Wednesday, May 03, 2006

MORE HEART TESTS

While sleeping last night Max's heart was dropping lower than ever before...and then today while awake, it dropped low again. At the time, my friend Jen (who is a nurse) was here and we were both like, hmmm...what in the world is going on here? His O2 sats remained stable and he seemed ok, so I wasn't freaking out but it was a little confusing and concerning.

So my PCP called Max's cardiologist so they could put their heads together. They are not overly worried, but since he did have surgery less than six months ago, they want to ensure nothing has happened. Tomorrow Max will be set up with a 24 hour monitoring device that will record his heart rate. I will write every five minutes about his current activity and his vitals. He did this several times in the hospital and it is not very fun...difficult to keep all the leads on.

Actually my dog, Lucy, had to do this before her heart surgery too. For those of you who didn't know Lucy, she was my first beloved dog I adopted. Within weeks of adopting her (and immediately falling head over heels in love with her!!!), she was run over and lost a leg in the accident. Then a year later she and her dog walker (working long hours on Capitol Hill at the time) were attacked by two dogs. Lucy started having a doggy version of a heart attack...and that began a very long, heartbreaking and expensive journey with Miss Lucy. She was diagnosed with a fairly serious heart condition and for a while we controlled it with medication. But as the months went by, it was apparent that she needed more medical intervention. We were constantly at the dog cardiologist and then finally she had to have surgery in Cincinnati, Ohio - the first place in the nation to offer this latest surgery. Prior to that they performed the surgery in France, and I actually did think about taking her there...but her doctor think it was absolutely necessary yet.

Unfortunately she passed away as soon as they were prepping her with anesthesia. It seriously seems like yesterday when it happened, I remember each and every detail. I still have yet to part with her ashes. For those of you dog lovers, you know what I am talking about...and the rest of you are probably thinking I'm nuts! Well, you're right I am a little nutty about my dogs...they are fabulous creatures!

Miss Lucy was an incredibly sweet, loving and absolutely spoiled (well deserving) princess. She certainly helped to prepare me for dealing with all of Max's issues. And actually now that I think about it, perhaps she was training me for this divorce. I took the owner of the dogs who attacked Lucy to court...it was my first experience with the court system.

ANYWAY, I digress with the story about Lucy...but always will use an excuse to talk about her!!! :) Hopefully tomorrow goes ok and Max is not too upset with this process.

* Oh and YAY, I actually slept for three hours in a row and then another two hours later in the night...nearly five solid hours of sleep. First time in weeks!!! YAY! I was sooo excited! :) I am realizing that there is no point in going to bed before midnight because he seems to have the most oxygen and heart issues between 9 - 12, so I tend to spend most of that time running in and out of his room ensuring all is well.

Here's hoping for more sleep tonight!!! And a successful heart monitor test tomorrow!!!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

saying prayers for you this morning that all goes well.

RebeccaA said...

Amy,

I will hold you and Max on the top of my prayer list!

Rebecca
Cameron and Nathan's mom

Drew said...

I hope you figure out what's going on with Mr. Max.

Aw, Lucy...she was an awesome dog. All that knew her miss her. As you probably know, none of that sounded nuts to me! ;-)

love,
Drew