Well that took a while, but we’re all home!
Brian is a little bit jaundice and the pediatricians wanted to make sure that was under control before he was discharged. Everything seems ok, so we got the go ahead to come home. We didn't get home until about 7pm, but we're happy to be spending the 1st night with all FIVE of us under the same roof.
Jennifer and Caroline were beside themselves to see Brian when we got home.
It’s a BOY!!
Brian Michael Grous
Arrived on Thursday, May 7, 2009
9:15 AM
10 pounds, 0 ounces
21 ½ inches long
With love,
Beth, Paul, Jennifer and Caroline Grous
Bag is packed.
Have to leave home at 5 to be at the hospital by 6am for the 8am "appointment".
Jennifer and Caroline become big sisters tomorrow.
9/16/08 - we call this one "stick" ![]() |
12/12/08 - head profile ![]() |
2/27/09 - 30 weeks - 3D profile of face ![]() |


or beating more rapidly than the lower section of your heart. You feel an uncomfortable flutter in your chest or like your heart is going to jump out of your ribs or that your heart is "flip-flopping around." Your pulse is irregular and/or more rapid than normal. Someone described their A-Fib as "...like a motor idling too fast in my chest." You may feel lightheaded, very tired, have shortness of breath, sweating and chest pain, and sometimes a distressing need for frequent urination (it isn't clear how A-Fib and frequent urination are related).
Dad looks great and more tubes are being detached from him. Mom said he moved from the C-ICU this afternoon to a regular patient room on the 8th floor. He'll stay there until he is discharged, which could be Friday or Saturday.

Alice just got an update from the nurse. Dad is doing fine this morning. The surgeon called the hospital to check on him at midnight.
There's still blood coming out of the tube from his chest. They are not doing anything about it, but are monitoring it.
He was sitting in a chair. He didn't want to get up, but they made him.
He's complaining that he can't take a deep breath, which is somewhat normal.
He is not complaining of pain. He was given a Percaset rather than morphine, which was making him nauseous.
He's drinking. Had to in order to get the Percaset down.
His delicious breakfast this morning consists of a clear liquid diet. Sounds yummy. If tolerated, then he can move on to other solid foods.
Looking forward to seeing him later this morning.
We left the hospital at about 4:30 and got to Mom and Dad's about 5:00.
When we left, Dad was off the ventilator breathing on his own. He was given some morphine to ease the discomfort of the surgery. He could talk with us, but since his throat is very sore, he struggled to get a one word sentence out. He was groggy.
The nurse suggested that he get some rest and it probably would be best if we went home for the night. Better to save his energy rather than trying to converse with us.
We called the hospital just before the nurse Leanne went off duty at 7pm. She said the bleeding in chest area that was being drained by tubes was more than they'd prefer to see, but were controlling it by giving him additional blood units. Other than that, he was doing very well.
He feels the sensation of not breathing in enough, but that's exactly normal and expected.
Visiting hours for the ICU don't begin until 11am, so we'll head over and see him then. Mom, Alice, and Paul will taken the "morning" shift. Carolyn will head over in the "afternoon" shift, and Jerry will take the "night" shift. We want him to know we're there for him, but not overwhelm him with too much activity. We're expecting that he'll be fairly alert tomorrow, and possibly sitting up. They will want him to move around so that he doesn't develop blood clots in his legs, since he's been lying in a bed for most of the week.
Carolyn just called the hospital a few minutes ago for an update. They said he's doing fine and resting. The blood from the chest area has subsided a bit. The nurse said that she wouldn't be surprised if he moved out of the K-ICU tomorrow.
What a day! It's not every day someone literally holds your beating heart in their hands.
Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. They worked.
We went from the ICU to the "Bistro" for lunch. Then, we went back to the ICU.
Dad was much more alert when we came back. He recognized us when we spoke to him and was responding to our questions with gestures. We told him that he did a terrifc job. He feels very uncomfortable with the breathing tube, but that's very normal. Of course, it's easy for us to tell him that, but he's the one with it in his throat.
The breathing tube is causing him discomfort and he would like it taken out, but he can't come off the ventilator until he's breathing on his own. The ventilator is assisting him right now. We stayed for about 15 minutes, but we felt that we may have been exciting him too much as the nurses were trying to do a breathing test to see if they should take the tube out now, or sedate him for 4 more hours and take it out later. They'd rather do it sooner than later, just better for his future sore throat.
I think they were going to take it out, and when asked if he wanted it he made the praying motion indicating "YES, get this thing out".
At 12:45 we were allowed to visit Dad in the ICU. We stayed for 15 minutes. Normally only 2 people can go in the ICU at a time, but the day of surgery is an exception. All 5 of us were there.
He was very, very groggy but was moving his arms, legs and shifting around the bed, which was a very welcome sight. He was responding to the nurse's commands like wiggle your toes and squeeze my hand.
He won't remember any of that visit, but it was good for us to see him moving under his own power.
Dr. Highbloom concluded surgery and just met with us. He told us the surgery went very, very well and Dad is doing fine.
He had 3 bypasses put in, the 3 most important ones. He's in the process of being moved to ICU, which will take about an hour or so before we can see him.
They did not have to take veins from his legs or arms, rather they took them from the chest / mammory arteries, which is good too, since they didn't have to cut open his legs or arms.
His heart is beating on it's own and was never stopped. He's not on any medications or blood products (yet). The intibation went well, no problems. He'll be on the breathing tube until they determine he is strong enough to breath on his own.
