Day 12

Hello to all. I just wanted to write and let everyone know that I am doing well. I am walking everyday and doing better and better. The soreness is getting better everyday and sleeping is getting better too. I am so glad that I have gotten this done and out of the way. I wish I had done this long ago. I can't wait to see how much more I can do once I heal more from the surgery itself. I pray for all those other folks that are going through the same thing and perhaps upcoming surgeries. There truly is a rainbow on the other side of the storm.

I was glad to get to go back to church this past Sunday too. It was so good to see my Church family again.

Well, I am going to go for now. It bothers my back once I have sat at the computer for a little while.

Thanks to all for the wonderful comments and encouragement. It has meant more than we could express.

Dewayne

Day 8 Post-Op

Hello all. It's me Dewayne, yes I'm finally getting to post. It's great to be home! It was quite a journey with all of the delays in our flights and then Nashville Airport actually closed once we got in the air from O'Hara. At first we thought we were going back where we just came from in Minnesota. :( Luckily God worked it all out and we got home about 1:00 am Wednesday morning and the trip started at 3:00 pm on Tuesday. We didn't think we could leave so early but once I was discharges from the hospital and called the airline, it just worked out. I have spent the last couple of days recovering from about 3-4 hours of sleep the past several nights. It's still hard to sleep very long without being reminded and having to make adjustments, but praise the Lord we are home and all is well.

I have been walking more and more everyday and feeling a little better everyday. I have also been able to reduce several of my other meds since surgery, which is 5 pills a day. I am looking forward to feeling better and doing more without all the thumping!!

I would like to thank everyone for the cards, prayers, and encouragement all the way through this entire trip and surgery. I can not express in words the gratitude I have to all of you guys!! Thanks to all those that helped us financially, it has been a tremendous help and it's something that touched our hearts in ways that's indescribable. Teresa and I have commented several times that we have never felt the love of God through people as much as we have during this time. Praise the Lord for all of you!

Well, I'm going to sign off for now and get some rest.

God Bless to all of you.
Dewayne

Day 5 Post-Op

Good morning everybody! It is 10:00 4-3-07. We just saw Dr. Schaff a little while ago and he is very pleased with the out come of the surgery. DeWayne is now off of two primary meds he was taking before. These meds caused alot of side affects. The best news of all is that he is being discharged today. We hope to fly back tommarow! We are Praising the Lord and giving him all the honor and glory. We want to thank all of you for your continuous love and prayers. Please pray for his continued recovery and our safety home. We cannot wait to see you all.

Be home soon!
Teresa

Day 4 Post-Op

It is Monday evening and everything is going well. DeWayne had an Echo test this morning and an MRI. The echo showed no gradient and the obstruction is gone. Praise the Lord! We do not know the results of the MRI. We will get to speak with the surgeon tomarrow. They have increased his Inderal to lower his heart rate to 70 or below, because that is where they want it to be. We will know more tomarrow. We are thinking we will be home real soon. We can't wait! Good night everyone. I will write tomarrow.

Teresa

Day 3 Post-Op

Hi everybody! It is Sunday at 1:30. You are all probably eating lunch and getting ready to go to the nursing home or take that Sunday afternoon nap! They say day 3 can be the hardest day in the recovery process. This morning DeWayne was not feeling well, he was in pain and would not eat much. As the morning went on and he took his meds it started to get better. He has taken a shower, we have walked several times and he has had lunch. He is now sitting in the recliner in his room watching the Nascar race. He is feeling much better than he did this morning. Thank you for the messages. I love being able to read new messages daily from our church family. I always go back and tell DeWayne who sent us a message and what it said. You all have a wonderful day and I will send another message soon.

Teresa

Continuing Day 2

Hello again. Just giving you an update on DeWayne. The drainage decreased and they took his 2 drainage tubes out about 5:00 p.m. He is in alittle pain but over all doing very well and is on schedule. It is about 5:30 now and he will be getting dinner soon. So I will talk to you all later.

Praise the Lord for all he's done!

Teresa

2 Day Post-Op

It is Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and DeWayne is doing okay. Trying to manage the pain is important right now. They just removed the port line from his neck. He needs to lie there for 30 minutes and then they are going to have him sit in the chair for lunch. He went for 2 short walks yesterday and 1 so far today. That is good. We were hoping that the 2 drainage tubes would come out today.But they are not because he is still having some drainage. This is normal. His day nurse is Kate and a very nice christian lady. She goes to a First Baptist Church near her home. She keeps a prayer journal and she told us we were being added to it. I praise God for the christian nurses he has put us with during our stay. It has been so helpful. I hope all is well back home thank you for all your e-mails and responses. It is very helpful and encouraging. We miss you all and can not wait to get home.

