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.

U of M Hospital

I would say they are the mecca of hospitals and honestly we couldn't be happier with the staff, surgeons and everything it has to offer! Every time I see a "Michigan Difference" commercial I get goosebumps and my eyes well with tears... i think this hospital is truly amazing.... 

Their cafeteria has so many choices and amazing food - that is important - a girl's gotta eat! Plus my father-in-law LOVES hospital food... although this is more upscale than what he is used to at Beaumont. They have all sorts of stations and grab 'n go's...it can be overwhelming really.

They have a hotel located inside the hospital for families called the Med Inn. 

Its a very small hotel with only 30 rooms but its conveniently located inside the hospital and has reduced rates compared to area hotels. They assist about 950 people with their lodging needs each month. We were able to check it out on our last appointment...since there were no photos online I really was interested to see what a hotel inside a hospital could look like. It was converted patient rooms after all... but to our surprise they had just remodeled 2 months ago from their throw back 80's style. The rooms are really nice, clean and have either 1 or 2 queen beds, mini fridge, microwave, flat screen TV and spacious bathroom. They allow families to book up to 2 rooms for the duration your loved one is in the hospital. I already booked one for Sam's parents (Bonnie & Fred) and one for myself. Since surgery will be so early we decided to head up there the night before - that way I already have a room and don't need to worry about checking in and 5:30am will come very quickly.

The Cardiovascular Center is 350,000 square-feet and one of the largest facilities in the heart of the U of M Medical Campus. The Center includes a 24-bed surgical post-procedure ICU, 24 vascular general/moderate care beds, nine cardiac procedure rooms, four cardiac surgery operating rooms, two vascular surgery operating rooms, two general thoracic operating rooms, two endovascular procedure labs and 36 clinic exam rooms.

Surgery Date

With two surgeons we had to wait to get official word on Sam's surgery date....once everyone synced up we were called and told to circle and highlight Friday, October 28th on the calendar. Its a little later than we expected since the doctors were telling us it would be September but at the same time it gives us time to get things in order and have fun with friends and family! Sam is thrilled to hit the links, finish out the Tiger's season, take a trip to Florida, kick it at some Lions games and attend some weddings before surgery. 

Our next appointment is October 12th for some pre-op tests, physical and to answer any other questions I can come up with by then...and trust me I am really making all these doctors and nurses work hard with all of my questions and research findings :)

p.s. Sam loves The Peanuts :)

Dr. Steven Bolling

Do you know how many times your heart beats in a lifetime? Well if you were seeing Dr. Bolling I think that may be his opening question.... and the answer is 3 billion! I don't think I will ever forget that.

On Monday we went to meet the 2nd surgeon - Dr. Steven Bolling. A little insight on Dr. Bolling:

• He performs 350-400 mitral valve repair surgeries a year (other surgeons only do about 4 repairs a year and mostly do replacements). 
• He is 1 of 3 surgeons in the region that perform the large amount of mitral valve repairs.
• The oldest patient he has operated on was 100 years old and the youngest was a newborn.
• He has worked with Dr. Deeb for 26 years - thats longer than some marriages!

He was very impressive!! He was down to earth and one of the first doctors that didn't talk to us using the usual textbook terms or a long list of acronyms we weren't familiar with. He immediately drew a picture of Sam's heart and highlighted the problem valves and explained in depth what was going on and how he was going to fix it.

The week before our appointment with him I got an email from Adam's Heart Valve Surgery Blog (I subscribed to this a few years ago and the articles are great). Dr. Bolling talks about the mitral valve predictably here on Adam's Heart Blog. Its amazing how things happen at just the right time... it landed in my inbox and i happened to catch the name in the headline and immediately got goosebumps watching this small clip of him.

I was so happy that both Dr. Bolling and his physician assistant Dr. Michael Guerra were so patient and answered our long list of questions.

After our appointment we went to find the Med Inn hotel located inside of the hospital. I wanted to see where it was located in relation to the cardiovascular center and get the 411. Lucky for us the rooms were just renovated from the 80's two months ago and look almost like Marriott hotel rooms - not too bad for being hospital rooms transformed!

Surgery has been scheduled for the end of October... more details to come..