and moved back to Wausau, WI. That meant finding a new cardiologist. I ended up going with the guy that was my dad\'s cardiologist. My parents seemed to like him and he knows my family history. It took a little while to get in to see him and to set up the echo so my 3 month echo was actually a 4 month echo. Fortunately this time around the news was positive. They say the re-repair is functioning \"fantastically\". My EF is the same as it was back in June (around 45%) so they increased my Coreg dose a bit. Hope to get that number back up to 55 or so. My energy level is still down a bit but I think that\'s because I didn\'t do cardiac rehab this time around. As it stands right now, my next appointment is in a year. Chris

It\'s kind of amazing how fast time goes by. It has been 18 days since surgery and life is getting back to normal, except for the cabin fever. It has been so hot the last week or two. Highs in the upper 90\'s to low 100\'s with high humidity. It\'s been HOT!! So we have been doing walks/laps around the mall. It hasn\'t been so bad except for the inconvenience of having to have Sam drive everywhere. Pain has been good, only been using a couple of Tylenol for bed for the last 7 days. Sleeping has gotten a lot better as well. Thanks for all the well wishes!

Boy does it feel good to be home. The travel wiped me out quite a bit but it is REALLY nice to be home. We got to the house about 6:30 pm. Sam ran to the store to get a few essentials and it\'s now about 9 pm. Can\'t wait to see the boys tomorrow. Karla is coming to stay with me for the day while Sam runs to get them. Thanks again to the family for taking care of them while we were away. We appreciate it more than you\'ll ever know. Chris

I had my final labs and a visit with the NP this morning. She thought everything was looking good and it would be no problem to head home tomorrow. We can\'t wait to see the boys. My sister will come down to stay with me on Thursday while Sam drives up to get them. We took the hotel shuttle down to the Little Italy area for dinner tonight. It was nice to be out and about again. We get to sleep in tomorrow morning before heading to the airport in the early afternoon. I won\'t know what to do without someone knocking on the door to draw labs, get my weight or check vitals. Maybe I\'ll ask the front desk if they can send housekeeping up to clean the room by 5 am........or not. Goodnight all, Chris

Hi everyone. I\'m having a bit of an issue with \"percocet fog\" this evening so I\'ll be keeping this post on the short side. First and foremost, my love and sincerest thanks to Samantha for all of her support and care, especially over the last week. I can\'t imagine going through this without you and am so thankful that I didn\'t have to. I love you honey, you\'re the best. Tomorrow we have follow up blood work and a meeting with one of the nurse practitioners. If everything goes well, we will be free to head home. Our flight is currently scheduled for Wednesday. That\'s all for now. Thank you to everyone for your kind words and thoughts. I hope to be able to respond to all of the posts in the next day or two. Chris

On Sunday at 2pm we were on were way back to the hotel, which for me I was highly impressed that we got discharged in a timely fashion. Chris is doing good a little tired and has minimally pain that has been controlled with a couple of percocets every 4-6 hours. I am so very proud of him he has been such a trooper with doing all his breathing exercise every hour and taking several walks. I only occasionally have to remind him to stop crossing his legs when he is in bed. We did post pre & post pictures of scars. I do believe tomorrow Chris will taking over with his journaling tomorrow. Sam

Chris is doing good we just got back from a walk up to the pavilion. He is doing very well. Last night they had started him on low dose of metoprolol but his heart wasn\'t having any of it, he developed 2nd degree heart type 1, about 15 minutes after he took it. Luckily the half life was short 3hours and he went back into normal sinus rhythm with a first degree heart block. Cardiologist that saw him today said that it should return to normal sinus rhythm after the fluid around his heart subsides. So we will see. We have been for 3 walks today and chris has said he\'s bored and needs something to do.....hmm I can see the next several weeks might me long if I can\'t find something for him and the kids to do.

