Midgie's OK, PEG Line Operation

November 13, 2006

Dear friends and family,

It is up at 4:30…well I tried to do 4:30am but my body said 5:00! Coffee, feed the cat, get shower, shave, partially dressed, get coffee, pet cat, find socks, get dressed, find light weight jacket, load up small laptop, get books, head out toward Brookwood Hospital. I got there right at 6:30, and they had already taken mom to surgery. Sorry, made coffee for Karen, left her a note in the bathroom and try to remember to call her and get her up!

Get there before she left, well I tied. I saw Michael, her RN but did not see the night nurse as they were already making shift changes and no one seemed to know exactly when she left? But I get info from Christy Harris that I need to talk to surgery and the lab and verbally again consent to this procedure for our Midgie. Christy soon brings me a copy to sign to make it official.

Mom came through things OK but sleepy big time. I brought my laptop to do some Zeigler work and thought I would answer a few questions about mom now. She is on two new heart medications Digoxin and Altrace, both to help her cardiac output. Currently the nurse practitioner said her heart is currently at 35% and 55% is normal and this she feels mom will attain when she wakes up from this operation.

The peg tube in her side will assist in making sure her medication and nutrition are sufficient to maintain and even gain some weight back. The physical therapist came in but again mom was too sleepy to do much good this am, so she said she would come back this afternoon. Michael is her nurse today and I saw Shana again from Sunday.
Both nurses are good with mom and attentive to her needs.

I wonder how long she is suppose to sleep after this surgery? The surgery was about 8:00am or so, and she came back from recovery at 9:45am. It is now 1:35pm and she is snoring away. I was hoping to be able to tell you she was alert and eating and making conversation but each time I try, I get put off. But I am not almost 92 years old! As long as it does not hurt her recovery, enjoy the nap mom. I will wing it filling in the blanks later.

Doctors of record.
Dr. Kahn is her GP or hospitalist here at Brookwood
Dr. Chapman is her cardiologist I have met.
Dr. Shaver was the internist and/or surgeon that did mom’s peg tube today.
Dr. Elliot is the cardiologist that saw her this past weekend.
Dr. Cohen is another cardiologist in this same group
Dr Goyal is another cardiologist in this same group.

I ate lunch at 12:45pm and mom is still sleeping. Michael and I tried to temp her with ice cream, but no such luck. Jack called about 2:30 and he was there by 3:00pm. We both tried several times to rouse mom but she would slip back into sleep without blinking an eye. The three of us talked and really believe she is still sleeping off the anesthesia and it may be tonight before she really wakes up. Mike would be there until 7:00pm and he would pass all our observations off to the 7:00pm to 7:00am nurse, I now know is Christy.

Jack and I told them to call either of us if we were needed and either or both would come back ASAP. He suggested calling the nurses station after 8:00pm giving mom a few more hours to get over this. I called at 8:10 and Jack called at 8:15! Christy got a double dose of the Nutter Brothers checking on her and Jack’s report was better than mine as Christy got mom roused up enough to tell her that her son’s were calling about her and wanted to know how she was.

Mom said (yawning) “But where are they?” Don’t go there! She tried to explain to mother she had been asleep 10 to 12 hours and I had spent the day and Jack was there also. Christy said she is now waking up and hopefully she can get a snack in with her medications for the night. It was a long day and this boy (as is Jack) heading for bed. Both of us have full days tomorrow and Jack said he will check on her tomorrow afternoon and I will probably just get to call.

Thanks for all the prayers and Jack, thank Kay from St. Marks who came by earlier in the day. She visited mom at Ashton Gables and here and has a thanks from all the Nutter/Northcutt family. Keep the cards, letters, and prayers coming in. I have 4 cards from friends and from 1st Presbyterian to deliver on my next visit. News at 11:00pm!
Love to all,
Sons Jeff and Jack