Dr. Bragg emailed regarding having talked to Dr. Earing and having talked to the Codman Rep. The Rep said they have a specific setup from what I understand for the TPL shunt but Dr. Bragg wants to stick w what we have and place the same (Hakim) programmable valve we have in the VP shunt into the TPL shunt + then move the distal (end) of the shunt from the Pleural space back to the stomach (this part completely sucks). I don't completely understand what she meant about now wanting to change out the whole system since quite a bit of it, it would seem will be changed w moving it back to the stomach/abdomen and putting in a new valve but at the same time she knows what she is doing and that's pretty much what matters!
The reason for moving the distal (end) of the catheter back to the stomach is Dr. Earing feels and Dr. Bragg said she agrees with + worries when they place bilateral chest tubes these will mess w the shunt set-up. She was going to talk to her Secretary about what date works best for her schedule for this surgery and wanted to do the TPL valve change (from Medtronic-Strata to Codman-Hakim) and distal catheter swap in the same surgery. I talked to her Secretary and asked if based off both our schedules we could look at the 3rd week of June as she is out the 1st week and she thought then I could finally get the Hand surgery done, that next week Pastor Hirsch had asked if I would consider teaching VBS to which I finally told him I would after waiting all week to try and get an idea when this shunt surgery was going to be. .
I also got a call this morning (fri) from the Heart Surgeons Secretary just letting me know my Cardiologist had spoken w Dr. Mitchell and wanted to give me her direct # plus asked me to call her next week to schedule once I know when the shunt surgery is. They want to schedule a appt to meet w/Dr. Mitchell and Dr. Earing as well as go ahead and schedule the valve surgery as soon as I find out when the surgery w Dr. Bragg will be (to revise the valve on the TPL shunt and move it back to the abdomen). Dr.Earing wants to be in the OR apparently during the actual surgery and wanted it done during a time when he is on-service so he could also monitor my care. This to will take a bit of coordination on their parts but on the flip side of that bc summer is their busy time maybe the actual valve replacement surgery won't take place till Fall?
She made the comment that they would make sure and coordinate this heart surgery for a period after Dr. Bragg gives the ok/clear to proceed post-shunt revision. I am looking fwd to being able to breathe better all of the time and probably sleep better after this but like I've said before this surgery is not high on my list of things I really, really want to do! Not to mention having to be back relying on other people for however long is crappy!
Next Tues is an Endocrine Appt at FMLH and after I have ERT at CHW which is next door (usually Monday's but bc of the holiday) + then on Friday is the pre-op Appt for the Hand surgery. That is supposed to take only about an hour to 1 1/2 hrs and hopefully not any longer since we are only doing a regional nerve block and I will be fully awake. The good of that bad (having to be awake) is although it doesn't actually un-nerve me to be awake I still would rather be in lala land but the Surgeon had said I could be sitting semi-upright during.
Since I don't when the shunt surgery is going to be and is what I was basically waiting on to tell Pastor y/n if I would teach VBS, I just went ahead and emailed him yesterday and said I would teach 4 of the 5 mornings (2 1/2 hrs). I'll have to move around appts I have to afternoon (I think just a hand surgery f/up w/OT which should be flexible since they have multiple locations and OT's.) and anything else was already in the afternoon. I am unsure if there will be 2 of us teachers or how many kids we have (we have a meeting before it starts to get our class materials) but I know at least several of my Sunday school kids will be there which is nice, they where a great group. :)
That is about it, will update next week if or when I know something,
Thanks for stopping by,
Erica
No comments:
Post a Comment