SharivilleLife stories from Shari

We waited all day and finally Jerry went in for his cardiac catheterization.  Thank you all for your  prayers because thankfully they found all of the previous grafts from the first surgery to still be open and viable.  There was one coronary artery that is 70% occluded and will need an angioplasty and a stent, but we still have to address the aortic valve that is in need of repair, or replacement.  Tomorrow we will find out from the open heart surgeon here if he feels that Jerry is stable enough to travel to Dallas, with a referral to a cardiologist there.  We then hope to have the surgery done at Baylor University Hospital in Dallas.  As of tonight that is our plan , but then we all know about plans.

Everyone here has been wonderful to us all. The hospital is a wonderful facility and the staff have outdone themselves.  We could not have ended up in a better place to have an emergency.  This vacation sure has had its problems.  Jerry’s cousin in Iowa says I need to write a book about  “The Vacation From Hell.”   Some of you will get to meet her, she will be out to visit us when we finally do get home.  She is a hoot , her name is JoAnne.

Angie and Tommy have been life savers here for me.  And I get to ride around in a gorgeous Camero.  Jerry is in good spirits and feels good having the kids here too.  They are such a support system.

Liz, you should see the fall foliage here, its absolutely beautiful, I haven’t gotten the  pictures that I would ordinarily have gotten for obvious reasons, but I have enjoyed the scenery. Well, once again thank you all so much for your prayers, calls and Emails of support they mean so much to all of us , especially Jerry, who is trying so hard to come thru this. Thank you Liz for the beautiful flowers, it made Jerry’s day.  More Later,    Hugs;    S and J.

Angie and Tommy arrived this afternoon.  I’m always so glad to see them , but today, especially glad.  I was feeling so alone with trying to make all these decisions.  The doc’s told us that they did not recommend that we take Jerry out of the hospital until they performed a heart catheterization.  It seems as of this morning they decided that he had indeed had a  heart attack.  Angie and Tommy had arranged to have a private plane fly him from here to Dallas, but they strongly discouraged that, and actually maybe they are right, because if he suddenly decided to have another heart attack in mid air it would be very inconvenient at several thousand feet up.  They said if we decided to check Jerry out of the hospital I would have to sign a paper saying, ” it’s against medical advice,” I’ve seen this before in my own practice, as a nurse, and it almost always turns out not to be for best. After talking with Jerry and the kids we have decided to stay here and go forward with the heart cateterization.  It will give us a definitive answer as to how much damage to the heart that has already been done.  We already are aware of the valve , but now we have the further problem of the actual heart attack, a very real complication. Problem is the time schedule, it won’t happen until 4PM on Mon.  Tommy said they will be staying here with us, because he’s not going back to Dallas without Jerry.

I’m so praying that they will find him stable enough to travel and in that case we may still fly Jerry and Angie and I to Dallas. Thanks to Judy Lou, who put me in touch with another classmate of ours Joy, who  lives only 65 miles from the kids, suggested instead of the VA, we admit him to Baylor University Hospital.  I had completely forgotten about Baylor, it’s a well known teaching hospital with fab resources.  That’s where we will probably have him admitted to.  Now it could be the case that during the heart cath they may find they can do an angioplasty and put in stents , which would resolve the blockage.  That would take care of the heart failure, and Baylor can then deal with the Aortic Valve problem, that is not so urgent.

At any rate we are staying at the trailer in the meanwhile. Jerry is doing much better now with all the fluid off his lungs so he can really breathe again normally. He also feels better with Angie and Tommy here.  So all things aside things are looking up now that some decisions have been made.  Please continue to keep us in your prayers and think positive thoughts for us all.   I will continue to keep you in the loop, as Judy Lou and Bob say.   More later when I know more.    Hugs,  S and J.