Teresa

1 Day Post-Op

DeWayne had a good night all vitals and numbers are good. He has now been moved from ICU to the progressive care, where he will be until discharge. They moved him about 9:30 this morning. We have had the best nurses! The first thing DeWayne said when they pulled the breathing tube out was Praise the Lord! The nurse told me she loved that because she did not here many patients ever say it. His ICU nurse's name was Cara and a nice christian lady. She said he had been a star patient. He is now diconnected from several things put still has alot of tubes and different things attached. He is able to drink clear liquids and he had jello this morning. I will update you all later today. Thanks to all who have replied with comments and E-mails. Thank you church family, friends and family for all the cards we have been able to read. Thank you so so much for your heart felt love and prayers . You are all such a blessing to us. We can't wait to get home and see everyone.

Teresa

Post-Op Report

Good evening everyone. It is 5:15p.m. and he is awake (in and out), the breathing tube came out a few hours ago. He has his own button to push for pain meds that automatically goes into his I.V. He is using it and the pain is under pretty good control. He needs to cough more and breathe deep. He does not want to because it hurts, but he has too! He really wants a big glass of water but all he gets is ice chips. Over all he is doing very well and all vitals are good.


Teresa

Spoke With the Surgeon

It is 11:55 and I just spoke with the surgeon. Everything went very well. They removed the thick piece of the wall muscle and fixed his muscle bridge. Everything else looks great! The surgeon said he should only be in ICU about 4-6 hours. He suspects only about 4 because he does not expect any complications, due to the surgery going so well and DeWayne being young.
I am suppose to get to see him in about 40 minutes. I will update you again later on. GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!

Teresa

The Sugery is Done

It is 11:00 and the nurse just informed me that the main part of the surgery is over and they are closing him up right now. He is off the lung and heart bypass machine and his heart is pumping on its own. PRAISE the LORD! He is currently in satisfactory condition, which is the best he can be right now. He should be brought down in the next 45 minutes and then the surgeon will come and speak with me. What a relief. Now we can pray for a great and speedy recovery. I will update you after I speak with the surgeon. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and love.

Teresa

Morning Update of Surgery

It is now 9:30 and I have been moved to the postop/ICU floor. He went to the O.R. at 7:47 and the actual procedure started at 8:30. The nurse coordinator just came to me and informed me that he is now on the bypass machine and they are starting the repair. As she updates me I will continue to inform you.
This hospital is so HUGE they have to escort you everywhere! The staff is fantastic. It is truly a top notch facility.

Teresa

Morning of Surgery

Good morning everybody. We arrived at St. Marys at 5:45 this morning to check in. They started his work up quickly after that. They took him to pre-op at 7:20 and he went into surgery at 7:47. It is 8:05 right now. They expect the surgery to take approx. 3 hours. Just please continue to be in prayer and for God to guide the doctors every move. I will up date you as I can through out the day as I get information. Thank you again for your love, prayers, and support.

Teresa

The Night Before

Well here I am finally with a strong enough internet signal to post from my room. It's about midnight and we are going to be leaving early in the morning. I have to say that I can feel all of those prayers and I have a sincere calm and peace about tomorrow. My wife has been so good about this whole thing we've been fighting for many years and now we have doctors that don't seem surprised when I tell them how I feel and the trouble I have with the simplest of tasks. When we hear that I can and will be better and symptom free, it is such a blessing. With all that being said, I am excited about the surgery and getting it done and over with and getting on to the healing stage. I know the Lord will bring fast healing because He's been in every little detail all the way through this whole thing. I was a little concerned about the approval from my insurance company but when I went to check on it, they said it was already approved on Friday and everything was set. We know the Lord worked that out, huh! I'm also glad Teresa's mom came to be with her during this time; it will really help to pass the time and they can be there for each other.

Again, many thanks to all those that have been praying, and for the HCMA in helping us through such a critical time in our lives. I can not express the utmost gratitude that we have for everyone. Words just can't do it, but for now THANK YOU.

