Equipment malfunction the other day

Well, the reason for the equipment malfunction during his heart procedure was because an IV bag was dripping on the cables. NICE! They didn't notice it until after it was all said and done.

I asked the doctor if he did a heart cath, he said no. I asked if he performed the ablation ... he said they tried a couple times, but the times they tried, Casey's heart wasn't taking too well to it. That's why he stopped.

Now, I'm not clear if the problems were because the cables had IV fluids dripping on it, or if Casey's heart had an adverse reaction because of another heart problem. It kind of sounds like a heart issue. Doctor mentioned a different heart defect called, Mahaim Fibre. The main deal: we don't want Casey needing a pacemaker, but he might. *ugh* I don't know. I am wanting to talk to Dr. Mayman about it. He will talk to me in a way I understand. These surgeons are just too smart for me, it's hard to comprehend what the *&^) they're talking about. Even for me, a seasoned cardiac mom!!!

Casey just completed a 24 hour electronic monitoring test ~ we should know more when the doctor returns to L.V. in January. So, there are three defects they are looking into now ... Wolfe Parkinson White, Supra Ventricular Tachycardia, Mahaim Fibre.
MF is less severe than WPW, I think.

No repair on the ticker

Thursday: We will speak with the doctor/surgeon tomorrow.

2:30 am update: Casey is just now getting home. He's very disappointed that it's not fixed. He said he got sick after waking up from the anesthesia; that sounds typical. He will come over for Taco Salad tomorrow night.

9:19 pm update: *sad face* They aren't doing anything tonight to repair the heart. *big sigh* They need to do further testing ... as to rule out a couple other things before they go slicing off a piece of his heart. Great.

So, it sounds to me that he ended up having a routine heart cath tonight.

8:51 pm update: I am so anxious, I keep eating Cheeto's and honey baked ham.

I am worrying that the equipment will malfunction again while they are using it, or somthing will go wrong. I am of course, feeling guilty that I am not there... but I simply can't have Matthew at the hospital during RSV season and I can't leave him w/ anyone at night b/c of the overnight feeds. I am grateful that my sister is there. She used to work in cardiology so she knows the drill, and Casey loves her to death.

8:24 pm update: My sister just called, they just came back out to say they had tech support on the phone, they are working on getting it back up and they will try to proceed. Thank God Kim is there.


After spending two hours in the cath lab ...
the equipment malfunctioned ... the heat source wouldn't work.

They were unable to repair ~ he'll have to wait until the end of January.

I want to throw up.

He will be in recovery for 5 hours. I feel awful for him.

Casey hasn't gone back to the cath lab yet, it's 4:50 ~ think it's going to be a longgggg night

5:40 pm ~ He just went back. The doctor met w/ my sister Kim. He'll be in good hands, there will be four other docs back there. A couple hours they said.


In his face w/ the camera. Just trying to take his mind of his worries. We kept teasing him that they are going to shave his groin.

Heading to the "sandbox". Poor guy... he was covering up just in time.

A self portrait from the bed.

I was totally getting on his nerves w/ my cell camera.

Dang!! He's still sitting in the pre~op recovery room .... he's been at the hospital since 10:45 am... I guess the first cath took longer than expected. When I left around 4pm, they had just started on the second cath patient.

So, I am home ... my sister, my dad and Joel are still there. They will let me know when they take him back. He's complaining that he's hungry and thirsty... hence the little citrus swabs.

My baby!! I was giving him such a hard time.
He kept making a mad face, but then he'd crack up when I'd take a pic.
My sister Kim and Joel.

Today

I will be back sometime tonight with an update on my oldest son's heart surgery. It is called a catheter ablation, they go up thru an artery in his leg and laser off a node or the thick part of his ventricle. (Hope I explained that right.)

I am up and getting ready now while Matthew is sleeping. My mom is coming over to play w/ Matthew while we all go hang out at the hospital. We need to be at "patient waiting" by 11 am. As soon as the doctor is finished w/ his previous patient, he'll take Casey back. They say surgery can be 2 to 6 hours ... then he needs to hang out for several hours after because they are going up thru a main artery. We are expecting an easy fix.

*big sigh*

Here we go.

Have I ever told you all how much I hate/dread being in hospitals. It makes my heart sink just thinking of it. This is the same hospital that Matthew (Mike and I)spent three months in ~ gives me weird feelings.

