Joseph 's Journal

Thanks everyone for the kind words and support! For an update: I ended up having to go back into the OR Saturday morning (12th) because of some bleeding, which delayed my discharge from the CICU by a day. I made it to the telemetry floor Sunday night, where I did very well overall, but had an issue getting off of Oxygen due to persistent shallow breathing. I had no pneumonia, pneumothorax, or significant pleural effusion, but my right diaphragm remained elevated. This was determined to be resulting from phrenic nerve damage. I finally got free of the chest tubes and was on room air by Tuesday. I discharged home on Wednesday after 5 nights, where I am getting stronger each day. My tolerance to activity is poor though because of my breathing and I need to sleep with my head of bed elevated. I am definitely improving and it remains hopeful that the Phrenic Neuropathy will resolve on its own as I heal. If it doesn't, Dr. Reeves' group has a surgeon that can perform a robotic assisted surgery to repair the nerve and reposition my diaphragm. Hopefully this won't be necessary, but I will cross that bridge when we get there!