Friday, Amanda’s labs looked a little better, and they called the cath off. Her kidney number trended up a bit. The talk of a balloon pump was scrapped, with her high heart rate, it wouldn’t work. They may be able to try another inotropic medication like dopamine, but they hadn’t mentioned that yet. Dr. Sacks did mention putting her on ECMO, where blood is pumped to a machine and bypasses the heart and lungs. That’s a last resort and would put her straight to status 1. The doctor said we aren’t there yet. It is scary that she’s even mentioning ECMO. They are just racking their brains and scratching their heads with the fluid retention on the double IV drips. It seems that in typical Amanda fashion, she has them stumped.
On the food side, it seems it’s up and down. The worst meal to date was a bowl of veggie broth and a bag of potato chips! It’s a good thing I stocked Amanda up with a few things. She also had our Nashville heart friend get a few microwaveable meals and other groceries. I worked a little on our house and the plumbing, which was not fun. Not that any plumbing is fun. I had a lot of sitting and figuring out to do as I tapped into the sewer line beneath the concrete slab. I ran to Home Depot to get a few more things since uncovering the line was different from what I anticipated. I needed a mental break and washed my side by side to get it ready to sell and drop off at a garage sale for us that a friend was hosting at our downtown place.
I didn’t get much of a mental break, though, I had a call from my manager. I’d sent him my two-week leave of absence request a few days before. There was a question about why I needed to be off as requested. The concern came from someone in Omaha who was far from our work on the ground. She said they approved this for me, but I would need to seek other means of being off, and suggested I work a yard job. That would be no help and only give me a steadier schedule of five days on with two off. That’s no help to me in being with Amanda; it would be fine if she were local. I don’t think they fully understood our situation, and I asked my manager if writing a letter explaining things would be good. This really had me stressing, the two-on-two-off was going to work so well. I was brainstorming what I could do. I might be able to swing a three week on one week off without using a leave of absence, but we’ll see.
Amanda had the bad chest pressure she’d experienced a few days ago. They gave her some more potent pain medication, and to help. She’s seemed tired when I’ve talked with her lately, too. The team added metolazone to curb the fluid retention. It’s scary that they need to add that to the double drips. It seems she is only getting worse. I’m praying the status 3 stays and we get a heart soon. They are still using the new sleep med, but it doesn’t work as well, and Amanda is a little groggy upon waking up. At least she is getting sleep, though.
Saturday, I was up and working on the house. I was determined to finish the plumbing and get it ready to pour concrete over. Turned out the parts I’d gotten the day before weren’t going to work. I was going to need to get creative. It was a plumbing puzzle and took some figuring. After two more trips to our local hardware store, I was able to use a combination of my four separate supply runs to make something worthwhile. I was finally confident enough to cut the existing sewer line. After I got a few fittings set, I got a call that I needed to come work on something at the garage sale. I had to do a good bit of thinking and googling to figure out things. After a while, I got things fixed there and returned to the house to finish my plumbing. After finishing, I was glad to be able to use the drain line to shower; I was covered in dirt!
Amanda was down two pounds, so her Bumex drip was lowered. The doctor thought she was dry and in a good spot again. We were headed back in the right direction. Amanda had a visitor, our Nashville friend. She brought some laundry she had washed back, and another order I had shipped to their house. Costco had a sale on foldable wagons. I need something to tote things back and forth to the car.
Today, Amanda was down a little more, and her kidneys were still a bit mad. So, they backed off on the Bumex drip again, worried she’d get too dry. She’s doing well on retention; we just need those kidneys to shape up. Amanda had another visitor. Her best friend during high school lives in Alabama, and was up in Nashville and wanted to stop by. We had dinner with her and her daughter on our first heartiversary, coming to Tennessee. I missed her the last time she was in Brackett, but it had been a while. I was glad Amanda had friends up to see her; hopefully, it lifts her spirits.
I talked with an old friend as I wound down and was preparing dinner for an early bedtime last night. I had a train lined up for 1 in the morning. He mentioned I sounded down, I was tired, it had been a long day, but I’m used to that. The news of possibly no further leave of absences has weighed heavily on me over the last few days. Amanda and I have been through a lot, but always together. In an odd way, I think my borrowing out to Iowa a few years ago has prepared us a bit for this. Until then, we hadn’t been apart for very long since we’d been married. Though not the same, it helps with the distance. However, this is easier for me; I’m solid busy with work and the house. I know it must be hard on Amanda sitting around the hospital alone. She’s rarely been in the hospital without me over the years. I know we’ll make it through this and know God’s got this, that doesn’t make it less of a crappy situation, though.