Respite

A genuinely quiet day for the most part. Eddie was very responsive this morning and seemed to have recovered very well from the previous day's surgery. He loved reading The Three Little Rigs and Olivia Saves the Circus, but then again, who doesn't love reading about precocious pigs that fill in for circus performers when they "get sick with ear infections"?

Biggest bummer of the day was that Eddie was asleep when the Speech folks came around so he didn't get his swallow test, so yet another day he'll have to wait for apple juice. Hang in there, Eddie! They'll be back again tomorrow . . .

Overall, the doctors are still trying to get a handle on how to balance his anticoagulation needs (to avoid clotting and potential for stroke) with his risk of bleeding. We have to keep his blood thin enough to prevent clotting as it passes through the tubing of his artificial heart. Basically, blood wants to coagulate the minute it touches a foreign surface and, in Eddie's case, this would be extremely dangerous since they could make their way to his brain causing a stroke. As a result, we and the nurses spend a lot of time monitoring his pump for fibrin buildup as well as watching his general behavior for signs of impairment. So far so good!

I found a very poignant New York Times article from a few years ago which outlines some of the specific issues we have dealt with and continue to face now that Eddie is on an artificial heart. The paragraph below is from that article and describes almost exactly what Eddie is confronting:

All patients with mechanical heart pumps face risks; the greatest are linked to bleeding, clots and infection. Whenever blood flows through foreign materials and artificial valves and chambers like the ones in a heart pump, it tends to form clots, which can be disabling or fatal if they reach the brain. Drugs can prevent clots, but also increase the risk of bleeding, and so doses must be fine-tuned to keep a patient on the thin line between two potential disasters.

Sarah's doing bedside duty tonight so be sure to include her in your nighttime prayers :-) Not easy to get a good night's rest on those old vinyl couches. I love you, Sarah!