Chris is doing great! He has been up for several walks today, free of tubes, only problem so far a very nosiy hall outside of our room equals no sleep. So this afternnoon Chris blood pressure was a little low due to diuretics... all better now that they stopped the diuretics blood pressure came back up. Chris is currently playing angry birds while trying to keep his eyes open. He is very tired but unable to get sleep without being interrupted every 10 minutes. We will post pictures soon

We have made to step down unit, yah!! Chris is doing great ate a little lunch and now s resting so we can take a walk later, even though his nurse he doesn\'t need to walk until tomorrow. I\'m pretty sure we are going to get at the very least a small walk in. I am so very proud of Chris he is doing an amazing job. Ethan and Aaron, we miss you and love you so very much.

Chris is doing great, sitting up in chair some jello and blenching, can\'t ask fo more. There are looking to give him some diuretics and hopefully before 5pm get to the step down unit. Should be a busy day. Chris says hi to everyone and thank you for the kind thoughts and prayers. Sam &Chris

The breathing tube came out at 630pm tonight and Chris is doing good. He is talking some, he is having some pain in his back and chest they set him up with a fentanyl pca pump and some good old toradol. He seems to comfortable at least considering three chest tubes. I asked him if wanted me to stay with him or go back to the hotel and he asked me to stay. So I will stay and be a watchful wife. Best of all so far we have had good nurses unlike the last time. Good night!

I\'m in with Chris he is resting comfortable still sedated with endotracheal tube in. Plan is to ween him him around 5ih tonight. Chris has 3 chest tubes only 1 is draining less than 60cc out. I can\'t believe we have reached this milestone. I can\'t wait for him to wake up and start talking......

Chris is out of surgery just talked with Dr.G. Everything went good according to the good Dr. they re-repaired his valve (the cords that were popped) along with enhancing the valve they made a new tissue leaflet with his own pericardium along with a new angioplasty ring. All in all Dr.Gillinov said that he thinks this one should last forever and within the next year his heart function (EF) should be back to normal. Chris is currently in CVICU, he has a breathing tube, and couple of Chest tubes (2, possible 3) and heart wires. I have not gotten to see Chris I am trying to patiently wait until 1430 so I can go see him. Well, we all know how much patience I have so that might be a hurdle for me to wait that long. Thank you Dear Lord for answering my prayers and continue to please bless his recovery with no complications. Thank You everyone for your thoughts and prayers! Samantha

Hi Everyone it\'s Samantha, Well the day has come it\'s June 20, 2012 @ 522am and Chris has just been called back to start the process. Chris was a bundle of nerves this morning, but who could blame him. We did not sleep....again to be expected. I will continue to post through out the day to keep everyone updated and of course give me something to do. Dear Lord, Please watch over my loving, caring and wonderful husband today as he travels the road of OHS again. Please guide the surgeons hands to perfection and that he may recover without complications. Dear Lord, give my husband strength and courage; Bless him dear lord. In Jesus Christ I pray, AMEN. p.s Shout out to out good buddy Nick and best of luck on his journey today.

We met with anesthesiology and the surgeon today. Both meetings went very well. We discussed re-repair vs. replacement for some time with Dr. Gillinov. He said if the failure was due to a technical issue (like a ruptured gore-tex chord) he can re-repair it by replacing the ruptured chord and putting in an extra one for reinforcement. If the failure is in an existing chord or due to other issues with existing tissue, then he will replace the valve with a tissue valve. Sam and I both agreed to this course of action. The repair, if possible, would give me the best chance of not having another surgery for some time. If a repair seems at all questionable, as to whether it can be successful or not in the long run, we will go with the new valve. The surgery is scheduled for tomorrow. We report around 5:15 am. Tonight Sam and I are taking in the Indians/Reds game. Thanks to all for the kind thoughts and prayers. Chris p.s I posted a picture of Dr. Gillinov and I on my Photo page.

