His Cheatin' Heart

Ok, this may be a little "stream of consciousness" today, as I’m feeling a little scattered, but here goes:

The Fellow, Dr. O’Maher (I thought she was a resident, but she’s a Fellow – higher rank than a resident), still concerned over this heart rate issue, ordered an echo cardiogram, which they did yesterday afternoon right here in the room.
Last night DP comes barreling in, after dark, as usual. He declares that the whole heart thing is due to "his illness" and therefore, nothing is to be done. He leads us to believe that all we need to do is the transplant, and everything will be hunky-dory. (Don’t get too excited – its BS). As far as he’s concerned, end of story. I ask him what the echo cardiogram found. Turns out he hasn’t read it. I’m a little surprised that he can come to any conclusion without reading the test, but he’s sure. Before we knew it, he was gone, hollering over his shoulder as he exits the room "I’m here if you need me." Yeah, right.

Greg and I aren’t buying it. So, this morning, O’Maher comes in. She’s concerned about the heart thing – thank God somebody is. She’s actually read the test results (why didn’t I think of that?) which shows his input/output ratio is slightly less than what it should be, making his heart work harder and lowering the efficiency, all the while enlarging his heart. The disease, the fevers and the chemo are all contributing factors. Not just the chemo he’s getting now, but all the chemo over all these years. Every time they do something for you they do something to you. She very politically tried to tell us that she’s not comfortable doing nothing, but is not sure what to do. Plus DP, as the attending, is running the show. She is going to "think about it" (I think that means code for argue with DP) and get back to us. We looked through the medical records we brought with us and found the cardiac reports from our little excursion into Overland Park (see March entries). Maybe, in hindsight, his stay there was a good idea. Anyway, those reports showed everything was fine with his ticker. So, this has developed recently. We gave the reports to O’Maher. We’re still waiting to hear back.

The problem is that the Fellows only do a 1 to 2 week rotation. Our nurse wasn’t sure if this is the end of her stint or not, but is trying to find out for us. The good news may be that it could be near the end of DP’s rotation, too. Dr. Vij is out of town until the week after next, though. We’re doing our best to massage DP’s ego, while still advocating for something to be done. Stay tuned. (As a talisman, Greg just ordered garlic bread for lunch!).

Greg finished his 16 doses of Buslafan, last night and today starts the big guns – the Cytoxan. One problem is that Cytoxan requires TONS of fluids, and he can’t have tons of fluids because his heart can’t move it. If he doesn’t have the fluids, he could have major bladder problems, because the Cytoxan can eat the lining of your bladder. Its treatable, but not pretty. It involves a local anesthetic and something called "bladder irrigation." (All men slap your legs together and cringe now.) Yeah, its about as icky as it sounds. They’ve decided to give him half the normal amount of fluids (which is still a ton) and lots of Lassix. He just finished his first dose of Cytoxan (another tomorrow), and his BP has dropped to 95/68, pulse dropped to 110, and he feels higher than a kite. So, we understand they’re having a meeting about him as I write this. Nothing is never easy anymore.

On a lighter note, Sadie, Skibby and Matthew are coming up tomorrow. Matthew can’t wait to ride Daddy’s bed up & down. Sadie & Skibby will visit with Greg and I’m taking Matthew to the Magic House. He’s very excited. I really miss both boys. Eric has to work, so he won’t be able to make it. Bummer.

Thanks again for the comments. Greg really enjoys them. Debbie, I don’t know about publishing this thing. I’ve probably already committed libel.

Keep up the prayers. Remember, June 1 is the big day!

Love,

Greg & Ann

Update, 4:15 p.m.: O'Maher wins! She came in just now & told us she is starting him on a new drug to get the heart rate down (calcium something or other -- I'm a lawyer not a doctor da---it!). She hopes, but can't guarantee it will work. Should take a few days. The prayers & finger crossing must be working! Thanks!