Home Sweet Home

So happy to be back home, sleeping in my own bed without any nurses waking me up, and close to my wonderful family.

Great News!

Dr. Vinh just left to sign the paperwork to dismiss me. I'm going home! I'm so excited!

Two weeks...

Two long weeks today....hoping to be able to go home. The doctor comes in an hour and will give his final decision. Just walked on my own around the floor.

Great news...

Dr. Vinh just left and said that he is coming by at noon tomorrow and if everything continues to look good he is signing me out to go home....this makes me very happy.

around the block

Just finished a walk around the block! Feeling stronger and more alert....truly praying that I can go home tomorrow!

good morning

Here's to a Terrific Tuesday! Another 8 lbs of fluid are gone...getting easier to walk with the walker. Hoping that med adjustments will bring better test results which means going home sooner. We are shooting for Thursday...power of prayer...

200 feet

I was psyched to walk 200 feet holding onto the pole this morning. Blood sugar levels are better today and with some med adjustments it should be fine. Losing fluid in legs and saw my kneecaps this morning! The tree trunk legs are not quite twigs yet!!!!!! Not that they ever were!!!!! It was a long day knowing it was the first day of school and I was here instead of in my 6th grade classroom. Hope you are all having a great day and be sure to give your loved ones an extra hug today.

Gratitude

Hello dearest family and friends ! Day 3 in Room 958...each day feeling a little better and realizing how much I am grateful for. My memory is a little vague so reading the blog helped me to remember the past week. Thank you Tom for your endless support, love, patience and for creating/updating the blog. I love you with all my heart. Kelcy and Keegan you two are the greatest kids and I love you with all of my being. This has been a tough time of year to not have your Mom around. I wish you both happy school years and memories. Keegan you were my hero that day taking me in the ambulance and sitting by my side all day long until Dad flew back home. Thank you Andrew for spending the afternoon with us. No miles could separate the love and support I received from the Cleary family. I love my pink roses Linda and Mark---they brighte n 958! Thank you church family, New Caney 6th grade campus teachers, friends around the U.S. for your prayers, support, e-mails, calls, love and and the ways you found to help us through this time. Our hearts are overflowing with gratitude.
Had a little scare this afternoon when my blood sugar level dropped to 56---so glad Tom was here! I had just told the doctor an hour earlier that something wasn't right. Had my first candy bar in who knows how long. Feeling better now and being carefully monitored.
It is emotionally tough knowing that school is starting tomorrow without me. Again, I have been blessed with a great sub and friends who are helping her. Thank you Jeff for bringing my plans in.
Prayer is powerful-----please keep them coming. love marie
p.s. Remember how purple is my favorite color-----no longer after looking at my bruised arms---thinking about bright green for a new fun color!

11:15 am

WE ARE IN A NORMAL HOSPITAL ROOM! Dunn Tower Room 958. Marie's actually able to see visitors, so go for it!

Thursday August 20, 2009 9:00 am

Hard to believe it's been a week since Marie woke up with pain and a swollen leg! The transfusion seemed to do the trick -- her hemoglobin is back up and they're looking to transfer her to a regular hospital room today. No idea how long she'll be here yet -- they have to get the coumadin (blood thinner) regulated before she can go. Today -- for the first time in seven days -- she actually sat up in a chair. A milestone in my book. She's bleeding a bit at all her IV sites, and had a bloody nose this morning, reminding us all just how thin her blood now is after all the TPA and Heparin they gave her. The doc is putting her on a diuretic to try and get some of the fluid out after they pumped so much in for her low blood pressure. She's still quite swollen. But seeing her sit up lifted my spirits a good deal, and I couldn't help but think that the light at the end of the tunnel brightened a bit. Kelcy heads back to school today, and Keegan starts high school Monday. I start teaching class Monday at UHD as well while still working full time at BCM. So the next week or so could be pretty darn adventurous. Let's hope we can get Marie home and in full recovery soon. Recovery -- I actually typed the word! The light just brightened again.

