Tests Results In

Hey everyone. . . it's been a long day and I know you guys are anxious to hear about mom's heart catherization test today. They did confirm that her aortic valve stenosis is now "severe", and will need replaced thru open heart surgery, however, they will not be sure of how soon or when until they do a stress test on her in a few weeks. They want to determine the level of stress her valve can withstand to determine how much longer the can wait to do the surgery. They also want her to recover completely from the touch of pneumonia she had and really build up her strength since this is a major surgery. So we at least have an answer to her fainting episode on Sunday - the overwhelming stress and illness was too much for her heart to bear with the valve narrowing condition she has. She will remain in Winchester Medical Center for a couple of days while they return her blood levels to a safe place with her coumadin meds. So we hope to get her out over the weekend and get her home to continue recovering from this traumatic week. Dad can't wait to see her - he has talked to her and knows that she does not have to have surgery now - we didn't even discuss with him that she may have to schedule in the next month or two. . . because maybe she will get longer to wait to have it and we don't want to stress dad out any more than he already is - right?

Dad had a good day - I stopped by with "real bacon" about 7:30 this morning and we had a nice breakfast and then he went to therapy for the morning. He was in good spirits. We called my brother David and my nephew J.T. (Tommy's son) who both have a birthday today - and dad sang happy birthday to both of them on the phone - and he sounded so good! I am on my way to see him now and say good night to him. My brother Tommy took him lunch and said that dad was a little discouraged about his progress today - he didn't think he did as well. But every day is not always going to be a break thru day - so I am sure he did fine and he may have been a little distracted thinking about mom having the testing today.

If anyone would like to visit mom - she is in Room 373 in Winchester and her phone number is 540-536-1373. Thanks for your continued prayers and support. We are feeling very blessed today - we are so glad mom will have a chance to recover and feel stronger before taking on any thing else. We promise to take extra good care of her from this point forward - and make sure she does not over do it again. Blessings!