So, Jim went to see the cardiologist Friday and it seems that Jim was born with a faulty ticker. We knew he had a heart murmur but it seems it’s more than that. He’s got a bicuspid aortic valve. In other words where most people have 3 cusps (flaps), he has 2. Not good. In addition to this, Jim has a thoracic aortic aneurysm that is large enough to most likely need surgery. Open heart surgery. He was put on meds to stave off any further growth while everything gets figured out. He will have some tests to get more detailed info but the doc said that this definitely needs to be taken care of in the next few months. For me, the sooner the better.
Immediately after getting the phone call from Jim about his appointment (he was clueless as to the seriousness of his condition), I opened the notes from the doc, started researching what it all meant and then proceeded to freak out. Reading about what was going on doubly freaked me out when I realized that a complication of TAA (thoracic aortic aneurysm) is an aortic dissection which is what killed John Ritter. Knowing that I needed a medical expert to riddle out what I was reading I sent the notes to Becky. She basically confirmed what I was seeing but then also noticed that on Jim’s chart it read “possible old inferior MI”. In other words, a heart attack. A silent one. Needless to say my day at school was a stressful one. I may have cried a couple of times.
Becky and Dad also recommended a doctor with Christ, J. Michael Smith. He’s a renowned thoracic surgeon and has been practicing for 34 years. He knows Dad well and Becky states he will be honest about Jim’s care and options. To tell you the truth, I’d be much more comfortable at Christ for Jim’s cardiac surgery (if that’s the route we have to take).
(BTW - all of the above was written Friday. I wanted to get it all down. Since then, his angiogram was scheduled for Thursday morning.)
And of course when it rains it pours: Dad went into the hospital yesterday. They've done a CT which came up clear so this morning they'll do a colonoscopy to see if there's something going on there. I'll update as I hear.
Considering the amount of angst my brain was muddled in, the weekend was pretty good. Saturday Jim and I headed down to Mecklenburg's for a final, goodbye bash for friends, family and former employees. The family FINALLY sold the restaurant. I heard that a couple of doctors bought it and will be leasing it to a brewery. They've got a lot of work to do to get the building ready and I've heard it may take anywhere from 6-18 months. It's on the historic building registry so I'm sure there will be a lot of hoops to jump through.
After that we went to dinner at Arthur's and it was delicious. From there we came home, and Jim lit a fire in the new pit out front which we built to burn out the stump that's been there for a while.
Sunday was typical: Breakfast, big walk with Scout, Shooters and then we came home, Jim napped, I mowed the lawn and finally at 4:00 I tuned into the Bengals game. WHO DEY! They looked pretty good! Thank the baby Jesus...hopefully that momentum will continue.
Jim went out last night. His friend Les is in town and they went over to an old Clifton friends house for dinner. He was home at about 10:30 but of course didn't come to bed so I kept waking up thinking he wasn't home yet. Finally at 1:00 I sat up and saw that his truck was in the driveway...I just never heard him. I went down and told him to come to bed and the of course I never really went back to sleep. Ugh! That should make for a fun day.
Dinner tonight: Butternut squash pasta sauce with prosciutto ham. It's a new recipe and looks delicious...it better be.
K - I'm out. I need to figure out my plans for the week since I'm not going to have to take both Thursday and Friday off. Jim's such a pain. Happy Monday...later.
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