10:30 pm

Just checked in on Marie -- she's doing well, but still in the ICU for the night. Her hemoglobin was very low due to the procedure and all the blood loss, so they transfused two units of blood and will test again in the morning. She's pretty loopy from the pain meds, which makes conversation a whole lot of fun. Hope we can get her up to speed to transfer to a room tomorrow; it's not fun sitting in the waiting room with forty other people for two hours to visit for twenty minutes (though I must say, we are all bonding quite a bit out there).

11:30 am

Marie is still in ICU, and will probably be there most of the day and possibly tonight. They're trying to regulate her hemoglobin and PT levels. Her hemoglobin is at 8.2 (low) and they'll check it again at 4:00. If it stays stable, they'll send her to a regular room, but if it drops they may need to do a transfusion. She's losing blood mostly in her urine, which is to be expected after the procedure. The next step is to get her on a therapeutic level of heparin and slowly switch to Coumadin before she can leave. No idea how long that will take. It's all a balancing act right now. But she's in MUCH less pain, thank goodness, and can finally drink liquids again.

9:30 am

Marie made it through the second procedure and is headed back to ICU, but hopefully not for long. They have her nearly clot-free, so we're hoping the pain will start to subside. I'm hoping to get her up into a regular room soon, but we'll see.

Wednesday, August 19 7:30 am

After a long night in the ICU, Marie is headed back in for Part 2 of the catheter clot removal. She spent a good deal of the night in and out of pain -- they had a pain pump, IV meds, and pain pills going all night. The wonderful nurses there told me she did well, though, and slept a bit. I'm hoping we don't have to go back there when she's finished today -- the care is superb, but it's a big room of patients with no privacy and you can't stay long -- this unit is for the most critical of cardiovascular patients, many who like Marie are coming in or out of procedures and need unfettered access. I got to the hospital this morning for the 6 am visit knowing the procedure would be around 7:30 or so, and I got kicked out (along with all other visitors) as the man across from Marie coded. It took forty-five minutes to try and stabilize him, and he didn't make it. The Cardio ICU makes me realize all that's going on around our own troubles, and how hard this must be on the very caring nurses who deal with this day in and day out. But Marie looks good -- they got 76% of the clots yesterday, and we'll see what happened today. Please say a prayer for that man and his family, and join in me a prayer of gratitude for all the miracles we've been given -- Jeannie, Robert, and Marie, Annie. God's been busy taking care of the Cleary family.

7:30 pm

I got kicked out of ICU -- the cardiovascular ICU is very different -- everyone is in the same room like a recovery room -- you can only stay 20 minutes, and there's no place to sit.  Marie is resting better now, the nurse tells me on my check-in call.  But when I left her at 2:30, she was in terrible pain, and very uncomfortable -- it was quite hard to watch.  I'll be there early tomorrow for part two.  But it's hard to not be there watching -- it's been my job for the past five days.

11:30 am

The procedure is done -- the doctors said all went well and they were able to remove a good many clots from the area. She'll stay in ICU until tomorrow as they keep putting TPA into the catheters to clear the rest, then they go back in tomorrow to remove them and see what else they can do. Dr Weiss (a pretty amazing doc) believes they'll not find much left -- he's confident they will have removed most -- he said her blood flow is significantly improved already. I have to tell you all -- everything they say about the level of medical advances down here at the Texas Medical Center is true. Five years ago, or in Lincoln, this would have been a different story. He also confirmed that her filter probably saved her from a massive PE, so we remain grateful. Marie spent the past two hours on her stomach, and is pretty uncomfortable, but can return to her back to rest today and tonight.

Thanks for the prayers! I keep standing in awe of the power.

Tuesday August 17 9:00 a.m.

They've just brought Marie in to do the catheter procedure in an effort to go into the vein and remove the clots near her filter. They still believe the filter -- which was placed to protect her heart and lungs from clots five years ago -- is the source of the problem, having become clotted itself. So they are going into the area to try and remove the clot physically or with medication. Could be an hour or two, depending on how easily they can get to the vein. I'm sitting in the PACU waiting room. She'll be in half-sleep, half-awake mode on her stomach. I'll update after its over, but now is a good time for prayers. Thanks.

3:30 p.m.

