Maintaining 

Friday morning, the first team to round was surgery. This was pre-rounds and not the full team, just the baby doctors without parental guidance. They were there early, too, around 6 am. I’d already been up reading for a while, so I decided that was my cue to get up and dressed. Amanda seems to be sleeping ok; she is a light sleeper, so anything wakes her, but she’s still getting a lot of micro-naps all day long. I don’t pay much attention to the baby doctors; I wait till daddy shows up (or mommy, in this case, since there are lots of female surgeons on the renal side, not the case with heart, mostly men there) to ask my questions so I can get a solid answer.

They removed the bandage from her incisions. It wasn’t as big as I’d thought, but still longer than the sternotomy scar. There was a big blood clot that had formed on the top side of the incision. They got that all cleaned up, but didn’t rebandage. I’m sure that’s standard procedure, but of course it started bleeding after they left, and the nurse had to bandage it up again. 

The cafeteria housekeeper from the heart floor showed up to get Amanda’s order; she didn’t know we were here. I mentioned how I asked the other if they were sisters. She wanted to know if it was their mannerisms, since she doesn’t think they look alike! She was happy to see us and said she’d be back to check in on us later.

I ended up getting Amanda up for a walk. She made it the farthest yet. A full lap around the unit. She was actually moving at a pretty good pace. Amanda needs to be pushed with things like this. She’s not the best at initiating, but once she gets going, she will push through. The transplant team coordinator came by, not our individual coordinator, but the one who follows along with the team and takes care of the inpatient side of things. She had a heavy oriental accent; I typically have a hard time with accents, but I understood her well. 

She was asking about Dayani, the outpatient rehab facility. Amanda had gone there right after discharge for her knee PT and cardiac rehab for months. I said yes to going there, and Amanda had a big no for it. I told the coordinator, “Yes, we will go.” Amanda, looking bewildered, said, “NO!” I sternly told the coordinator, “YES!” It was visible confusion on her face as she looked at me when I said yes, then to Amanda as she said no, and back and forth! It turned out Amanda was thinking of Stallworth, the inpatient rehab facility. She loathed that place and was ready to fight to avoid going back. Once she realized it was the outpatient facility, she reneged, to the delight of the confused coordinator, who looked like she was about ready to call a marriage counselor in! 

We had the same nurse as we’d had the day before. She is good, but a little spastic! She just talks nonstop from the minute she walks into the room till she leaves. Talking about everything and telling us every little thing she is doing. If you’re a movie buff and have watched The Accountant with Ben Affleck, she is exactly like Anna Kendrick’s character, Dana Cummings, a nonstop ball of energy accountant who talks and is full of questions. I told Amanda I’d hate to see her after a cup of coffee, or worse yet, a margarita!

I had planned to get the Suburban, but I still didn’t have Amanda’s Yukon at the hospital. So, I needed to go to the apartment to get it. I decided I’d just focus on getting the Yukon and not mess with the Burb just yet. I also wanted to make sure Tank knew we were still alive. He hasn’t been at the apartment alone at night much, if any. That poor guy has been through a lot too. Lost his sister while we were gone, then all the moving and back and forth everywhere. I’m sure he didn’t know which way is up. Then I’ve been back and forth so much, and now Amanda vanishes for days. I’m glad we have a great family who all love him and are alternating in taking care of him. He’s getting lots of love from them, I’m sure.

He was dug in like a tick when I got home. He can’t hear too well, so he sleeps really well, but it’s hard to wake him up. As old as he is, he probably sleeps 20 hours a day now. Once woken, he is pretty dazed, too. So it takes him a minute to get oriented. He was excited to see me once he was up and going. He got a few stacks as I rummaged through the pantry for a snack myself. I wasn’t about to leave without a shave; I didn’t have a razor in my dopp kit at the hospital, and I was about 5 days overdue. Don’t worry, I still have the majestic bear; I just needed a lip and neck clean-up. I decided to take a shower while I had the opportunity, too. 

After the dopamine was stopped, Amanda’s blood pressure dropped slightly despite increasing the oral BP meds. They were a little worried and thought they may need to start IV meds again. The surgeon had come in for regular rounds. The kids now had mommy with them, so I was ready with questions! It was actually Amanda’s surgeon rounding this time. She chatted a little about the low BP. It wasn’t much of a concern, but if the output remained low, they might need to come up with a plan.

.Amanda was feeling up to eating something. I couldn’t find our local favorite ramen restaurant on DoorDash, so I ended up ordering ramen from a chain place we like. I should have gotten Amanda kids’ ramen, but I wasn’t thinking. She just isn’t eating much, typical after surgeries. The not wanting to drink is new, though. She’s been on fluid restrictions so long, even before the heart transplant; she may just have this intrinsic lack of desire to drink because of that.

We went for a walk and took a lap in the evening before bed. She was much slower in the evening compared to earlier in the day. It was nice not to have an IV pole with us, though. The floor we are on is a transplant-specific floor, all organs besides hearts. If you’re a heart patient, you’re lucky to find yourself anywhere but the heart floor no matter what your ailment is! As we were walking by the nurses’ station, a very long row of desks, they had one-page write-ups about transplant patients with pictures. It was all about what these patients were doing after their recovery. I really liked the idea, and it was inspiring to see that. There must have been twenty or more of them taped to the glass wall along the nurses’ stations.

We tucked in for bed after that. I was tired and ready to get some sleep. Amanda had mentioned something about watching TV. I told her I didn’t care what she watched; I was going to sleep. She never even turned the TV on and was out before I was!