He'll have all sorts of tubes and wires coming out his neck, mouth, chest, etc.
Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.
Leanne Mader just gave us a tour of the K-ICU ward. Leanne will be Dad's nurse while there. She showed us which bed (#19) he'll be in and told us what to expect. Tubes, monitors, IV's, etc.
After surgery, he'll go from the O.R. to the K-ICU, where they have a 1 to 1 nurse patient ratio. He's directly in front of the nurse's station and will be the only cardiac patient in the K-ICU. He'll be there until at least tomorrow.
After K-ICU, he'll be moved to the C-ICU, the Cardiac ICU, on the 8th floor, where they have a 1 to 3 nurse to patient ratio. He'll be in the C-ICU for a day or two, depending on how well he's recovering.
After the C-ICU, he'll be moved to a PCU room, also on the 8th floor, similar to the room he was in the past few days. That has a 1 to 5 nurse to patient ratio.
That was nice of her to give us the tour.
Dr. Highbloom, the cardiac surgeon came in this and told Dad that any concerns they had about pulmonary issues are non-existent. Very good news.
Richard Y. Highbloom, M.D will be the sole cardiac surgeon for the entire procedure. He has been doing this surgery for the past 16 years.
The surgery is schedule first thing on Monday morning at Cooper Hospital in Camden, NJ.
Here's the rough schedule:
6:30am - Moved to the staging area
7:15am - Anastesia administered
Operation will last 4 to 6 hours
Moved to ICU after to stabilize
Then to a room for 4 to 6 days.
When discharged home, he'll be on a very restricted activity basis, likely bedrest only.
He's busy reading up on the procedure and signing lots of papers right now.
The pulmonary doctor's tests indicate that Dad's chest and lungs should be strong enough to support his breathing during the bypass recovery process. He cleared him for surgery.
Bypass surgery could be on Monday or Tuesday.
Alice, Kristen and baby Addison are flying up from Florida tonight and heading back on Wednesday.
Quick update...some test results are in, but no go/no go decision on bypass surgery yet.
Ultrasound - discovered a small module (<0.75mm) on his thyroid. Not entirely sure what that means yet.
XRays of the lungs - discovered he has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and also discovered he has emphysema. Alice and I are guessing it's a mild case because he doesn't seem to have much difficulty breathing to us. COPD affects the tubes that carry air in/out of the lungs. I'll have to look up more on that later.
Cat scan of lungs - scheduled for later today.
Breathing test - done, but results not back yet.
Dad's had Ankylosing Spondylitis since he was 20. Many doctors are not familiar with it and in fact for a long time they treated him for a stomach issue instead. There's concern that the Ankylosing Spondylitis may cause his chest expansion to be limited after bypass surgery, and that his lungs may not be able to provide enough oxygen to his heart. So, there's a series of tests to determine if it will be an issue in recovery from possible bypass surgery. If you can't breath after the surgery, then the bypass surgery may not be an option.
The pulmonary doctor listened to Dad's breathing this afternoon. He did not hear anything that would indicate an issue, but the real test is the chest xray/MRI.
This morning, he had an issue with the plug from the cardio cath. It caused a hemotoma, a collection of blood, under the skin around the plug. Some painful pressure relieved it, but the took him down a cat scan of the area to check it out. Apparently this happens only 2% of the time. Wish he were that lucky in the lottery too!
He's scheduled for an MRI, or xray, later tonight for the chest/lungs.
Tomorrow is a pulmonary breathing test, similar to an asthma breathing test.
After all these test results are in, the cardiologist, cardiac surgeon, and pulmonary doctors will get together and consult to see if bypass is a viable option, and present the options. Cooper seems to have scheduled him for bypass surgery on Friday, assuming everything looks good.
However, we not sure Cooper Hospital is the optimal place to have open heart surgery, so we're looking at other options. Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center is in Camden NJ down the street from Cooper and has much more experience and we're exploring transferring him there. Carolyn is consulting with the chief cardiac surgeon at Lourdes and initial indications are that they would accept him as a patient. If he's transferred to Lourdes, and bypass is possible, then surgery would likely be sometime early next week.
Here's the update after the surgeon's consultation.
4 arteries are blocked. The 100% one is small and not the main concern. The main concern is the 90% one, which is a major artery. The others are 70% blocked.
If there are several blockages, it's generally better to do the bypass surgery. This is the case with Dad. If they are close to the beginning of the artery, it's also better, which again is his case.
However, he also was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis. What is that? It's a form of arthritis that affects the spine, neck and chest among other areas. It can affect the heart valves, although that's not the case here - rather his valves are affected due to age. Nor did Ankylosing Spondylitis cause the blockages.
Ankylosing Spondylitis can affect your breathing, chest, and ribcage. What does this mean? Well, tomorrow he will undergo a breathing test. Bypass surgery is not an option if he fails the breathing test because his lungs wouldn't be strong enough to support him and he'd have to be on a ventilator for the rest of his life.
At this point, bypass is the best option, so we hope the breathing test goes well. If so, then the surgeon can do bypass surgery on Thursday or Friday.
If bypass surgery is not a viable option, then other options include:
1) another catheterization to put some stents in to deter the blockages, but
not possible on the major artery.
2) drugs to help relieve some pressure pain, but won't fix the problem.
So, we'll see what the breathing test results are to see what the next step will be.
He's resting at Cooper Hospital watching the Phillies game.