Getting better all the time.

Cue the Beatles lyrics,

. . .gettin bettter all the time-ei ei i ei ime. Better better beeettter.

Jack is getting better. Each day we are peeling away the layers of support. The respirator went first then the arterial line, the chest tube, the oxygen, the pacemaker, an IV line, the cerebral pulse, another IV line, and finally the IJ line. It's so much easier to hold him now as they're aren't any lines into him that if they get caught won't rip into him! Yippie! He still has the pacing wires but they aren't hooked into anything.

And. . .Dr. Alkon is happy! Trust, you want that man to be happy. Otherwise watch out! Nurses beware; if he doesn't think you're moving fast enough. . .you will be hearing about it!

For about 90% of the time Jack's heart beats in sinus rhythm, his heart rate has slowed to a more normal pace. Dr. Derby, Jack's surgeon stopped in yesterday and felt that things looked great. Thinking that if things continued we would be able to go home Thursday or Friday. So, looking forward to that. Haven't slept more than five hours in any single night. But had my five night high last night with six hours total combined! Whoot whoot!

Hopefully we'll be able to sleep once we go home. I anticipate I'll be checking his pulse and respirations on the hour.

. . .a couple of days back I talked about his mitral valve and how it was leaking more significantly than it was directly after surgery. It was the echo that showed this. Gary the technician a twenty year veteran of echo teching got the first results that showed significant/profound leakage of the mitral value.

Upon seeing these results Dr. Alkon was quite upset and pretty much set up shop in our room for two days. Talked to me about how this pretty much guaranteed going back into surgery and soon. About eight hours into this crisis Dr. Alkon decided to go ahead and re-do part of the echo himself. He got very different results. The mitral valve was only leaking minimally. He was still very concerned about the high heart rate but that is another story. This took going back into surgery off the table. Dr. Alkon blamed the tech, saying his technique caused the inaccurate reading.

He chewed out Gary and Gary held strong to his techniques. So, we don't know if it was a technical mistake that had us un-necessarily worried all day or if it was a miracle. With all that I have seen and been through I will never discount the power of prayer and it's life changing abilities.