Butch 3/1/25

 He did well with the surgery. Now we a tackling the right meds for his kind of AFIB. So he will be in Mcallen Medical room 548 for a while yet. He appreciates company. I am headed that way soon.

Butch 2/27/25

 He has been rescheduled till 9:00 AM tomorrow. I am encouraged after being there for a while. He is in good spirits, joking with the nurses. All of his vitals are good. Tomorrow should be a good day.

Butch 2/26/25

Last Saturday morning about 5 AM I was awake and listening to Butch breathing. It didn’t sound good 

and I was concerned. His breathing was shallow, frequent, and gurgly. I woke him up and told him I thought we should go to ER. He had been struggling with what he determined to be “sinuses”. This has happened to him a couple of times a year. We were in ER, the one close to Alamo on the frontage road. They hooked him up to a monitor right away and the first question was “How long have you had AFIB?” Butch said I don’t have AFIB, my wife does. But the machine didn’t lie. He was having AFIB, a fluttering of the heart. He had many tests including X-rays and CT scan. They said he had a lot of fluid in the upper part of his lungs and yet was dehydrated. They explained a procedure to take fluid off the lungs first by giving him lasix and a urinal. It was successful after giving them a gallon or two. The next step in the procedure is to rehydrate by IV and all went well. By this time it is 10 or so. We wondered what was taking so long but it turned out they were looking for an empty bed for him in McAllen Heart. They ended up finding him one in McAllen Medical, the same one he has been to in other years.

First, we were shocked that he was going to be hospitalized, and then we were surprised he had pneumonia, and yesterday we found out his heart was only working at 28%. He is scheduled for a procedure to check his arteries tomorrow. They will move him to McAllen Heart and his ‘surgery’ is scheduled for 11:00 AM. They told him if they found one blockage he would get a stint but if they found 4 he would be having open heart surgery.

We were frequently asked what the symptoms there were and there were NONE. In hindsight, there were a few signs like frequent naps, loss of appetite, etc. Never any pain. He was concerned a bit last Wednesday at square dancing when he was having trouble keeping up. He walked home from the pool hall one day and said he was getting out of shape because it was a chore. When we walked together he was having trouble keeping up with me. 

We were very lucky to catch this when we did.

As for me, I have been a mess, fearing the worst. Lately, I have been getting a grip so things are looking better now that there is a plan. Always better when there is a plan.

I am having trouble keeping up with all the correspondence.

And then there were 3 incidents...

 Early Saturday morning I woke up and Butch's breathing alarmed me. It was shallow and gurgly and rapid. I woke him up and said I think you need to go to ER. Thinking it was nothing but a respiratory something we planned to go to breakfast when we got out of ER and then do some grocery shopping.

As soon as they hooked him up to "their machines" they asked him how long he had AFIB. He said my wife has AFIB, I don't, but the proof was on the machine.

After testing lots of things they said he had some fluid on his lungs and was dehydrated at the same time. They said this is not uncommon and to correct it they give them a med that drains the fluid and once drained they then rehydrate. He pee'd about two gallons in 30 minutes and it did indeed work as they said. And the AFIB was still active so transferred him to McAllen Medical. They kept him the rest of Saturday and all of today (Sunday). He possibly will be coming home tomorrow. I certainly hope so. A cardiologist touched base with him this afternoon and told him he would look over his charts and tell him where to go from here. Hopefully early tomorrow.

Paul K. and I went to see him this afternoon and he looked fit as a fiddle. His hacky cough is gone and I assume they were still monitoring him for AFIB but the gismo they have on him now goes straight to the nurse's desk. 

I hope he comes home tomorrow and assume he will be.

I hope this fills you in. We think all is fine and we can resume our life as we love it.

I will think that until I am told or find out otherwise!