Baby Cash and Win's Birthday

Congratulations to Ginia and Russell! It's a BOY! CASH (Richard Cash Luker) made his debut at 11:58pm on March 15th (9 pounds 1 ounce, 21 inches)! We are so excited for them and couldn't wait to meet the little man. So on Monday the 21st Win and I made a day trip to Austin to meet Cash... He is absolutely precious! Mom looks great and is way more calm and collected than any new mom I have ever seen. And Russell is a natural as well! Enjoy the pictures below!







Today is my wonderful husband's 27th Birthday! With Win's new job he has been working the 2nd shift meaning he does not arrive home until after 2am in the morning, making it extremely hard to spend much time together. So I had to get creative with his birthday celebration this year. So as I was fast asleep when he arrived home last night (the early morning hours of his birthday) this is what he found in his spot in bed!



He was very excited to receive the Ping golf bag because my dad had given him a set of Ping clubs for Christmas! And I was nice enough to get him the Cowboy blue one... yes this was difficult for me considering the sales man kept trying to talk me into getting him the red and black one (the red raider in me wanted that one too). I then told Win we would be going to breakfast in the morning so the alarm was set for 8 am... he was not very thrilled about this plan but he went along with it anyways! :) So at 8 we woke up and got ready to go.... One last surprise... I told Win he was going to be blindfolded! Win's response, "seriously Katy!" :)



We then traveled to Lewisville to Ham and Eggs where Win was greeted by his mom, dad, sister, and best friends John and Ryan! Ham and Eggs is famous for there LARGE portions of food! We all ate ourselves silly! Unforunately Win had to spend the rest of his birthday working :( I however spend the rest of his birthday sleeping off a full tummy! Here is a typical breakfast at Ham and Eggs!


Tomorrow Win has to work yet again and I will be headed down to Dallas to cheer on my friends running in the Susan B Komen Rock n Roll Half Marathon!

Recovery

I want to begin this post by saying a big THANK YOU to each and every one of our family and friends that took time to say a prayer for us, post a comment, send flowers, cook us food, or come and visit. We have been overwhelmed with the thoughtfulness from everyone. Now that I am home and recovering I feel the need to blog. First of all my husband, Win, is the most amazing man in the entire world. I have known this for a long time now but having to depend on him to lay me down in bed each night with all my pillows stacked up, he sets his alarm to wake up and give me my pain medicine in the middle of the night, and then in the morning he picks me up out of bed because the pain is too much for me to sit up on my own. He is always one step ahead of me not letting me open any doors that may be too heavy or reach too high to grab a glass or plate.... he truly is amazing! Next the outreach from my family, friends, and coworkers. I can not say it enough how blessed I am to have so many wonderful people in my life. To each and every one of you out there that has supported us through this time, I hope we in return are able to share the same with you because we love you all.

-Recovery- each day is one step closer to being healed. Pain is worst in the mornings, while I'm trying to sleep, and if I push myself too far. On my breathing treatment device I have reached 1000 which is great because I was barely hitting 500 in the hospital! It is a personal goal for me to get back to 2500 which is what I was at the morning before surgery. I will keep you posted!

-Win's Job Hunt- THE HUNT IS OVER!!!!! Win got a job working for Ceva Logistics in Lewisville. He is very excited about this new beginning because he will be working with a team of people again! Be looking for posts about his new job in the future!

Today is a very exciting day for my best friend Ginia and her husband Russell. She was induced this morning and we are still waiting for lil baby Luker to make his/her appearance! By next blog I will FINALLY know if its a boy or girl!!!!! :)

I really think Im going to like this blogging stuff... Happy Spring Break Everyone! -Katy

HOME!!

So I didn't bring it up last night because I didn't want to jinx it, but things remained well enough that they let us take her home!! We just got her settled on the couch with some pillows and a blanket and the doggies. She is fighting a migraine/headache so far and is pretty worn out from all the activity yesterday and this morning so she is just taking it easy. She feels up for visitors this afternoon if anybody wants to make the trip just give us a call,. So another major hurdle jumped and we are just super relieved to have her home and get to sleep in our own bed (I am super stoked for that my back has had it with that couch/bed lol). So on to the next phase we are gonna keep her as active as she can handle and keep trying the breathing treatments and do what we can to keep the pain under control. Thank you all so so much for all the thoughts and prayers they have clearly been answered so far!


