Tia Update 17

10:00PM  Tia had a follow up appointment with the Cardiothoracic Nurse Practitioner early this morning.  We had a hard time getting to the hospital thanks to all of the ice.  Dallas/Ft Worth is not well prepared to handle such northern temperatures!  We checked in at the Cardiology Clinic and were sent to the lab for bloodwork then to Radiology for chest x-rays.  When we returned to the Clinic, the Nurse Practitioner came out right away and told us that her Potassium was very very low.  She said, "Did they have trouble drawing the blood? Did they draw from her finger?  Maybe her blood clotted?"  We knew that none of these issues happened.  Tia was lucky enough to land the BEST phlebotomy technician at CMC Dallas, our very favorite Ms Carleen!  Tia is cool as a cucumber when she has her blood drawn and appreciates a great lab tech.  We had her labs repeated and confirmed that her Potassium and Chloride were abnormally low which indicates arrhythmia.  Tia was also running a fever and her heart sounded like there was an extra beat through the stethoscope.     She heard the rumblings that she was going to be re-admitted and that was news Miss Tia did not want to hear.  Her EKG didn't show any major issues, just some slight variations to a normal rhythm.  Then she went for an echo cardiogram.  Her echo was beautiful - her new valve is working very well and her right ventricle is responding well to it.  After discussion with her excellent regular Cardiologist, we were admitted to the Cardiac Floor of the hospital rather than the ICU.  A member of the IV team came to her room to start her IV for the Potassium drip and that didn't go so well.  The IV Team member was fabulous - very kind and sensitive to Tia.  Unfortunately her veins have been poked so much that she has bruises all over both of her hands and where there isn't a bruise, she has scar tissue.  After a failed attempt, she ended up with an IV on the underside of her arm.  Then 4 hours later, she had another blood draw to test her potassium... #5 'stick' of the day.  Tia claims today to be "the worst day ever".  It's been a long one for all of us.