Hearing that you're going home is the best way to start our day also! Love, Rob & Nance

Yea, Chris!! So glad you get to go home! Just in time to watch the UT basketball game tonight in the comfort of your own home!
Vicki & Jim Carroll

Chris:
If you don't have an adjustable bed at home, have a friend go by the medical supply store to get you one. You'll find sleeping much easier on it. see Chris K's posting.
Best of luck. It all gets so much better once you're home.
Terry Chase in Central Florida where it was 28 degrees this morning.

Dear Chris,

Looks like the worm has turned and you are going home. Great news!! You sure you don"t want to stay in Nashville and see the Vols take on NC. Isn't God great. Hope to see you around in K-Town.

Your accounting bud,
Jerry Campbell
City of Knoxville
Senior Financial Analyst
Phone 865-215-2080

Chris
So glad you are going home today! Hope you have a safe journey. It is always good
to get in your own bed at night.
Good luck.
Betty Norton

Hi Chris and Donna,

This is fantastic news! Now you can get some real sleep at home. Nothing like your own bed too! Donna, this is the best new year's news for you too! Continue the great progress, Chris.

Take care, and drive home safely!

Susan White

Congratulations! Great news! Get home safe and keep us posted!!
xo
jill & geoff

Safe travels on your way home--so happy that you will be starting the new year at home!
Ellie

Wonderful News Chris. Look forward to seeing you soon.

George

Chris & Donna,

Think ahead to April and being out on the golf course! I know that you know it's important to get your heart and blood vitals stable, so hang in there! We look forward to hearing you're on your way home and have turned the corner toward a great 2011!

Love from the Jenkins family

I know you guys are so anxious to get home!!! I am thinking about you both and praying for your release when it is time and you can safely go home and rest. I can only imagine how much you want to be home in your own bed. Let me know if there is anything I can do here to help out!!! Love ya bunches!!
Sien

Hey Donna and Chris --

Oh Pooh!! I'm sure you guys are disappointed.

Please try not to get discouraged ... I will pray that wherever there is anything out of balance ... God would stabilize and set "it" in perfect working order.

Remember ... that God is interested in healing ... and unfortunately He doesn't give us His timetable ... He only asks that we have the patience to heal. Sometimes ... for me ... patience is far more difficult! Hang in there Kinneys.

-- Sending you all my best ... and continued prayer.
Kim Wood McClamroch

You really need some basketball photos in there too! God Bless! Come shoot some hoops soon!
Jim Grubbs

Hope you are allowed to go home soon. Just visiting someone in the hospital makes my ankles swell, so I'm sure you are way ready to go. We're pulling for you. Hang in there. Ben

Hi Kenneys! Sorry to hear you had a rough night - I hope it has been followed by a much better day. Praying that all things medical go your way for the next few days so you can come home. In the long run, a few more days in the music city is no big deal, but I'm sure you're ready to head east. Here's hoping you are home to watch the bowl game!

Love, Leslie

Hey, Chris. Ready for you to get out of Vanderbilt and come home. I know you. You are thinking if you stay long enough you can hang around for the bowl game. Not a good idea. Keep your head up. I look forward your return to Knoxville. Phi, Phi.

Dan F. McGehee

You all are so strong--your patience, grace and sense of family through this is a wonderful testimony. Thinking about you and praying for you. Donna--please let us know if there is anything we can do here in Knoxville to prepare for your arrival back home.
Ellie

Hang in there Chris, you are still in our prayers.

Lee

Hey guys,

Sorry to hear about the setbacks, but I suspect a surgery this complicated rarely goes by the book. Hang in there, before long this whole trial will be in the rear view mirror. Happy New Year to all the Kinneys!

Stephen, April, Sommerville and Bo Harris

Hi Chris & Donna!

First off, BUMMER!! I well remember the eager desire to get out of the hospital and go home, not to mention the blood drawings at, what, 3:30 a.m.?! Though each little setback is so disappointing, know that you WILL get there. What's happening to you, though not desirable, is not unusual. Same stuff happened to me. Post-op I went into atiral fibrillation a couple times, but my heart corrected itself. AF is so uncomfortable, unsettling, and draining. But one night, almost a week after surgery, I went into bad AF. For me, this was caused by pericarditis--the fluid build up around my heart. This can often be an inflammatory response by the heart to the trauma of surgery, as can the AF. One week to the day of my mitral valve repair, I was back in the OR to drain off fluid and cardiovert me. That was the end of the worse for me. After that I was put on Amiodarone/Pacerone for a few months to protect against AF. I had a couple brief episodes after returning home, but it did not become a regular problem for me as my heart healed from the surgery. As I already shared, it took some doing to get my INR stable in therapeutic range. And, having had a stroke 2 days post-op, they were pretty jumpy about me with both AF and my INR. If you are ever interested or bored enough, my heart journal is a detailed chronicle of my journey; certainly feel no compulsion. I say all this to let you know you are not abnormal nor alone. Kim Deakins told me she knows you from church, so I will take the liberty to share a couple of Bible verses with you, which took on new meaning for us during my heart surgery and recovery.

