I have written a similar post a couple times this week but as it turned out the hospital decided to keep me another day, we are now going on three days and to be honest my spirit is a bit broken. Yesterday was my wife Nicole's birthday and I really wanted to go home and celebrate with a nice healthy dinner out but it did not happen. Will today be the day I get to go home? I really don't know and maybe that's what is so discouraging for me is not knowing when.
I have done everything I can on my end by going for walks and showing them I can physically do what is required to leave the hospital but what I can't do is make my blood thin enough or calm my heart down enough for the doctors to be happy with me leaving on a good baseline.
The blood thinning is the easier of the two, it's mainly about using a drug called Warferin to get my INR up to around 2-3 which the new type of metal mechanical valves require to stay in peak performance.
The bigger issue is getting my heart to settle down a bit, one side is beating fairly normal while the other side is kinda beating in double time. I had the Cardioversion done a while back which fixed this but often times it does not last for too long and so treatment with drugs is the next step to calming down the heart as it is very stressed from the operation and already not being in great shape to begin with.
So as of right now I don't know if I am going home today? I will add to this post as the day progresses and I know more about the situation. I would really love to go home this afternoon and maybe even see my son play soccer this evening but again this is out of my hands...
UPDATE: So I am staying yet another night. My blood is thin enough now but my heart rate is still too high to let me go home. The Docs put me on a new drug to help slow down and regulate my heart but that only happened mid day. I spoke with one of the doctors today and it really comes down to just getting my heart rate under control, once that happen I will be a free man, while I am sure there will be lots of hospital visits down the road. So here's to tomorrow? Will I get to go home?