Hi everyone:
This morning, Patty is struggling even more with her breathing. Her temperature this morning was 100.4 degrees, and her blood pressure was at 69/56 (HR 84bpm). Deep breathing is painful, and she's feeling nauseous. The last time I saw her like this was just before she was put on the Milrinone drip--remember the black handbag and tubes?
Patty thinks I'm overreacting, and has assured me that this is merely a setback before she bounces back completely. I hope she's right. For my part, I'm not reassured, because my understanding was that patients usually improve the further removed they are from surgery; so far, with Patty, this isn't the case. To be fair, her pain from the surgery has definitely become more manageable; it's the other symptoms (the heart failure ones) that trouble me now.
What worries me more than anything, though, is that most of the tests yesterday suggested that Patty should be feeling much better than she is. The amount of fluid still in her lungs shouldn't be making her feel this way. If symptoms suggest something's awry but little evidence backs up the symptoms, how do doctors know what to treat, and how? The echocardiogram yesterday came back with nothing out of the ordinary.
Patty has an appointment with Dr. Costanzo tomorrow. With any good luck, Patty will be totally fine by then and I can flog myself here for being such a baby about all of this. It wouldn't be the first time.
Love,
Brian
P.S. You may find the comment from the post yesterday (the one with the photos) quite interesting...I know we did. It's a summary of the recovery of another HeartNet recipient.
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