SURGERY DATE MOVED

We received a call from the cardiac nurse at U of M stating that Sam's surgery needed to be moved as the hospital is at full capacity. They were told to move all surgeries with patients that need an extended stay. With that said our new date is 11/11/11. Easy to remember right?! So please re-highlight or circle your planners for Friday, November 11th.

We are grateful that we are lucky enough to live only an hour from the hospital and don't need to change flight reservations etc. He will be the 2nd surgery of the day with surgery starting around 11:30am.

As you can imagine it was hard for us to swallow this news as we were mentally and physically prepared (thanks to my check lists). So now we are looking at this in positive light and going to make the best of our next couple weeks getting to the Cider Mill and a few other things we didn't have time to squeeze in. :)

We feel bad that many of your rearranged your schedules around this important day for us...this has been one heck of a whirl wind. Thanks for all of your thoughts, prayers and understanding.

1 Week....

It feels like just the other day we were in the waiting room at Dr. Bach's office in Ann Arbor waiting for Sam's check-up. When you expect the same old response every time it can really throw you for a tail spin when the doctors change it up on you... I can remember Dr. Bach's hesitation to tell us it was time for surgery and the tears streaming down my face. Of course I had other plans for us and surgery wasn't one of them.

But now that we have hit the 1 week mark we are soaking up every minute together - even if it means I hit snooze for another 10 minutes in the morning (its a good thing I don't have 9am meetings for awhile), going out with family/friends, getting things buttoned up at work and getting stuff done around the house. As some of you have said I started "nesting" and deep cleaning the house and Sam has done some fall clean-up outside. Aside from that I am in full planning mode. I have a list for everything: what to bring to the hospital for Sam, what to bring for me, playlists to create, questions for the doctors after, What needs to be done at our house etc.

For all of you that know me well you know that I am a true planner at heart and even my best friend Amy has been on the receiving end of the 'Planning Jessica'. A couple years ago Amy had to undergo surgery and I did a ton of research before and during surgery. I showed up after surgery to the hospital - told the nurses I was her sister and walked in the room with my list of questions for the Doctor. The Doctor came in and went over a few things and asked if there was any questions. Amy laughed and pointed to me and said she has all the questions and he answered every one of them.

I am sure the time will fly by between now and then.....thanks for all of your support, thoughts and prayers!!

Meals

Some of you have asked how you can help out and our amazing best friend Amy has started a page for us at Take Them A Meal. Don't feel like you have to sign up but I wanted to keep you in the loop on the opportunity. 


When Sam returns home he will be on a low sodium diet which is common for cardiac patients. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that those on a cardiac diet consume meals that are low in sodium and low to moderate in fat. The AHA says that it is important to get enough protein to heal after the operation. The sense of taste and smell are impaired for a few weeks post-op. The use of fresh herbs and spices will enhance the flavor of the meal and is suggested by the AHA. 


If you are having a hard time coming up with low sodium recipes I have found a few links that may help:


Keep The Beat Recipes

Mayo Clinic Low Sodium Recipes

Better Homes & Gardens Low Sodium Meals

Taste of Home Low Sodium

Low Sodium Cooking

We can't thank you enough for your support and assistance during this stressful time. 

Pre-Opness

Today we went up to UofM for a slew of pre-op stuff which included blood work, EKG, a physical, meeting with the Surgeon's Physician Assistant and the surgical nurse. I am tired thinking about all of the stuff we did today.

The tests were easy...well I guess I can say that since it wasn't me having them done :) We met with the physician assistant Michael Guerra. He did a physical exam on Sam. They swabbed his nose for staph and will call us on Monday with the results. This is standard before having any operation at U of M. If for some reason there is any trace of it we were given a prescription to get filled for a nose spray to take 5 days prior to surgery.

PA Guerra was kind enough to answer more of my questions and confirm that both Dr. Deeb and Dr. Bolling would both be in the operating room. That was a great relief since once the surgery was bumped up a day we were concerned Dr. Deeb wouldn't be available to be in the operating room. Sam also had to sign his consent for surgery and give his valve choice (tissue).

After PA Guerra left the room the surgical nurse Sherry came in to talk to us. She covered everything from when Sam needs to stop taking vitamins/blood pressure meds, getting a copy of his durable power of attorney,  loading us up with more paperwork, giving us his incentive spirometer to practice with and directions for the week of surgery.

On the day of surgery we have to arrive at the cardiac center at 6am for an 8am surgery start time. I will keep you updated as we get closer.

We appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers today!

PS. Don't forget to leave us a comment :)

Breaking News: Surgery Date Change

Breaking News alert... not like a severe weather alert but a surgery update one.... Sam's surgery date has been moved to Thursday, October 27th. Same time, same place, same doctors.

We think this is a good move so that we have all of the doctors around on Friday for his recheck as opposed to a Saturday where the residents are usually in. So please highlight and circle your calendars with the new date... i already had it highlighted in pink on mine so not sure what I am going to do to move it a day... We will keep you updated after his pre-op appointment on Wednesday.