Back in the Cardiac ICU

Hi everyone:

Patty is back in the cardiac intensive care unit at Edward Hospital.

Late last night we came to Edward's ER because Patty was again experiencing discomfort similar to her earlier restenosis. She was feeling pain across her collar bone and through the center of her back; this pain continues, with little reduction in severity, this morning. I was especially concerned because this time Patty made the call to go to the hospital; usually, she needs a fair amount of coaxing or an outright order ("you're going").

Patty's blood draw from last night suggested an elevated level of D-Dimer, a marker that can be quite meaningful or quite meaningless, if I understand correctly. Elevated levels may mean that a person has clots in their blood...or it may just suggest that the patient has recently undergone surgery. As a precaution, doctors ordered an echocardiogram (finished about 20 mins ago) and a Doppler scan of Patty's legs (presumably in relation to the D-Dimer measurement). Our understanding is that a cardiologist will be checking in with Patty sometime this morning.

I'll keep you posted about any updates. As mentioned, Patty is in a fair amount of discomfort that, so far, no amount of morphine or dilaudid has been able to squelch. She did sleep for about two hours last night, and had dozed off when I left her room a few moments ago.

Please keep your fingers crossed that this is just another step in her recovery from surgery. Of course, being who I am, I'm very nervous. Stand by...

Love,
Brian