Testing started about 11:00 am this morning with a CT scan and finished up about 3pm with a visit to a staff cardiologist. Everything went smoothly and we only had to sit and wait at one appointment. The biggest finds of the day were during my echo. First, they calculated my ejection fraction at 50%. That\'s quite a bit higher than the 35%- 40% my local cardiologists office calculated after my last echo. Second, it appears that one or more of the chords they replaced in the surgery last September have ruptured causing a posterior leaflet flail. Not sure why neither my doctor nor the CCF docs were able to see that on the 3 month post surgery echo when they saw the 4+ leak had returned. We meet with Dr. Gillinov tomorrow to discuss the findings and talk about Wednesday\'s surgery. Chris

Sam and I arrived at our hotel in Cleveland about 3 pm today. We checked the area out for a while, then had a nice dinner at the Chophouse. Now we\'re just trying to relax and get ready for my pre-op testing day tomorrow. At least this time around I only have 5 appointments instead of 9 like last time. Best wishes go out to Trent and Donna, who have their big days tomorrow. I would also like to wish all of the dads out there a happy Father\'s Day. Ethan and Aaron, I\'m sorry I wasn\'t able to be with you to celebrate the day in person. I love you boys. Chris/Dad

Hard to believe surgery is only a week away. Seems like only yesterday I was thinking a surgical date 3 months out would never get here. We took the kids to the Wilderness Resort waterpark in the Wisconsin Dells a few days ago. We hadn\'t been there in a couple of years and wanted to do something special for them before I\'m laid up for a while. The weather was great and a good time was had by all. I\'ve got to give Ethan his props. He went on the new plunge vertical drop slide even though he got a little scared when he got to the top. The look on his face was priceless as the bottom dropped out from under his feet and he began to drop. When it was over he said it was fun, but wasn\'t real eager to do it again. We had the pleasure of meeting fellow HVJ blogger Deb Ziegler a couple of weeks ago. We live about 15 miles or so apart. We traded stories and compared notes for a while. Deb was also kind enough to give me her wedge pillow for after surgery. I had a pretty rough time getting comfortable at night after the last surgery, maybe this will help some. Thanks again Deb. Monday was my last day of work before surgery. Sam had the day off today so we ran some errands and attended Ethan\'s first ball game of the year. Aaron plays tomorrow. We drop the boys off at Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Mikes house in Abbottsford on Friday. A big thank you to them for taking care of the boys while we\'re gone. I know they\'ll have a blast playing with the kids. I\'ll apologize now for the fact that they wake up around 5:30 every morning. Sam and I will return home on Saturday and then fly to Cleveland Sunday morning. Monday the 18th I have all my pre-op tests (CT scan, echo, x-rays, blood work etc). We talk to Dr. Gillinov on Tuesday and surgery is on Wednesday. If all goes well, we return to Milwaukee on the 27th after my follow up visit with Dr. G. It\'s about 11:30 pm so I\'d better get to bed. The alarm clocks will be waking up in about 6 hours. Chris

I (Samantha) figured I would update just a little as I know Chris is been busy with work and I know several people have been wondering what we are up too. So the count down begins for the second OHS on the mitral valve on June 20 at the CCF, so that leads us 28 days. WOW- it feels like forever. It has been 10 months since we last visited CCF for the first heart surgery done robotically. And let me tell you, I didn\'t miss it and personal think it\'s too soon to go back, but as Chris has said early \"we deal with the hand were dealt.\" The next 28 days I know will go by fast as we will take the kids to the Waterpark in Wisconsin Dells for a little fun before we leave. Then we will get them ready to go to my sisters house (with my Mom) who has so grasiously volunteered to watch over the boys for 10 or more days while we are at CCF. The boys are excited to be at Aunt Stephs & Uncle Mikes as they will get to ride the 4 Wheeler and swim in the pool. The boys understand Dad is going for another heart surgery but as they are only 4 & 7 years old they don\'t fully grasp the complexity of the situation and that\'s ok. I am so very proud of my husband and how well he has handled and dealt with this news on needing a second OHS. As we make this journey again in 28 days, we would like to thank everyone in advance for the thoughts and prayers. \"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. - Lao Tzu\" Samantha