I know....

... my blog is kind of boring right now ..... all this cabin stuff .... but it's the most exciting thing going on for us at the moment.

Maybe after today, I'll just post a pile of pics once a week.

I have just been hanging out w/ Magoo and keeping this house. I am hoping Casey will come stay with me for a few days after his surgery on Wednesday... I promised that I would spoil him and make all his favorite foods. He just said "we'll see". I hope he comes, it will be like old times. He lived w/ me until he was 22 and I still miss him. I think it's sad when your kids fly the coup.
I had a huge case of empty nest when he left... hence the two parrots and a new child!!!

Anyhoo.. I just posted a new set of blog cabin pics below. To me, they are so exciting.

Insurance all worked out for Casey's surgery

Apparently there was some kind of error ... so,

Casey's surgery is back on for next Wednesday as "in network" ~ so, it'll be on the 80/20 plan ~
not the crappy 40/60 plan.

WAHHHH HOOOOO!! What a relief.

Thank God, I've been praying so hard about this.
The power of prayer is something else. There is no doubt God has had his hand in this.

Hey kids!

My little monkey in the basement. He had a grand ole time running free down there.

AHHHHH ... got back last night. Needless to say, I have several mounds of laundry and a meeelllllion things to get caught up on. It was pretty cold while we were there... we had a day or two of 10 to 20 degree weather. The wind made it kind of tough on the boys working on the cabin site.

We (Mike, I should say) had a very productive 10 days! Our family cabin in coming along nicely. The load bearing wall in the basement is in place; the sub floor is up and it looks awesome; the excavator back filled around the cabin site; we now have a great burm along a much traveled county road that was put in, right along our property line (grrr) three years ago. I have some great pictures to post as soon as I have some more time. What a view, what a view, what a view we have. The pics just don't do it justice.

Logs will be delivered this coming Friday.

Casey just called me, he was told by his insurance company that the procedure on his heart will cost him 60% of the amount charged b/c it is all "out of network". GO FIGURE!!! The procedure alone will cost around $10,000, not including the hospital charges and anesthesiologist, etc.....
so, he has postponed the repair on his heart until we figure out who else he could go to that is acceptable. You know ... you don't want a "WalMart" doctor working on your heart... you'd like a "Macy's" doctor.

I'm telling ya ... our healthcare system is just a wreck. I think it's rotten that the insurance companies can dictate where you can and can't go.

By saying it's "out of network" they are pretty much saying you can't go b/c it's simply unaffordable for the average person ~ so, you are forced to go where they say.

Back when Casey was growing up, I could go where ever I wanted ... now, there is all this "in network" "out of network" crap. Back then, only the HMO's had lists of places you could and couldn't go to, now it's the regular insurance companies. Trust me, before we ever go out of town, I'm on the phone, making sure hospitals in the area are "providers" for our insurance company.

It just stinks. Poor Casey ... he's trying to get his masters degree, works full time and has a house payment on an average wage ... now, he could be facing monster medical expenses.

Makes me want to cry for him.

Casey's heart procedure coming up on December 5th

This pic is from my cell phone, when he calls me, this is what I see... hee hee!!

Magoo and Casey ~ Casey all suited up.

My best boys.

I only have a handful of current pics of Casey, for whatever reason, he hates having his picture taken.

Well .... my oldest son, Casey will be having his catheter ablation procedure on Dec. 5th. Wow, that was fast, huh! We're kind of in shock that it's so soon.

We need to be at the hospital by 11 am, the procedure could take anywhere from 2 to 6 hours ~ depending on the severity of the defect. He has Supra Ventricular Tachycardia, or SVT for short.

I guess they go up thru his leg w/ a catheter and then they laser off a node on his ventricle that is causing the problem. This thickness or node is causing his heart to misfire. Apparently, once it's fixed... it's fixed, unless he has more than one node. There were a couple things that scared me, one of them being, he could eventually need a pacemaker, but that is only a 1 to 5% chance. I must admit, percentages don't mean much to me anymore.

He's pretty nervous. He's always been so healthy and has never been sick! The only thing Casey has ever had was a case of chicken pox and has had a mess of warts frozen off.

