The Patient with the EPIC Picture

 For those of you who know Khadees, you know he has a wonderful sense of humor and likes to keep those around him laughing.  When he was on GT7- Advanced Heart Failure Unit prior to surgery, he was bored.  He realized from the patient portal online, he could change his picture in the EMR system (Epic).  Every few days, he would upload a new selfie, each one as silly as the last, with the goal of making anyone who opened his chart laugh.  A couple of days prior to surgery, he changed his profile picture to the one below.  5 minutes after, admitting called him.  “Sir, are you okay?  We saw your picture in Epic and it looks like you’re screaming.”  Khadees had to explain he’s been changing it every few days to entertain the medical staff.  Almost every person who has opened his chart since then have all said the same thing.  “We love your picture in Epic!”  The story has been told many times over the last 3 days.  

He has continued to do very well clinically.  He is off all pressors and will be weaned off the epi tonight.  As long as tonight goes well tonight, he will probably get his chest tubes removed tomorrow.  He is experiencing a lot of pain and exhaustion, which is expected.  But he has done amazing pushing through the pain and working towards his goal of being home by the end of the month.  We know there is still a long road of recovery ahead, but he is doing so well and working so hard to get there.

Kellan and Stella were able to FaceTime with Khadees tonight.  Tomorrow, they’ll get to see him in person.  I’m not going to have Alice visit in person until he is out of the ICU, but they are all very excited to see him and were so happy to talk to him on the phone.  It is still difficult for him to talk from being extubated, but the kids were super excited to just see him on the video chat.

Some of the amazing nurses came to visit him from GT7 today and brought a basket of goodies and activities for when the kids visit.  It gave Khadees so much encouragement to see the nurses that have been with him every step of the way, and hear them say he was doing so well and that all the pain is normal.  I am so beyond thankful for the amazing medical team we’ve had, both inpatient and outpatient for Khadees.

I’ve had a few people reach out and ask for the link to the Meal Train, so I’m placing that here.  The kids are off school this week and my mom is at home with them.  She has done a wonderful job taking on everything with the kids, but three young kids without school for a week is definitely a lot to take on. The meals are a huge help!

We appreciate all of the messages, encouragement, prayers, and support we have received from everyone.  Khadees is still very tired, but he has started to read texts and Facebook messages and comments.  He feels so much love and support from everyone and it is so comforting to know that he has people from all over keeping him in prayer.  




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