Wednesday, October 21, 2009

And on and on and on...

Hi everyone:

Patty has really been having a rough go of late with her recovery from the HeartNet surgery. For reasons that puzzle everyone, including her doctors, she's been experiencing a fair amount of pain below her incision site. Her cardiologists have expressed surprise that she's still having discomfort after so long--how soon they forget that Patty seems to be the exception to every rule in the medical world.

She's not allowed to take ibuprofen, because it's contraindicated for those with heart failure, and doctors will no longer give her any other pain medication because--I don't know--she's not a grown-up who can make responsible decisions?

It's frustrating to watch Patty struggle through the demands of her teaching job while also struggling with pain that is exascerbated by said teaching job. It's also frustrating, for one who loves her, to accept that doctors won't do anything and everything to help her cope with what is, admittedly, a drawn-out recovery. And for what reason?

So, with no other options offered, Patty has to go back on steroids for at least a week. I'm doubtful this will work.

I'm wishing, more and more, that she'd never had the procedure. I hope we'll look back on all of this in a positive light at some future date but, for now, I'm not happy.

Sunnier messages in the future, I hope...

Love,
Brian

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Some incision site discomfort

Hi everyone:

Patty's incision site from her HeartNet surgery has become quite painful of late. Our best guess is that she aggravated it while dancing rather energetically to "Forever" by Chris Brown the other evening. Hopefully, this is just a minor irritation, and not a lingering issue.

Other than this, Patty seems to be doing quite well. We'll find out in December whether or not the HeartNet has affected her ejection fraction.

We've had Neil visiting off-and-on over the past couple of weeks. Everyone else in the family is doing well.

More soon...

Love,
Brian