The Lund Family

Jamie is home and healing. Lots of doctor appointments but he is doing great! His strength is slowly returning and we are all so happy to have him back. Thank you to everyone who has helped us throughout this process. 

Jamie came home in time to celebrate Christmas as a family. Unfortunately the next day he started not feeling well. Monday he had an appointment for labs, so I also had him seen in the clinic and they told us he was fine and that it was all part of the healing process. That didn't sit well with me as I could see he wasn't himself and fortunately we already had a follow up appointment with cardiology Tuesday afternoon.  His tests showed very high white blood cell counts so he was admitted to the hospital for testing. The next morning we were told he had a lot of fluid around his heart and it needed to be removed. My noon he had deteriorated so badly it became urgent to drain the fluid. After the procedure, he could immediately feel the relief. The cause was most likely the anticoagulants along with the blood thinners. So, we are still in the hospital, still draining fluid and will have a repeat echo tomorrow to verify if the fluid is gone. This felt like a major set back, but it was caught on time and hopefully he can get right back to healing and home in time for the new year.

Jamie's surgery went well and he is still in the hospital recovering. He is still having some insulin level issues,  but we are hoping that will work itself out as his heart adjusts to it's new hardware and his body recovers from the trauma of surgery. Modern medicine is truly a miracle. He is supposed to come home tomorrow, just in time for Christmas. 

Being at home has helped Jamie's lungs to heal almost completely. He no longer required any oxygen assistance. Friday he will have his heart surgery. I am thankful we have one of the best surgeons, because this is a big deal. Dempsey has been struggling with increased seizures, and we know it is due to stress and anxiety so we are working on that. We sure could use all the love and prayers possible to get through the rest of the year. 

We are most thankful to have Jamie home and on the road to recovery, but we are also so thankful to all who have supported us during this time. Just a few more hurdles to overcome. Jamie has his angiogram scheduled for next week and then we still have the valve repair surgery to get scheduled. But we were able to spend a low-key Thanksgiving holiday at home as a family and it was so wonderful!

Since Jamie has been home, he has been able to wean himself from the oxygen substantially. We will find out more about the progress of his lungs at his doctor appt on Friday. We will not see cardiology until Dec 1, and hopefully that will give his lungs enough time to heal in preparation for the heart surgery. He continues to get stronger every day and we are so very thankful to have him on the road to recovery. 

Jamie finally came home today! He is still on oxygen so we have a home oxygen machine, lots of pills and a heart monitor. There are lots of doctor appointments scheduled and still so much recovery ahead of us. Once his lungs are healed more, he will see the cardiologist for an angiogram and then surgery to repair his heart valve. Today has been a long day and a long time coming, but I am greatful to have my husband home and my family back together under one roof. The boys are so happy to see daddy!

We had a set back yesterday. Several days ago, Jamie's heart went into Afibrilation. Basically it got out of rhythm. They normally use meds to correct this but it wasn't working. So yesterday they decided to do a procedure to shock the heart back into rhythm. While preparing to do that they discovered that his small heart murmur had become something that needs to be fixed. His lungs still have a lot of healing to do, so he will remain in the hospital until he is stable enough to undergo heart surgery. Meanwhile, I think the stress is getting the best of my oldest son and he is struggling with his epilepsy and seizures. We were preparing for discharge and having Jamie home to finish recovering and now this news is so hard to take.

It has been 19 days since Jamie was admitted to the hospital and we have not seen him. The good news is that he has been weaned significantly down on oxygen, however he is now having issues with his heart. He went into  a-fibrillation a few days ago and they have him on meds to slow his heart rate. They will do a echocardiogram today and come up with a plan. Hopefully he will be allowed visitors today. We had a winter storm overnight and school is cancelled due to terrible road conditions so it is hard to not just feel like nothing is going right.