Keeping Pace

In preparation for Kristine's transfer to a rehabilitation center, Jim (Kristine's dad) and I took a tour of one of the facilities recommended by our team of doctors. The center is within the Penn Health network and is located in the newly renovated Graduate Hospital (now called Pennsylvania Hospital at Rittenhouse). It is a brand new facility with spacious single bedrooms, private accessible bathrooms and brand new rehabilitation equipment. The staff is a mixture of those from Penn Hospital and the Hospital at the University of Penn so they bring a wealth of experience with them. The location of the center is also very convenient being within walking distance from our house. Kristine's parents, not being used to big city parking, are certainly happy about this feature.

Once Kristine is cleared for discharge in the next couple of days she will be on her way to rehab. But as is often the case lately we have more news to digest that could complicate her transition. It seams that Kristine's heart is beating irregularly, meaning that her heart is skipping beats and taking irregular pauses. As you can imagine this is pretty dangerous especially as she gets ready to exert more energy in rehabilitation. The doctors are not certain what is causing the problem. They initially believed that it could be related to the tumor that was removed from her brain or the surgery conducted to resect it. If it is directly related to the surgery Kristine would potentially need a pacemaker to keep her heart rate steady. However, as recently as this morning the doctors shifted a bit to thinking it may be a temporary symptom. For the short term she is on a medication called Theophylline (typically used for airway troubles in asthma patients but has a secondary or "off-brand" use to increase the heart rate). The MRI that Kristine has agreed to have (she has been resistant to a post surgical MRI) will give us more insight into just how serious the problem is. We are really hoping that this new development does not require surgical implementation of a pacemaker. There is a point were additional procedures become inhumane and risk sending Kristine over the edge psychologically.

Kristine's sister Stephanie flew into town yesterday evening. This should give Kristine some additional motivation to move forward. Today's goal: get her out of bed, maybe in a chair and playing a hand or two of cards.