The hospitalist FINALLY arrived and talked through a plan. We think we're going to have radiology go in and go directly to the vein with a catheter to try and get at the clots themselves. He said that in many of his patients, the result has been dramatic, though of course there are risks. It's a two-day process, and she'll need to spend the night inbetween back in ICU, but there's not much choice -- they're just not dissolving quickly enough, and without the procedure, it could be weeks or months. So, wve got a plan.

Monday, August 17 10:30 a.m.

Sorry to take so long to post, but we've had a rough night and morning. Marie is okay, but the transition out of the ICU was not at all pleasant, and an unexplained set of tests last night had her missing dinner and in terrible pain, her bed and gown remained unchanged after two days, and everything got thrown off from the transition. It was as if we switched to another hospital. But I got a hold of Quality Control and things are back on track. Still haven't seen the doctor yet, so we don't know today's plan. But basic care needs are on the right track again. The goal today is for her to sleep -- still hasn't done much of that since Thursday.

Marie was thrilled to get a stack of e-mails from the hospital volunteer sent from her colleagues in New Caney ISD -- thanks SO much for that. They are hanging up for her to see, and I had great fun reading them to her.

Tom

7:30 p.m.

Marie's now in her room out of ICU at Methodist. Let's hope they control the pain and she can sleep. We're definately heading in the right direction -- she can move both of her feet and one of her legs!

Sunday, August 16 10:45 a.m.

We are definitely leaving the ICU this morning and going to a regular hospital room down here at Methodist, as Dr. Davies feels she doesn't need critical care. That's encouraging!. Marie's blood pressure is back to normal, and she can actually move her left leg. Kidney numbers are improving, though this doc says that he wouldn't expect much big change and is not worried about it. As we suspected during her hospital stay in Boston, there seems to be a kidney infection that just won't let go, but we'll wait until the clots resolve a bit more before taking that on -- meanwhile, they keep giving her powerful antibiotics and blood thinner.



Marie's goal is to get back to her boys at New Caney (she teaches all same-sex language arts classes -- she calls them her manly men) as soon as possible. She has big plans for them!

Your prayers make all the difference. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

5:15

Good news: The intensivist here at Methodist is still checking everything, but thinks Marie is definately on the right track and might be released out of the ICU to a regular room here as early as tomorrow. He's not sure we needed to come here in the first place -- I think the intensivist at Memorial Hermann was a bit overcautious. At first I was a little ticked, but then I thought --What a relief -- I'd much rather hear that than "Boy, you made it here just in time." Cleary family, take note: He thinks the family has a genetic coagulation predisposition -- in other words, clots come eassy and stay long. He thinks she'll need to be on Coumadin (blood thinner) for the rest of her life.

So -- things look good. But we still have more assessment to go -- and still lots of pain and two very swollen upper legs to deal with. But perhaps the crisis is nearly over, I hope.

4:15p.m.

Well, we made it to Methodist down in the Med Center. I ran into the flight crew heading to the ICU (yep -- they flew her by helicopter. Moving her created great pain, I don't think there was a view, no peanuts/soda/in-flightmovie, but the good news -- it was fast) as I searched for the ICU (this place is five buildings) and they said she did great. I haven't seen her yet -- they're getting her set up and assessed and won't let me in just yet -- but I hope they've given her pain meds!! With a new hospital, doctors and systems, everything will get re-assessed and re-assigned, so I imagine the next few hours will be a bit crazy. I'll update as soon as I can. Thank goodnes for internet -- though this is probably more than you all want to know! Anyway -- she made it through her flight well, and I'm envious of what seems to be a MUCH faster way to get to work everyday!!!!

1:30 p.m.

A bed has opened up at Methodist Hospital ICU in the Med Center in Houston. Marie should be tran'll postsported there in an hour or so. I'll post as soon as we're settled there. Pray for event-free travel downtown.

Noon

Still waiting for a bed downtown, but Marie is trying to sleep and they are trying to manage her pain -- still lots of pain in the legs. But she's hanging tough, sleeping as she can, while the rest of us watch the monitors and the wowonderful nurses and doctors keep testing blood samples and checking constantly.

I'm reading comments to Marie, so if you'd like, please leave one for her. They make her smile.

Thanks. I'm so grateful to you all. I feel the prayers and good thoughts, and the love.

Saturday, August 15 10:00 a.m.

