MRI results

We heard from Barbara that Randy was walking much better this morning--he is stronger and did not need too much assistance to make his way down the hallway. He is still dizzy, and now with the MRI results we understand why: his left cerebellum was slightly damaged during a mild stroke, which probably occurred during surgery. There is still a bit of swelling, so they are going to take him off coumadin for the time being to reduce risk of bleeding. Most likely the dizziness will go away as the swelling goes down, and with physical therapy he will likely regain all of his balance, though he may still tend to lean to the right (appropriate considering his Republican partisanship).

They are going to move him to the inpatient rehab area (maybe not until Monday), where he will stay for a week or two (NOTE: earlier we said he would be coming home tomorrow, but first he needs to control his tilting). While he is not happy about staying any longer in the hospital, Randy is happy to know the underlying cause of his dizziness and is hopeful to make a quick recovery. Note to adoring musical fans: he can still move his fingers in the correct patterns and thinks he will be playing the guitar again soon.

Since he cannot lift anything, Janell has found an appropriate and helpful activity for him: watching Sesame Street with Scotty! We're sure he is looking forward to that. He is probably also looking forward to home-cooked food, considering that he was overheard asking the nurse for some "real salt, real pepper, and real butter--on the side!" Then again, given his new heart condition, he may not be allowed to have real salt and real butter at all.

Meanwhile, Matt and Karrie had to fly out this morning--they will be returning to work life in Boston. It was fun to see them and spend time with them, in spite of the circumstances which brought them here. In other news, Scott got a haircut this morning, and all the grandkids played in the snow.

8 Days Post Trauma

The family members admit that they are all feeling much better today than one week ago. Randy seems to be feeling better too! (Although he does not remember last Friday...)

Today was similar to yesterday. Randy continues to complain of dizziness, but otherwise he wants to come home. One doctor thought that perhaps his body became used to high blood pressure and the dizziness may persist until his body adjusts to a lower blood pressure. They talked with Barbara a bit about discharge instructions and how to care for him at home. Utah law states that he cannot drive for 6 weeks post open heart surgery. He is also not allowed to lift, vacuum, take out the garbage, or be the handyman he's used to being.

The grandchildren visited again this afternoon and he shared his hospital food with them.

His fever seems to be gone and we've heard no more about the pericarditis or EKG irregularities. Barbara's boss thought that Randy should have a neurological consultation, which Barbara then requested. He is scheduled for an MRI tomorrow. We still don't know when he will be discharged, but he's getting closer to coming back home.

Thursday Conclusions

Randy was moved to Room 416 on Level 4 North Cardiology Wing this afternoon. He has a roommate, but all ages of visitors are allowed so all 4 grandchildren were able to see their Grandpa Young again. Ian asked to see the cool chest scar. Scott showed off his new brown boots, and fought with Erin about watching Elmo. All the grandchildren ate Belgian cookies from a big tin box that Helga left. In return, they left get-well drawings hanging on the cabinet.

Randy is still quite dizzy, and sometimes he sees double. If he wasn't so dizzy, he would be able to get up and walk around, but he's restricted so he doesn't fall down and break a hip; that would not be good progress. His surgeon decided to cut back on some of his meds to see if that helps with the dizziness.

If you go to visit Randy, he will offer you some of his food - chicken, juice, water, cake, you name it. He is eating well, but not at his prior capacity, so he's got leftovers. He is also enjoying his red jello cups with fruit.

Randy now has a roommate, so visiting isn't quite the same. He does have the window with a nice view, though. But, best of all Randy happily reports, "I can have as many blankets as I want here!" Once he can walk laps around the nurses' station, they will let him come home.

Speaking to Grandpa---FINALLY!

Posted by Megan

This morning Ian and I were finally able to talk with Grandpa on the phone. I did not get a very big chance though, because Ian was repeatedly chanting "I wanna talk, I wanna talk!" Grandpa wanted to see us, but he told me that the bossy doctors and nurses wouldn't let us come in. I thought that he sounded very good, and it was good to hear him talking. I think that Ian talked to him about his surgery and tubes and things, but I am not positive.

Posted by Ian

It was fun to talk to Grandpa. He's feeling better. I told him I was so happy he's o.k. He said he wants me to be a doctor because it pays well and it can help people. He said he doesn't remember being on the job last week. He said he doesn't remember flying in the helicopter either. He doesn't remember humming when the tubes were pulled out of his chest. I hope he will recover soon. I want him back in time for Christmas so we can play.

Time to go to work...

An update from Barbara this morning regarding Randy.

