Matters of the Heart.....

As many of you may know my mother-in-law has been quite ill and is currently once again in the hospital at this time. Let me start from the beginning for those of you who don't know.

Peeps, Richard, Me, Scott, Linda

At around Christmas time my mother-in-law, Linda, had developed one of those coughs that just would not go away. This cough persisted for the next few months into March when it was starting to sound really bad. All through this time we had been prompting her to go to the doctor or the walk in clinic. She kept saying "yes she should go" but somehow never quite made it there.

Sometime in March I was driving home from work and gave her a call - she sounded like she was crying but it was just cause she couldn't breathe properly. I asked her if she wanted me to take her to emergency but she said she didn't feel well enough to go. This was on a Friday. Saturday morning she called and said she was ready to go to emergency. I went straight over and helped get her in the car to go to emergency. She had been having the occasional heart palpitations through out the last couple months as well which her doctor said was due to her medication. So not only could she hardly breathe but her heart kept doing flutters. They checked her into emergency right away and immediately had her hooked up to all these machines to monitor her heart. They decided she needed to be checked into the hospital and was taken to a room in ICU a day or two later.

While in ICU they had done a few tests, ultra sounds and what not and discovered that her heart was enlarged. What we found out it really was - was her pericardium (sac around her heart) had expanded due to fluid between it and her heart. Not Good. So because her heart hadn't been able to pump properly this is what they thought was causing the problem. They drained the liquid from around her heart - put her on some heart medication and monitored her for a bit. While there she developed two blood clots in her legs. They didn't know what to do about the clots since treating them would interfere with her heart medication.

While she was in the telemetry ward many unnecessary things happened to her. She had to deal with a uncaring doctor while hers was away. They went to move her rooms but didn't have a new room for her so they left her in a chair in the hall for 3 hours. NOT a good thing for someone who has clots in their legs. She crawled down the hall till she found an empty bed and finally a nurse got her a stretcher. All in all she wasn't having the best experience. It is a bit foggy to the order of things now but somewhere in there they had to do a tap to drain the fluid from her lungs. Finally after 10 days they sent her home with instructions to come in again if her leg began to swell or if she started to not be able to breathe again. Two more follow up ultra sounds were booked for the next two weeks.

Now while all of this was going on Scott and I had to move his grandfather over to our place since his mom normally looked after him. He can't get around very easily, can't get food for himself, so he required extra care. We moved him into our guest room. Scott would have to come home every day from work at 11 to make sure he was out of bed and get him some food. Then in the evening Scott and I would go to his mom's to feed her cat, go visit her at the hospital and bring her anything she may have called and asked for, then come home and make dinner for all of us. It was draining on everyone. Things at home were piling up with not enough time for us to do them between work and everything else.

Peeps and Scott

Scott's mom was home - we moved Peeps (that is his grandfathers nickname) back to his moms and things started to go back to normal for a few days. When she went in for her first follow up ultra sound they immediately sent her over to emergency again cause her lungs were filled with fluid. They had decided to do a surgery and install a filter to protect her from the clots since they couldn't give her the blood thinners. That same evening they did the procedure and she was allowed to go home. Things seemed alright for the next couple weeks - she was able to breathe better, wasn't having any heart palpitations and just needed to take it easy.

Then things took a turn for the worse again....... a week ago Tuesday Scott brought her back into emergency after work. Her lungs had filled with fluid once again and she was checked into emergency where she stayed for a few days till they got her a room. The drained her lungs once again and found some blood in there this time. They think it go there sometime between the first drain and before they installed the filter. It seems she is a bit of a conundrum for everyone and no one is quite sure of how to proceed. Where is Doctor HOUSE when you need him. So she has now been in the hospital again for the past 10 days. Yesterday they did another CT scan and an echo so hopefully we get some results back from that today.

What they are thinking the problem is is that now her pericardium is sticking to her heart and is causing her heart not to pump properly and in turn filling her lungs. So the most likely option is for her to have open heart surgery to remove the face of the sac. Scary!!! I think she is really scared too - she told Scott that if she has to do that then they need to talk about some things - obviously in case something bad happens. Not a fun thing to be thinking about. I know it is really stressing Scott out as well.

You may be wondering where Peeps is through all of this - well we looked after him at his house for a couple days and then he was checked into Maplewood House for the time being. He seems to be doing okay there. If you know him you will have to ask him about his bathing adventure - the story grows daily.....haha It is a wonderful facility with lots of activities and things to keep him occupied. We visit him for a bit everyday after we see Linda in the hospital. That is our evening routine - feed her cat (who is starting to hiss and swat when we want to leave now) - get anything she needs - visit at the hospital - visit peeps at the home - and go home and make dinner. A bit tiresome for both of us right now but we will survive. I did have a big Lupus flare this past weekend though (due to stress???) so the doc has me off to rest and relax for the week.

Dover Missing Linda

So as we wait to hear how they are going to proceed I would appreciate your prayers for her as she undergoes whatever she has to. Also she is feeling quite lonely and depressed being in the hospital for so long. Scott and I can only visit in the evening and most of her friends and other family are in Vancouver so it makes the days seem really long so your prayers for that would be appreciated as well.

I am off to call her to see how she is doing today..............