Marie's kidneys are still struggling, and she is still experiencing a great deal of pain, so they are still planning to take her to a hospital in the Medical Center, if we can find a bed in an ICU at one of the hospitals there (for own non-Houston friends, the Med Center is a city-size complex of hospitals and medical buildings with some of the best medical minds in the country. Several medical schools, including the one I work for, are there as well). They did have a bed at Methodist yesterday, but once the TPA started, we couldn't dare move her. So we'll wait to see if something becomes available there or at St. Lukes today. Meanwhile, we wait for the effects of the medicine to do its work. Her legs are about 20% less swollen today, which is good. No one expected them to fully drain -- that may take weeks. But we still don't know exactly what to expect yet -- many questions we can't answer without a CATscan, which we can't give becuase of kidney function. But she's resting well, and they are taking great care of her. Sue is back on today (the most incredible nurse I've ever encountered), and Dr. Jayaraman deserves a special blessing for all his care and concern. She's definately in good hands.

11:30 p.m.

So far, so good. A nosebleed, blood in the urine, but both have subsided and are expected. If that's the worst of it, then all is well. They've stopped the Heparin for now until the TPA is a bit more out of her system. I left Marie for home in good hands after a nurse change (due to not so good hands). Blood pressure is much better, urine output is much improved, which means the kidney problems were more related to the BP. I'm ready for bed myself.

Many heroes today -- Marie's intensivist, who literally stood at her bedside for the entire two hours of the clot blast ready to move on a dime if something went south, her amazing nurse Sue, Rick and Cathy Whitaker and the ministry staff at HAFBC, who were there checking in, and all of you praying us through the latest saga. Thanks. I don't know yet what the next days will bring, and we're not through the woods yet, but we seem to be on the right path. Your prayers and thoughts have made the difference.

Tom

5:20 pm

Is it still the same day? Wow.
We got through the tense 2 hours putting in the blood thinner. So far, so good -- none of the catastrophes we had to prepare for on the consent form. A few highly tense moments when the BP dropped, but it is recovering well. Now we sit and wait -- to see if the clots dissolve enough to take us out of harms way, to make sure none of the potential side effects occur. We wait.

2:00 p.m.

Still no bed at Methodist downtown Med Center, so we're going ahead with the clot buster here. The next 12 hours are criticcal. Your prayers are appreciated.

Aug 14 11:50 am

Marie's blood pressure is better and back in normal range.  The clots persist. Her kidney's are still rough. We are trying to transfer her downtown to the Texas Medical Center - Methodist Hospital.  They'd like to try a much stronger "clot busting medicine" but worry about bleeding given her recent kidney stone removal. She is frightened but staying faithful.  Thank you for all your prayers.  We'll try to update again soon.

Friday, August 14 8:30 a.m.

Marie is in the ICU at Memorial Hermann Hospital NE. She has multiple blood clots in both legs. Her blood pressure has stayed borderline low since yesterday. She is also having kidney failure, and they suspect the kidney infection is still occurring.

Her pulminologist spoke with me this morning and said they are doing quite a few tests to see if any clots have gone to her lungs (which might explain the low blood pressure) and are trying to get her kidneys functioning better. She is on a Heparin (blood thinner) drip, three IV antibiotics, and a ton of fluids. Her legs are very swollen. But the echocardiogram showed that nothing's gotten into her heart, and her heart is doing well considering all that's happening.

Yesterday was an amazing day -- Keegan is my hero -- as I was trying to get home from a conference in Atlanta, he rode with her in the ambulance and stayed with her all day until I arrived that night (storms in Houston kept us grounded in Atlanta, so the extra money I spent getting an earlier flight resulted in getting home exactly a half hour earlier than I would have. Oh, well). Marie was the most amazing, though -- and everyone needs to know. Keegan told me later that as she was in incredible pain (worse than the stones, she said), she kept yelling out all her blessings, shouting to God all that she was grateful for.

We believe in prayer. We believe in hope. We ask you to think about Marie and our family -- and all the surrounding struggles we've been facing lately -- with confidence, as we are. Not a blind confidence -- things are very worrisome right now. But with a confidence that nothing is permanent, everything can change in an instant, and Marie and her family are dearly loved by their creator.

Thanks so much.
Tom