A lot has happened since my last update. A lot of weird, scary, frustrating stuff. Brents oxygen levels have been low still and he was switched from just oxygen at night to oxygen all of the time. He has had weird pain in his back, but the nerve pain in his arm is much better. He has been short of breath and coughing. All of these things are fairy normal after open heart surgery, but all of these things together are not.

Rewind a few days. Our family goes to the Uintas every year and this was the week that I reserved clear back in January. I reserve the best spot in the campground at Moosehorn, which is up by Mirror Lake. When all of the heart stuff started in May we figured the trip would just be canceled. The kids, however, still wanted to go so I didn’t cancel the reservation. With Brent not doing super well since surgery I had no plans of going up. Because we have the best family and friends, I was able to go up for a few days. Dennis, Brents brother who is a Dr offered to come stay with Brent. Dan Cunningham, our friend who had the space next to us for the week offered to drive the trailer up and back. I don’t often take people up on their offers of help, but this time I did. I knew deep down that I needed a break. So, Dennis drove up from St George on Sunday and I passed my nurses hat on to him.

Dennis did more in those three and a half days than I can ever thank him for. He was on the phone asking questions and getting answers. Come to find out, Brent had fluid in his lung which was causing the pain, low sats, and shortness of breath. They arranged for him to have his lung drained on Thursday. On Tuesday Dennis drove him up to our camp and they stayed for a little while due to Dennis arranging portable oxygen tanks. Tina had to drive down to kamas to dial in to a zoom meeting for her school and while down there got a call saying that Brent had a really bad night and that they were doing the thorocentesis immediately. They drained 1100 cc’s of fluid off of his left lung. That’s a lot of fluid folks. He’s already feeling better and last night he actually slept longer than he has in months. However, while doing the thorocentesis, they noticed that his Hickman central IV line was misplaced and not even draining into the right side of the heart! Not quite sure how that happened or how he even made it out of the hospital without someone noticing that. 😡. So today we are at Utah Valley and he just had the central line removed and a new one put in. Ay-yi-yi.

Here’s what we are hoping. . .

1) that by draining his lung, the problems with breathing, pain, and fatigue are solved.

2) that by replacing the line he can resume his TPN tonight and not get dehydrated.

3) that the combination of these things solves his low oxygen levels and he can get off of suplimentary oxygen.

4) that the misplaced line was causing the heart rate fluctuations and that by replacing it, his heart rate will normalize.

5) that Brent can now regain his strength and get back to doing normal things like smoking meats and camping and working. 😊

We are so thankful for modern medicine, prayers, and people and medical professionals that care. Our hearts are full of gratitude and love for those that are willing to be on call when I’m gone, for Dennis being willing and actually enjoying being a caregiver and using his Dr skills and knowledge. He said it was great brother bonding time watching John Wayne movies. I know he didn’t get much rest while he was here, too worried about Brent and how he was doing. And thanks to Dan for driving the truck and trailer up and back AND emptying the tanks. He went above and beyond in the friend area. (It was also fun to have them up with us for a couple days.)

We have lots of follow up appts in the next couple of weeks. Here’s hoping all goes well from here on out.

Love you all.