August 27, 2013

Danny has been in the hospital for 18 days now and it has been up and down. After he went into v fib last week and his defibrillator shocked him, the doctors put a central line in...that's a big IV in the carotid artery (neck). Yesterday at 4:00 a.m., he woke up to find blood all over his sheets and neck. The dressing was changed several times throughout the day and finally the central line was removed. 

 

 

 

 A pic line was put in his arm, which is an IV that feeds a tube going toward his heart. This (in part) enables medicine to get to his heart quickly.

Danny is exhausted today and as of 10:30, is still trying to get sleep. The doctors came in earlier and said that the next steps will be discussed at tomorrow's board meeting (the transplant team makes decisions weekly about next steps for patients). The question is whether he can go home until the LVAD operation (mid-September) or heart transplant happens, or if he needs to remain in the hospital until then. Either way, he will stay on the Dobutamine IV, which is the medicine that is keeping his heart going. It was when his IV pump was mysteriously turned off for a few minutes on the way to a procedure last week that he went into v fib, so you can see how we are nervous to go home with that kind of responsibility!