We’re assuming our little guy is feelin’ fine on the 1 and 9. Lucas had a spine and brain MRI, with and without contrast recently, and we’re still waiting to review the results with his neurosurgeon. I have to believe that no news is rockstar news. We’ve scheduled a followup meeting, December 7 (Lucas’s birthday), where the doctor will review the results with us, formally. I’m assuming if they’d seen anything harrowing, we’d have been contacted straight away.
As for Phil’s heart…we’ve received phenomenal news about his ejection fraction. Now, with his new ICD (Pacemaker with a built-in defibrillator that will shock his heart if it ever gives out), and bi-ventrical lead, his ejection fraction has climbed from 15% to 50%. Which is remarkable, for sure. He’s paced 100% of the time, meaning that machine in his body is working full-time, and without it… it ain’t good. Since it’s working 24/7, the battery will run out eventually, and he’ll need a replacement, but that’s not a big deal, pretty standard. The unfortunate news is that Phil’s still in Atrial Fibrillation 45% of the time. That’s how we got into this whole mess.
So basically, Phil’s on Coumadin, Coureg, Sotalol, Lisinoprol, Simvastatin, and baby asprin. Some twice a day, some just once. But now that Phil’s ejection fraction has improved, he asked if he needed to remain on so many drugs.
"Let me put it this way," his surgeon said, "If I said you had cancer but could take these pills to give you another 10/20 years, would you take ’em all?"
"Of course."
"Well, good, because what you’ve got is worse than cancer because you can die at any moment."
"Sudden death," by far, the most daunting symptom of Phil’s cardiomyopothy. What’s next? He’ll likely need another ablation, because Atrial Fibrillation isn’t a good thing long term, and the longer Atrial fibrillation exists, the larger the heart grows and the harder it becomes to repair. But where we are now, with this ejection fraction climb, we’re happy and celebrating what’s before us now. Without question I’ll be giving thanks this Thursday for the health of all my boys.
A YEAR AGO: I’m a Meredith Brooks Song
2 YEARS AGO: Craps
5 YEARS AGO: Help, I Need Somebody.