*big sigh*

Matthew has been sick since Friday.... YUUUUUKKKKKKK!!! We're pretty sure he picked up a nasty bug at his speech & feeding therapist office ... needless to say, we won't be taking him again until after RSV season is over. Dr. Jill was very understanding.

His lungs are very rattly and junky .... we started him on steroids, he'll be on that for 5 days.

That makes him a total crazy man ... I yi yi!!

We ended up taking him to the doctor Saturday afternoon, THANK GOD, we saved ourselves an ER trip for sure! He was put on a pretty powerful antibiotic, Zithromax for 5 days.

He has been GRUMMMPY and fussy... not sleeping very well either.

We try sooo hard to keep him protected ... but when you go to doctor offices ... not much you can do.

Beaver weekend pics

This side will have a 4' ramp to the basement and a mudroom. Someday, the mudroom will lead to a garage that will attach to it.

Standing in the back, looking towards the front.

They are framing the octagonal section ~ this will be the kitchen area.

Standing over the kitchen area looking towards the back.

Wanted to jump on the puter and post what was done this weekend. I took these pics using Mike's super duper wide angle lens.

We are pretty excited about it. We were approved for our building permit today and the footers will be poured on Friday. Hopefully we'll be "throwin logs" in three to five weeks.

We got home about 7:00pm last night and it's been a VERY hectic day. I had lots of phone calls to make and some catching up to do.

Our HP laptop computer (only 5 months old) crashed and is dead dead deadsky. I feel sick over it ... everything was on there ... all our pictures ... just everything. I hope there is a way to get it all back ... we can't even turn the thing on. I'm not sure how much stuff is saved on our little "stick".

Matthew had a GI doctor appointment; it went very well. We're going to try a drug to increase his appetite.

I received some upsetting news from my 25 year old son.

He found out today that he has some kind of heart defect. *very sad face* Apparently he's been feeling dizzy, experiencing some chest pain and a rapid heart rate. I am waiting to speak w/ Matthew's cardiologist; hoping to hear that it's all going to be okay.

Casey said they will try to control w/ meds ... but it may require a surgery ~ good thing, it won't require cracking his chest open ... can by done thru a catheter. Problem has to do with a portion of his heart being too thick, it interferes w/ impulses and cause heart to misfire.

*big sigh* I feel awful about it. I now have two kiddo's w/ a heart defect ~ wow.

I'm feeling all kinds of guilty... I know I'm not supposed to ... but I do in a "mom sort of way".

I promise, I will be around to visit your blog soon! I miss everyone! I need to see what you all are up to and I think of you guys often, isn't that funny! I'm using Mikey's old computer for the time being.

Today could not have gone better!!!

I'm too tired to go into too many details, but I felt I owed you all an update!

I can say that we hit every single nail on the head! It couldn't have gone better... Senator Harry Reid's son, Rory was in the back of the room listening to our testimony. I wish he'd tell his dad. I've been writing to Harry Reid about our story for over a year. Trust me, I've written anyone who'll listen. We need changes!

The Senator that submitted this bill (he agreed to draft and submit this bill after we testified in August) sent us an e~mail telling us how great we did. He agreed that our story needs to be told. Funny thing, he's a conservative Republican (as we are) trying to do the right thing. It's never easy to introduce legislation requiring expanding the government and spending money. He sure did stick up for us middle class folks, though. I was very proud.

I ended up getting all emotional (shocker) ... and then so did Mike (bigger shocker.) We managed to keep it together though.

A local news had a cameraman there videotaping our testimony ... and might be on the news tomorrow. This news anchor has been following Matthew since before he came home from the hospital. They love him.

This whole experience was quite emotional for Mike and I ... because we know that if we run out of insurance again... we are screwed. It is absolutely true that we have no decent options in this state. The state can't deny it.

After listening to the bean counters and some others ... it sure doesn't look good for the Family Opportunity Act being passed ... or even a high-pool in the future ... for sure no Medically Needy Program! It's just like my testimony says, "Yeah, that's so sad... hum.... but it costs too much money."

What amazes me is that other states do these things .... why not this state? This is a rich state and to me there is no reason why we can't have a "safety net" for the middle class when you run out of insurance.

Well, we'll know by the 13th if it passes.


Oh, Casey's house finally "recorded" today ... five days after it was supposed to "record. " Had it been after tomorrow, he would have lost his lock in on the rates.
Thank Godfrey!!