Stupid Tape

Yesterday was a week since I had the ICD put in…. what a road that was. It was a little worse then I thought it would be. I wasn’t thinking I was going to have so much pain and be so sore. The 1st couple of days were not fun at all, I am not going to sugar coat it and lie to you. I took my pain meds every 4 hours to be able to not cry. I felt okay Saturday and Hali and I went to Tallahassee, Red Lobster and to see the movie, Love Letters To Juliet. It must have been too much too soon. I felt bad the whole way home and ran fever all night and the next day. Of course I would have complications to something…. TAPE!!!! My skin is so sensitive that it irritated my skin when they pulled the tape off last Wednesday and as of Sunday I had a row of blisters under the incision and 1 on top of the incision. I went to the Doctor Monday and everything was fine. The blisters are healing and the scar….. Well, the scar looks GREAT! It healed beautifully and you can barely see it. (Picture to come soon). I’m using my left arm a little, not lifting high and not picking stuff up with it. I don’t know how I am going to not fully use my left arm for 7 more weeks :( This is going to be hard. I go back to Shands May 26 to meet with Dr. Pauly for a check-up and to schedule another heart cath in the neck (swan). This will show them how my pressures are and how the ICD is working. We are going to be starting fundraisers real soon. Please look for them and any help is welcomed and greatly appreciated. I couldn’t do any of this without yall!!! If anyone would like to buy a “Ramsey Heart Warrior” bracelet let Hali Barfield, Dawn Krow or Myself know. We just got 200 more bracelets in. I want to thank everyone for their prayers, support and love! I truly appreciate it.

ICD

I'm OK!!! It took them about 3 hrs to put the ICD in and it went well. I'm on Morphine cause I'm in a lot of pain. Change of plans once they got in there, they feel the ICD may improve my heart function & keep pressures down so this means the PICC line will come out Tomorrow and I will come home with the ICD in and see if it helps and I will come back in a month for a swan cath in neck. If it doesn't then PICC line back in and start on pre-transplant medicine and status bump up to a 1B. But, it is BEST to go as long as we can on my own heart...so if ICD works it will prolong transplant. This is a good thing and we are excited to see if it works. But, I'm still listed for a heart at a status 2 and will still need a new heart transplant. Thank everyone for your prayers and support. I love you all!!!!!

STATUS 1B Here I COME!!!

I got to Shands yesterday, Monday, May 10 at 12:00. They didn't have a room ready for me so I went to ADTU (Admissions Discharge Transmission Unit) it's basically holding rooms until they can get you your room ready. I was there from 1 til 6pm. Then I went for a EKG, CT Scan and a Chest X-ray. Then I was brought to my room on 5th floor, Cardio 54 in 5448A. This is a Cardio ICU but not like the one I usually go to on the 2nd floor. This is like the step down from that one (2nd floor is a more critical ICU). I met with Oksana this morning, who is my Transplant Coordinator, she went over the plans. Today they will come and put in a PICC line. A PICC line is a IV port that will go up under the skin on my left forearm. A PICC line goes in through a major artery not a vein. The reason they dont go through a vein is so they can leave it for months and the medicine would blow a vein. Then they will start the pre-transplant medicine through the PICC line. There is 2 different types a medicine they can try. They will monitor me closely for a couple days and make sure I don't throw arrhythmia's. I will then be bumped up on the UNOS list from a Status 2 to a Status 1B. This is GREAT!!! I'm waiting now for them to come do the PICC line!!!