UCLA Journal 11

Yes,Virginia, there is a Santa Clause.....'cause I got one of his elves here to visit me on Christmas Day. Her name is Charlotta and she was my Care Person for the day. Everyone on the floor gets a nurse, a care person and a roving nurse on each shift. Now, how's that for service!!!!

I wish you all a Happy New Year and hope this New Year's Eve is great. I've seen the fireworks on TV from Sidney, Australia celebrating their new year. And from China and Taiwan. Come on New York. You'd better be busy.

I guess I complained enough to the right people because today I got a visit from Betty, the Nurse Practioner, from Dr Ardahali's office. He's my surgeon. I told her about the lump and she went down and found the x ray's and CT scan on the computer for me. It shows the lump is the pump. That's not where they implanted it but evidently, when I got so dehydrated, the tissues shrank and it moved some. Now that I'm not dried out, it's kind of lodged there and the only way to fix it is to open me up again. (NO THANKS!!!) She did say that as the swelling goes down, I should be able to breathe easier. So cross your fingers everyone.

Yesterday, I had a visit from Rhodora. She's Dr Moragucci's Nurse Practioner. She's the one that comes almost every day and checks on how I and the VAD are doing. They did an echo and upped my pump speed to 10,000 from 9800. She's always telling me to walk; "I'll get my strength and stamina up that way". (Like I didn't know that!) So I invited her to come walking with me that afternoon. When she came, she wanted me to stand up while she checked some numbers on the pump. After a minute or two, I had to sit down. That's when she realized what I was talking about when I claimed I was short of breath. She changed the pump speed back down to 9800 because I felt better when it was set there, decided to put me back on one of the medications they took me off of and told me to spend the rest of the day in bed, quiet.

Today I took a walk with my nurse of the day, Angela - AND the ever present commode - and found that the change in my pump speed yesterday coupled with the return of my med seems to have done some good. I didn't get any further than I did yesterday but I wasn't quite as tired at each sit. That's progress.

Kelly, Tom and "The Boys" were down on monday. They brought me pics of Christmas morning and their trip to the beach the next day, etc.:

This is Josh and Landon doing their Christmas program at the nursing home. See if you can find them.....

BEFORE......

AFTER....... (Can you find Dylan?)

Uncle Mark took my place on Christmas morning. He called it controlled chaos.... But the boys enjoyed having him there.

Well, Angela just brought me lunch from the Thai place down the street. It smells great and I'm dying (just joking) to eat it. Thank you all for your continued prayers and all the love I can feel from you. You have my love and prayers right back

Jini