Lana's Lark

Wow this knee replacement was so much easier than the first one. I came home from the hospital a day early and I have just been doing most everything for myself. I can get myself in and out of bed. I'm doing the stairs with no problems. I am still resting a lot and doing my PT, but it is going very well so far.

May 30, 2009

We had a wonderful visit to CA. Avery liked all about Disneyland except the noise and "spooky" rides. She got to talk to all of the princesses at dinner and we have pictures to prove it. At breakfast, she saw Minnie, Captain Hook (who she was afraid of until grandma hugged him). Winnie and Tiger were hits and Chip and Dale too. I don't know who needed naps more--Avery or grandma. We spent a day at the beach and Avery didn't like the sand when it stuck to her feet. We stayed two nights in a motel close to Disneyland and three nights in Thousand Oaks with Jason and Michele. Jason doesn't really care for Disneyland or the beach (Michele's two favorite things) so he was a great sport in going to both with us. Thanks to Jason and Michele for the good food and for putting up with a houseful of relatives.

Warren had another angio on Wednesday with the hopes of a STENT being placed. As it turned out, the rooter nor balloon blade could cut loose a calcium boulder enough to put the STENT in. The doctor was able to open it up from a 99% block to a 30% block so that is better than nothing. In a few weeks, he will have a CTScan on his legs to see for sure just how bad the blockage is in his legs. If it isn't too bad, STENTS can be used to help him out. The Vascular surgeon thinks that Warren is too clogged for that and will have to have bye-passes for his legs before very much time passes. We will know for sure after the CTScan.

On Tuesday morning, June 2nd, I am having my second total knee replacement. I need to have it done as it is getting worse since the first was done. Having them both done will help the first one do better. I hope Warren is up to the task of being my caregiver for a couple of weeks. We are very lucky to have Kirsten and Lynn so close by.

Summer has arrived with 90-degree weather so we are enjoying that. My garden is growing and the flowers are pretty.

When I write next, I hope that I am well on the road to healing, climbing the stairs, walking without a cane and back to enjoying life.

Until next time...

So much has been happening around here and not much of it has been good. Warren had a nuclear stress test which indicated that he should have an Angiogram. He had the angio last Wednesday through his left arm. The doctor came out after and said that his heart looked to be getting enough blood even though one of his arteries is plugged. The doctor said he wanted to look at the pictures more and talk to some of his comrades and he would get back to us on Friday. As it happened, I had an appointment with the cardiologist on Friday afternoon to get his blessing for my second total knee replacement surgery. After his exam of me, he asked about Warren. I told him that Warren seemed better and relieved not to have to have another open heart surgery. Warren had been worried that he was going to have to be opened up again. The doctor told me that he had about decided that Warren was going to need a STENT. I asked why he didn't put it in on Wednesday. I got very upset because I knew that Warren was going to have a fit. The doctor explained that he needed to put the stent in through Warren's right arm. A dye product is used that is hard on the kidneys if over -used so he didn't want to do it right after the angio through the left wrist. I told Warren when I got home and he was not a happy camper. The doctor called Warren and talked to him. At this point, the cardiologist had talked to the vascular surgeon that Warren has appointments set up with. The vascular guy wants to see Warren before a stent is done. We went out for a nice dinner.

When we got back home again, there was a message for Warren from the vascular surgeon's office to call before five pm to schedule an appointment sooner then what he has. It was seven pm so we have had to wait the weekend to make the call not knowing what the heck is going on exactly.

On top of all of this, Kirsten, Lynn, Avery and I have plans to fly to CA on Wednesday to spend time at Disneyland, the beach and with Jason and Michele. And, I have my knee surgery scheduled for June 2nd. I keep saying that both of those things can wait because Warren's health is most important. Warren is adamant about my not canceling the plans for those two things. I can see it now, we will both be laid up at the same time and Kirsten will pack our bags and send us back to CA.

I had games and lunch with the red hatters this past week. Friday, we lunched Hawaiian so I went to the cardiologist looking very colorful. He said I won the "Most colorful Patient award" for the day.

It frosted on Wednesday morning and it got to 90 degrees today. What a fast step into summer. It is nice to have warm weather so we don't have too much adjusting to do in CA.