John 14:1 NIV
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.

Philippians 4:6-7 NIV
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Throughout our ordeal, we so experienced God's presence and peace. We pray that you will as well.

All the best for a healthy and happy 2011!

Duane Hunt, central FL

Oh, Donna! Sorry you are not getting to go home today and hope it will happen soon. Thinking about you guys a lot!

Patricia Robledo

If we all can learn to sleep in this house, Donna, Chris should be able to relax and snooze in the hospital. Are you reading anything interesting, Chris? Maybe you can pretend you're on a long airplane flight.

Praying for you all to go home soon!
Take care...ALL of you!
xoxo
jill

Hey I prayed for you this morning. I hope that you get some really good reports today!
Love,Kiki

We're thinking of you all and hoping that Chris recovers with as few bumps in the road as possible.

Dana, Deb, Drew & Owen Jennings

Dear Chris and Donna,

So sorry to hear that you will not be heading home yet as you had hoped. However, it is wonderful that they are being careful with you and trying to get everything right (even though I don't understand most of what is going on!) I love you and will be praying that this latest procedure will work quickly.

It was great to hear your voice yesterday. Andrew took off to go home this morning. Emily is here and leaves tomorrow. Please let me know if I can come up and lend a hand this week. I am off work. I love you, Kiki

Just wanted to let you know we are still praying for you. Don't get discouraged. Surely you will be going home soon.

Susan & Jack Plauche'

You are in my prayers daily, darling. Your life may slow down for a while, but that may not be so bad. You have enough going for five people and I know all about that. I love you, Mom

Chris - Diane and I still praying. Neil and Leila too - they told me to pass along their best.

Blackmons

PS - send some of that thick blood. Its freezing here.

Wouldn't hurt to send Phil and Liz back, and settle in until they get your blood stabilized. I can tell you're not enjoying this. Patience is the key. We'll be playing the NCIS game I got for Christmas tonight. You try to have some fun as well. All in good time.

Chris, Looks like they are figuring the issues. Hang in there! You will be home in no time. You are in our thoughts and prayers. JB

Chris,

I hope this message finds you stepping a little higher. Brother you will be home before you know it. Stay away from those green leafy veggies because them and Coumidin don't get along.

You accounting bud,
Jerry Campbell

Chris,
So glad to know that you are on the road to recovery. No excuse for the pain meds foul up. Hope the blood thinners get stabilized and you are discharged today.
Many people are lifting you up in prayer.
Marilyn

Hey there, our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Saint John Neumann Church has a prayer link with the Rosary beads we do every night.

The Payette Family

Chris:
The sweating is more from the trauma of the surgery. I don't want to distress you, but it may continue when you get home and off the pain meds completely. It helps to have some bath towels under you in bed until you're sure that the post-surgical sweating is over.
I had a kidney removed many years ago, and the post-surgical sweating was awful. Much worse than post-heart surgery. But, it all gets better faster than you can imagine, and this will all fade to a vague memory in a few weeks. The very best of luck to you. IT DOES GET BETTER FAST!
Terry C.

Stick with it. Based on friends experience once the meds are stabilized you will feel like a new man.
Don James

Good evening Chris and Donna,
Chris, your name was lifted up this morning at Christ Presbyterian Church Telluride.
Hope the meds are more on track today.
J & J

Chris,
I feel for you and understand exactly what you are dealing with. Ask the medical team if you can try Tramadol as it was the only thing that worked for me. The main pain killers made me itch, sweat and have crazy dreams. I switched to Tramadol on Day 3 at Vandy and it worked.
The electric razor I use is made by Braun and I like it. It will take time to get adjusted to it.
Good luck on the INR. It just takes time to get it dialed in and don't get discouraged. I take 7mg now and know others that take up to 20mg. Hang in there!

Hope you get to come home soon!

Thomas Deakins

Hi Chris - glad to hear things are going so well. I know it's a pain to have to stay longer than you planned, but it sounds like you've got the right attitude to breeze through these bumps.