Win

More Progress

Today has been a good day, Katy went on 4 walks today the first 3 were 2 laps around and the last one was 3 laps. She ate a few times today with dinner being some cheese enchiladas from her favorite mexican food place Casa Rita's that I ran and grabbed this evening. The pain has continued to stay at a manageable level with the pain mostly coming from coughing which she needs to do to continue moving anything left lingering around her lungs around/out, and the breathing treatments are cause for for some chest pains since she has to try to take as deep breaths as she can in and out. The power from her breathing is still low but the Dr. says if she keeps up the walking and moving the numbers will come and not to worry so much about that. Off to bed now hope to a good nights sleep as she was real active today.

Win

Gatekeeper

Last night seemed to be a good night, after getting all her tubes out except the main IV line she was able to take a real shower last night and put on some of her comfy PJ's. She got more sleep last night then any before to go with her finally giving in and napping some during the day (I'm right more then she likes to admit ^_^) so this rest will do her good as her breathing this morning sounded better then yesterday. So with the tubes all out of the way, it's time to hit the walks and breathing exercises hard now to get those lungs goin. Now for those of you that want to start making visits, I know strep throat and viruses have been going around and if you are even kind of feeling sick and haven't been to the Dr. to prove otherwise I have to be the mean old troll gatekeeper and ask that you refrain from making a trip to see her please as it can be real bad news for her to catch anything in her condition right now. I know mean old Win, but you've all known I'm a jerk for awhile so there ;). Anyways, hopefully today continues to be on the path we're on and she will be able to come home sooner rather then later cause them doggies miss her. Thanks again everybody for all the offers for help and well wishes you sure do make us feel loved!

Win

Tubeless

Well hopefully another step in the right direction, the X-ray showed the air being out from around the lungs and just some fluid remaining near the bottom. They decided to do a ultrasound to pinpoint where the fluid is to go in and drain it so it doesn't sit in there and fester any longer, the ultrasound didn't provide a good picture so they went with a CT Scan and found no fluid after the CT. Apparently when the air was in the way and her breathing became labored she compensated (unconsciously) with one lung more then the other and her diaphram came up and began to restrict the lung from inflating. So they took her incision drain, chest tube and heart lead wires out. Hopefully the relief from getting the chest tube out will allow her to breath better and get that lung back up to speed. She also will be able to take a shower later this evening (she's super excited about that). She has gotten a little more rest today also, hopefully the breathing starts to get stronger with the air gone from around her lungs and the chest tube out of the way. She also ate a grilled cheese for lunch so she has eaten more today then she has any day combined since surgery. This has been a good day so far and hopefully this trend continues :)

Win

Better Morning

Katy was able to sleep a little last night thankfully and it seems the pain has gotten to a more manageable level. Hopefully we can keep the pain under some control, the breathing is still a bit of a problem we're waiting on the the mornings X-ray results, once they are able to take out the chest tube it will help with the pain some, but we have to get the air/fluid out of there or she has a risk of catching pneumonia. If it doesn't get any better they will put another tube in at a different location. This has been the best feeling morning she has had so far though, she has a little more strength to her voice, she squeezed down a little breakfast and we went on her longest walk yet already today, so more positives then negatives so far today. The main goal for today is to get that breathing under control so she can take proper deep breaths and trying to convince her its okay to take a little nap here and there during the day she tries to stay awake since her parents and myself are around, i think after getting some sleep last night she'll feel better about dozing off here and there since it helped a lot.

Win

Rough Day

Sorry for the late post everybody been a long day. The air/fluid around her lungs got a little worse during the day so they changed a couple pumps around in hopes of helping with that, if this doesn't start working they will add another tube at a different location tomorrow. Coming off the epidural was really rough on Katy today allong with the labored breathing. Pain seems to have gotten somewhat better this evening and hopefully she will be able to get a little sleep tonight, we also hope that her chest begins to clear out more so the lungs can expand and her breathing becomes easier. On a good note she did go for another walk today and has eaten a little bit, hopefully she continues to gain an appetite and is able to do these walks as they help her feel better when she does. I'll post again mid morning when I get some new news.

Win

Day 2 issues

A good thing for post surgery and the first day was they gave her an epidural as I'm sure it did help with her pain, unfortunately that had to come out and move to different forms of pain management and the transition for Katy has been pretty rough so far today. Nurses are confident that as the day goes on and the new meds work into her system the pain will become more bearable. The pain and removal of the epidural has caused Katy's breathing to become a little labored and her heart rate to go up some, no cause for concern we're told just making for a rough day so far for her, the lack of sleep probably doesn't help either but they have to continue to monitor her through the night so she can't really get a lot of rest at one time. We'll see how the day progresses and hopefully we still get to take out the chest tube later to help with her breathing. I'll post another update this afternoon and hopefully she will feel up to visitors soon but right now she needs to rest and try to get a handle on the new meds and her breathing.

