Welcome home, Young father... welcome home!

Andrea made an uber-yummy lemon birthday cake for me last night, and we'd decided that we should share the calories as far and wide as possible. What better place to unload sugar and cholesterol than at a hospital!

Over the course of the day various reports came in. The dispatch nurse was getting his paperwork in order to ship him home. The cardiologists weren't sure, but thought maybe he should stick around. In the end, the physical therapists cast the deciding vote to kick him off the island... er, hospital.

We took the cake over to the house and puttered around cleaning a few critical pathways for him, and before we knew it, the car was pulling into the driveway. He was looking very well, and seemed pretty good on his walker, if maybe a bit shaky. He figured out the porch stairs quickly, and went straight back to the TV room and flopped onto the couch. Okay, so the flop was a bit less graceful than he was aiming for. More of a face plant, really. It was into a big pile of cushions, but it still hurt quite a bit. Lesson one: No face plants.

Several minutes and some birthday cake later, he decided it was time to move into the dining room. More spotting, but he was managing pretty well. His right foot isn't quite as responsive, so he kind of veers off course every now and then. Veering is particularly scary when he's on a tile floor, but fortunately he learned his lessons on flopping and managed to sit down properly in a chair.

After more cake he figured it was time for bed, so I watched nervously from behind as he brushed his teeth, leaning over the sink for balance. It was a pretty amusing posture, especially as he was going down to rinse his mouth.... on a side note, mom, get a cup in there for him to use! He shuffled carefully into bed, took his drugs, and fell fast asleep in his own bed.

Shortly after that, mom went off to a party with her friends! She totally deserves to go to a party, so it was nice to see her get out of the house. On her way out, mom turned to Janell and said it's now her job to keep dad alive. No pressure, Janell.


So.... the question people will be asking is, "Can we see him?" The answer is... ummm... sure? He was really looking forward to a couple of days of pure rest with no nurses poking him in the middle of the night, but he'll probably be up for company at various times through the day. We honestly don't know, so if you happen to stop by and he's asleep, don't be offended. At least you didn't drive all the way to the hospital! And who knows, if you're lucky there could be a slice of yummy lemon birthday cake involved.

Dad keeps threatening to throw a party one of these days-- something about near-death experiences tends to give people an extroverted streak for a while. When we know more about how he's getting around and how long he's able to stay awake, there may be more vague mentions of said party.


On a purely medical note, the doctors say the swelling in his cerebellum is going down gradually. His eyes are now pointing the same direction, which is usually a good thing. Physical therapists will be coming by tomorrow to torment him in various ways, and some sort of schedule will be worked out with them. He gets tired a lot faster than he thinks he should, but I think he's only a week and a half out of nearly dying and is expecting a bit much.

And thus concludes the hospitalization episode of Extreme Makeover: Cardiac Edition.

Monday's Big News

Randy is in his OWN bed sleeping right now. He came home and had some celebratory lemon cake, courtesy of Tyler and Andrea. He came home around 6 PM, complete with a walker and all the cookies and treats that had been brought to the hospital, plus his juice cup and Jello, and was in bed by 7 PM, in sync with his grandson Scott. Once he was in bed, Barbara went out to a party, because she deserves it! (Hence, any of this information could be lacking, as our primary source is still partying as of 8:15 PM.)

Randy can move the walker pretty fast along the kitchen floor, but is still weaker on the right side and has some coordination issues, so he isn't ready to compete in the walker derby. His walker is also not outfitted with tennis balls like we see on most "little old lady" walkers. We figure they are the real professionals, so maybe Randy needs tennis balls too.

He is happy to be home. He will have some physical therapy with Home Health Care this week, which he is looking forward to. He says he is ready to throw a big party, but Barbara says he has to wait until after Christmas.

So, why is he home after we just said he would do inpatient rehab for a week? Just because someone said so. We are not sure what the criteria were or who made the decision, but here he is home. Since everyone else left town and Barbara is back to work, it is up to Janell to tend him. Barbara told Janell that her job was to keep him alive. No pressure Janell. Randy says, "if I'm still alive in a couple of weeks, then we'll have a party."

That's all we know for now. Janell will keep you posted, since she will have the inside information. We are sure Randy will miss the hospital food, particularly the meatloaf. Visiting hours are as yet undecided, but may closely follow Randy's and Scotty's napping schedules.

Sounds of Sunday

Today Tom stopped by with a fruit platter and some cookies, and Steve came by with his guitar. Initially we were worried that the entire band was going to be there and that they would disturb the peace with a Beach Boys song, but instead Steve peacefully played Silent Night as he sang the carol in its original German.






Two rehab therapists came by today to conduct an evaluation, and the report from Randy is that one therapist is nice and the other is really tough. They were discussing in-patient versus out-patient rehab, and will come back tomorrow to make their decision. Either way Randy is going to have to work really hard this week.

Kevin, April, and kids will be heading back to Logan to take care of some things there for the week, leaving Janell and Scotty on Grandpa-visiting duty. Randy continues to appreciate the support and visits he receives.

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.