Admitted

It was close to 3 pm before they took Amanda back to the cath lab. This is one of the later procedures she’s had in this lab. I walked the all-familiar hallway as they rolled her back. The nurse didn’t tell me where I needed to kiss her goodbye; I think he knew this wasn’t our first rodeo. From there, I walked to the waiting room, which was not my favorite one, but I have a favorite spot to sit in. 

The waiting room volunteer asked for the patient’s name and proceeded to tell me all the things. I didn’t mention I was a veteran, but listened to her spiel. I took off from there to grab some lunch. The cafeteria was my first stop; it was too late, and not much good was left. From there, I thought I’d get some Chic-fil-A. It is a trek to get there: into the neighboring Children’s hospital, down too many hallways to count, then up a few floors and across a long sky bridge.

By the time I reached my destination, I didn’t want Chick-fil-A anymore. So I made a trek I had not made in years, across another sky bridge and down to the outside. I should have stuck with my original idea. I ended up picking up a small pasta bowl and breadstick for $17! I ate, then walked up to our hotel room for a bit

Then to the waiting room and in my favorite room, the one without a TV playing. I settled into an uncomfortable butt-grooved chair, which I’m sure I helped contribute to at some point! I hung out there until I heard from a nurse. I knew I wouldn’t see the cardiologist; he never comes to see me after procedures. Finally, about three hours after she went back, a nurse emerged to get me.

Amanda was pretty alert when I got to her bedside. She talked with the doctor after he finished the biopsy. He said the pressures were high inside the heart, and her rate didn’t drop much below 130, so he wanted to keep her till the biopsy results came back. Usually this takes about 24 hours. They did both a right and left heart cath this time and did an ultrasound from inside her heart as well, which she said made her have chest pain. This was a bit more than the typical biopsy.

Okay, this is all I’ve got for now; I’ll go into more detail with a post tomorrow. I’m about done; I am worn out and falling asleep typing! We had the hotel for two nights, so I’m crashing there and will stay with Amanda in the hospital if we have to stay longer.