At three AM today Randy woke up and thought he had to go to work. He started to get out of bed to go to the bathroom. Of course the staff who are always watching him ran in and questioned what he was doing. He said he had to go to the bathroom then needed to go to work. They helped him get up for the bathroom. After that they explained where he was and why. In addition they said if you do this again we will restrain you. You cannot get up in the middle of the night to go to work.

Personally it all seems like normal behavior. He has done work at the U of U and knows he is there. Perhaps he is thinking he is on the job site and slept there to get an early start. We will question him later.

While Randy was up at three Karrie was also up at three but for different reasons. She was NOT going to work but running to the bathroom. Karrie was a casualty from Tyler's Birthday dining of Indian food. Her stomach didn't agree with what she ate and wanted it purged from her body. Because Karrie was up at three I was also given the opportunity to be awake at three. I was witness to how much Karrie does not like Indian food. I can never look at Indian food the same way...

It's also Tyler's birthday!

I arrived at the hospital after the nurses had confiscated *both* of Randy's blankets. Since certain visitors had added the second blanket, it was decided that we couldn't be trusted. Poor Dad, cold and uncomfortable. His actual requests were "a blanket and a pint of blood." Kevin put it into his head that a pint of blood would make everything all better. No one would listen to his requests, and Dad threatened to "walk out of here." When Barbara reminded him that he wouldn't make it to the door, he said that he would crawl. Right about then, a team of psychiatrists showed up to do a regular consult. They commiserated with him about the cold, the head of the team noting that he personally could go home and have as many blankets as he wanted, so it truly wasn't fair. He did unfold a napkin for Dad to put on his knees.

Once all the mean blanket-refusing people had left, a nurse finally granted reprieve with one blanket, and Dad curled up and took a nap. While he was sleeping, Karen Taylor stopped by and offered to bring Dad some good soup once he was home. He woke up in a better mood, and was able to talk to my husband Mike on the phone. Mike is in his last year of residency in anesthesiology, and has been doing a lot of similar cardiac surgeries lately, so he was able to give Dad lots of gritty and gory details about his condition and surgery. I don't know exactly what he said, but afterwards Dad was once again grateful to be alive, blankets or not.

Soon, Dad was given dinner of chicken and rice and asparagus, which he declared to be the most delicious meal yet at the hospital. Which isn't saying much. He was chowing down when the nurse remembered that his glucose hadn't been checked yet, so Dad obediently spit out a bite of roll. He doesn't want his sugar levels too high or else he gets insulin, and insulin is on the list of things Dad doesn't like. One prick of the finger didn't work, because the callous on his finger was too thick. "That's my guitar finger," said Dad. "Try this other one, on the side." After passing the blood sugar test, Dad was told that they would stop testing his sugar levels because he had passed so many, so the threat of insulin is gone. Yet another minor victory!

Afterwards, the members of the family who were not confined to a hospital bed went to Bombay House to celebrate Tyler's 30th birthday. We had the back room to ourselves so Scott could chase Erin around and around without bothering other diners. Tyler's best present is having a living father. We told Dad it's a good thing he didn't die, or he would have ruined Tyler's birthday forever, and we wouldn't want that.

Lunchtime update

Posted by Kevin

Randy has a new hairdo today--the first time we have seen him with a mohawk! (Note to Barbara Hansen: keep this in mind for his next haircut.)

I looked at the 4 AM EKG output with the nurse. I'm not very good at reading them. . . there was a severe S-T depression, the P-wave was not visible, and there was a U wave. He did not have any fibrillation, just some electrical irregularity that lasted about 20 or 30 minutes. It was not clear what caused it. I have not heard anything about the echocardiogram results (an echocardiogram is an ultrasound of the heart).

Randy has been weak and tired, but his mind is clear. He has not stood up at all today but he is not as dizzy as yesterday. His hematocrit is low (31), but they said it is stable so they are not going to give him a transfusion.

The nurse took his temperature, which was a bit high (about 101), so she took off his second blanket and said he had to cool down. Since then he has been asking everyone who comes in to please hand him his second blanket--Barbara and Karrie finally gave in to his pleadings.

April brought in homemade applesauce, spaghetti, and peaches, which Randy has enjoyed, but he has not eaten very much.


P.S. Barbara says that since Randy can now remember his visitors we are not going to keep a running list of all the people coming for a visit. Also, even though the doctors suggested he may be home as soon as Thursday, he will NOT be coming home tomorrow. We have not heard any more about moving him from Intermediate Care, and he has to be more mobile and stable on his feet before he gets to go home.