I just saw that "The Sound Of Music" is on TV tonight - are you watching?

Love to you all,
Leslie

Hi Chris!

Again, Merry Christmas. Surviving heart surgery puts everything into a new perspective. So many things about your experience remind me of mine. Though I had a mitral valve repair (thus assuming I would not be dealing with warfarin), I had a cardio-embolic stroke two days after my surgery. So I am now a coumadin lifer. It's not so bad really. My hospital stay was lengthened and complicated by my roller coaster--day one heart cath, day two MVR, doing great in CVICU, getting ready for step down unit, day four stroke and intervention, day five doing great in Neuro ICU, day six move to PCU, doing great, lapping miles, day nine I had to go back to the OR for a pericardial window (to drain fluid off my heart) and a cardioversion for a-fib, then back to CVICU briefly, and back to the PCU, where I again did great and lapped many miles. Anyhow, overall, I was in for 13 days. When I finally felt the outside air, I had tears of gratitude and joy in my eyes. The bulk of the last several days was the trick of getting my INR into range. They want mine at 2.5-3.0 and, with all my complications, they were treating me with watchful attention. Finally got there. You will too. Just try to ride it out. There are ups and downs.

I switched to an electric razor after I got home at the nurses' recommendations. Hated it! I know they say you have to "train" your whiskers, etc. But I have since abandoned it and returned to a straight razor (Gilette Mach something). Never have had any bleeding or bruising issues. BTW, don't tell anyone I told you this.

Percocet was the pain med I was on, and after going home, I only took one at night and very soon thereafter was only on extra strength Tylenol. Amazing, isn't it to imagine going through all that (knowing they sawed your sternum and pried you open) and you can only be on Tylenol that soon?! I remember thinking the scar didn't look as gruesome as I expected, but I didn't much like touch it doing those early showers. Here, at 11 months later, my scar is really faded and only visible if you're looking for it.

So, I say all these things to encourage you and let you know it sounds like you're on a very normal road and doing better than many if not most. INR levels can be tricky. It IS really important that your INR be just right, and they WILL get it right.

Keep on, Chris. You and Donna remain in my prayers. We 51-year-olds have gotta hang together.

Duane Hunt, FL

Your Electric Razor is good. You don't know how to use it. But let's tackle that after you get the heck out of there!
Best,
Rob & Nance

Chris,

Hang in there; do not let this little bump in the road get you down. It takes some time for the skin and beard to adjust to the electric shaver. Also, it is never as close as a razor, but then you sure do not want to cut yourself now. I had to be on blood thinner for a year, and it does take time to get it adjusted properly. Just stay with it, the doctors and nurses will get it right. Take care, and keep working towards recovery, we are keeping you in our prayers.

Lee

Merry Christmas to all Kinney's
Xo
sue and erin

Chris,
Glad to have this journal to keep track of your developments. Sorry about recent issues. Hopefully you can get discharged soon. Terry Montesi is headed to Memphis today, so I will make sure that he is up to date.
Dout

Have been wondering about you guys today since nothing was posted till now. Thought maybe you were on your way home - I'm sorry that's not the case. Be patient - give yourself time to get stronger and stable. You have all the time in the world :)
Vicki & Jim C.

Chris,

Great to see you doing so well...

Keep up the good work and remember you have your whole life ahead of you, so let your body tell you when it is time to go home. Get some rest and start thinking about your "A" game in Nantucket this June.

What a miraculous Christmas for you all,
Charlie

Christmas was a lot of fun with gangs of gifts and the WII dance games. See Jason's Facebook pictures. Walks with Teddie a great fun. There is a wooded ridge behind the cemetary a few blocks away. Lisa's parents and a sibling are buried there. Folks climb up a cleared side and slide on toboggans down about 9o yards onto a field. Some boys try to negotiate a path down the other side and usually hit a tree. Teddie can smell the wild animals and burrows through the snow after a scent. He'd be a great hunting dog.

Chris,

Glad you came thru it ok. The next step is going home. Remember to be patient and let the recovery come to you. It does'nt all happen at once. Yesterday, for example, I showered, dried, and dressed by myself, for the very first time since being home. Baby steps all over again:)

Have a very happy New Year!

Terry T.

Hey Mule,
Heard you had the surgery from Adrian ,
my prayers are with you for a speedy recovery
of course if you need anything give me a call
1/2 man (schriver)

Merry Christmas Kinney family from the Jenkins family!