God Bless you all.
Dewayne

Meeting the Doctors

Hello everybody!! We are doing great. The doctors and staff are fantastic! We saw Dr. Ommen first and he said DeWayne is a typical HCM patient. He agreed that DeWayne needed surgery to fix the interior wall and clear the obstruction. He said it would make him feel much better and get rid of almost all of the meds. he is currently taking. The success rate is 98%!! We also discovered that the aortic valve was a little different than most people. Leave it to DeWayne to have to be different! A normal valve looks like a Mercedes Benz emblem. It has a three way opening. DeWayne's is only two. It has been like that since birth and has caused the aorta to be a little larger . They do not feel that it will cause a great problem and probably will not need to be repaired. If it does they can replace the valve. I was so happy after that appt. I was ready to shout Glory to God from the roof top! His stress test was after that and it went pretty good, he just could not do it very long. We then met with Dr. Schaff, the surgeon, and he agreed as well DeWayne needed surgery. He said the surgery would take approx. 3 hours with a 5-7 day hospital stay. This surgery has been done for 50 years and has been greatly improved. DeWayne's surgeon has been doing this for 27 years.

Thank you all again for your continued prayers and all your love. We are very confident of a successful surgery and great recovery. We love you all and cannot wait to get back home with a new and improved DeWayne. GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!!!!

P.S.
Thank you Theresa (from HCM) for all of your support ,E-Mails, and prayers . I appreciate you giving us your phone number. Mayo has been wonderful. If I have any questions I will give you a call.

Teresa

Day 1 Of Testing

Hello Everybody! We just finished the first day of testing. All went well. Mayo is truly like know other. It is beautiful and runs like a well oiled machine. Everything is on time and everyone there is so helpful. We had one test at ST. Marys and they had a historical room that showed about the hospitals start, first operating table, and surgical instruments (scary!!). The hospital is over 100 years old! Dewayne had the longest echo he's ever had . It took an hour and a half. We go to the cardiologist tomorrow morning at 10:30. One test after that and then consult with the surgeon at 2:30. We will update you as soon as we get all the details.
I want you to know we can feel your prayers and we love you all very much. Thank you so much for all the cards it is very nice to be able to read them and feel a little closer to home. We are reading cards right now. Again thank you so much for your love and prayers.

Teresa

We Made It To Rochester

The day started off good; we got to the airport on time and made it on our flight without any problems. Teresa tends to get motion sickness so we got her some medicine to help with that. All was well until we started to land in Chicago. The ride was getting very bumpy and the pilot had us going to the left and to the right... A LOT! When I looked over at my lovely wife and saw her fingers over her mouth, I knew it wasn't good. Well she's a trooper and we made good use of those little white bags they leave on the plane. Bless her heart, she's going to kill me for telling but it was just soo cute. Thankfully, she did fine on the next flight and we have made it to Rochester. We'll be up early in the morning going for all of the test, so God Bless you all until next time.

Dewayne

Thank You Rutherford County Baptist Church

I would like to thank our church family for making our last service before our trip so special. I thought we would have a great time of prayer after the service for a successful surgery, fast healing, and a safe trip. Well, all that was done and a lot more. Teresa and I were overwhelmed with emotion and we both commented that we didn't think we ever felt the love of God through people as much as we did last night. We will be reading the cards during our entire time on our trip. The cash gift also left us both speechless. We were surprised beyond belief. We drove home in shock, filled with emotion and gratitude. So to all of our church family, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts and we will never forget how special you made us all feel.

Again, thank you for a special night and all of your prayers!

Bro. Dewayne, Teresa, Ashley, & Olivia

Getting Ready

Hello all.
We are getting some last minute items today for our trip and spending time with the kids. It's a pretty day outside and we are going to have a greeeat day! Maybe we can go and get a nice meal today; I'll try not to eat to much so I don't pay for it.... thump, thump, thump!! Thanks to all for the encouragement and tips for the trip.

A big thank you to my co-workers that made my day yesterday. I really like the card signed by so many people and for all those who gave $. I really appreciate the people I work with and look forward to getting back to work. I will be taking all of the cards with me when we go and when I get to thinking too much (I usually don't.. blonde you know) I will pull them out and read them.

Will post again soon. Gotta go for now. /:-)

Dewayne

Getting This Started

We just attended our Wednesday night service and it was a blessing to hear Bro. Dumpert, but I'm looking forward to my Pastor coming back to town. I will be praying for my church family as they are preparing to start a Wednesday night soul winning program next week. Wish I could be there :-( Well I will be back soon.

I have just set this site up so I'm learning as I go. I will be posting again soon. Gotta go to bed so I can get to Thursday faster. LOL

Dewayne