Win

First Day

Things are winding down for the day here for us, been pretty taxing for Katy but all in all went well. She was able to walk a little twice today, and was able to eat a little bit of food a few hours ago some mac n cheese (shocker there eh ^_^) and some chicken broth. We hope to get the chest tube out tomorrow sometime after the morning chest X-ray at which time her breathing will become much much easier they tell us. The second half of the day they seemed to get a better handle of manageing her pain some so hopefully she can get some sleep tonight inbetween wake ups to check her blood sugar every hour or so. Due to the labored breathing its hard for her to project her voice while we wait on her lungs to get back up to speed so family/friends be patient that want to hear from her she should be feeling up to it soon hopefully. Thank you again everybody for all the kind words and well wishes we feel very loved. I'll give some more updates tomorrow morning when I get some more info.

Win

Speed Racer

Katy did great on her first walk earlier today, made a whole lap around the nursing station they didn't think she would feel up to going very far. Pain is still substantial and they are doing what they can for it. X-ray from this morning showed the air around her lungs is becoming less and less which is good so hopefully the chest tube can come out tomorrow pending another X-ray. She will do another walk this afternoon and continue with her breathing treatments to get her lungs back up to speed after surgery. Greg and Jan (Katy's parents) are providing great support as well and have let me break away for a bit to let Mazy and Ninja (our dogs) out and allow me to take a shower and change. My folks and sister stopped by briefly to check up on her and are thrilled with how great Katy looks it was good to see them for a little while. Things seems to be going on point thus far, thank you all for the support!

Win

First Night/Morning

A bit of a rough night, she had to have a few breathing treatments and nurses coming and going which is to be expected, she started coughing alot (also expected) as her lungs are working to clear themselves out and it causes some discomfort and anxiety. They got her up into a chair last night and again this morning and she has done well with that but after moving there is obviously a good deal of pain. It can be a helpless feeling sometimes as all I want to do is take her pain away and I can't and the feeling is worse then I could imagine, but I know she is being given such great care by the staff here and between that and the meds I know she is being kept as comfortable as can be. We really are blessed to have everything worked out the way it has to end up at this hospital with this amazing staff and our friend Allison (one of the cardiac recovery nurses, we love you!!). Katy has been such a trooper through this and I'm so proud of her, we know this is all for the best and we are on the right path still. Later this morning they will get her up to walk a little bit and see how she handles that it's important they start these kinds of rehab this early as it really helps the healing process and make sure things are working as they should, it will help her state of mind as well to move around. Thank you again for all the well wishes, hopefully this weekend we will open up for visitors I will keep you all posted.

Win

Post Surgery Update

Katy is awake and talking some inbetween dozing off here and there. Only a slight set back, an xray showed she developted a pneumothorax, which is some air outside the lungs but inside the chest wall so they gave her a chest tube to drain the air so the lungs can inflate properly hopefully will come out tomorrow or Saturday. This is a very common occurance I'm told for this kind of procedure. Otherwise she is doing well and just taking it easy.

Win

Surgery Completed

All is well after surgery! They are moving her to her room and we should be able to go in and see her soon on a 1 in 1 out basis as the hours post surgery are very critical to ensure everyting is working correctly. Dr. Ryan said she did very well and they closed her VSD, while they were in there they found a second defect in her atrium called a PFO (Patent Foramen Ovale), it was a very small one which is why it had never been detected until now and while they were in there they went ahead and closed that one as well. We are super happy that this portion is over with and went well and now it's on to the recovery that will present new hurdles but she is a tough cookie and I'm confident she will do great, she has a great support system of friends and family and know that you are all a big part of helping her get through this we love you all. More updates to come when I can get in there and see that beautiful face :)

Win

Heart update

One of the nurses called me, and said things are going well so far and they are in there doing their thing. Soon I will know a room number that will be Katy's home for the next week or so and will let everybody know. Thank you again for all the encouragement and prayers, hopefully they will be wrapped up in a the next couple hours.

Win

It's go time

Hey everybody, it was a pleasant time waiting for them to get Katy ready for surgery a few laughs here and there (you know Katy and myself handle things with humor). The hospital staff has been wonderful thus far and we really feel comfortable as can be. Katy has handled herself so very well this morning I think the nerves and anxiety were more shown on my face then hers. Katy's parents and I just said our see you laters to her and they wheeled her back to do final preps in the OR. Thank you all for the continued thoughts and prayers, it's loving family and friends like you all that help us in these stressful times. I will post again with the first update that I get and fill you all in with room number/phone number when I know it.

Win