Back in the States

Medical for Wes
We flew from Ulaanbaatar to Salt Lake City on the evening of Tuesday June 8 by way of Seoul, Korea and LA. The Church kindly flew us business class; 5 tickets were purchased – one for Wes, one for Joan, one for Dr. Eliason, one for the oxygen tank, and one for Dr. Eliason to return to UB. We appreciated Dr. Eliason accompanying us in case there were problems. We flew as far as LA with Korean Airlines which provides great service.

Bonnie, Marjorie, and Jacob met us at the airport in Salt Lake on the afternoon of Wednesdsay June 9 (Salt Lake time is 14 hours earlier than UB time). We went directly from the airport to the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray where Wes was admitted. On Thursday morning (June 10) they did a cardiac catheterization and inserted two stents. What follows is Bonnie’s medical report for the record.

"On Thursday morning (June 10) they did a cardiac catheterization. The cardiologist confirmed the inferior MI. Wes now has Q waves in leads II, III, & AVF. He had two lesions in the branches off the right coronary artery (PDA & PLV). They placed stents in both of these areas, and he now has good blood flow. He also has a significant lesion in his left anterior descending artery. They did not feel that it was safe to stent that artery today because he has a history of being allergic to contrast dye. Also his creatinine was a little high at 1.8. As a result he will have another cardiac catheterization in 2 or 3 weeks.

"Thursday night he had an echocardiogram. It showed that his ejection fraction was 55% which was great. In the angiogram it showed that he still had blood flow through the lesions so there was still some perfusion although the inferior wall was hypokinetic. The cardiologist, however, expects this to improve."

On the day Wes entered the hospital for his cardiac cath, MyrLene was also in the hospital as an outpatient. We saw Stan, but missed seeing MyrLene.

We were grateful Wes did well after the procedure and didn’t have to have open heart surgery. He was released from the hospital the next day on Friday. The two stents placed on June 10 were in the area that caused his heart attack. An appointment was scheduled for Monday June 28 to place the 3rd stent in his left anterior descending artery.

Wes didn’t make it until June 28 without having chest pain again. On Saturday June 26 Wes’ chest pains recurred. John Conrad and I took him in the evening from Kaysville to the Emergency Room at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray where they immediately admitted him. The hospital said he didn’t have another heart attack, but they kept him in the hospital where they could give him medication and monitor him until his scheduled stent insertion.

On this second hospital visit I became concerned because Wes’ blood sugar went up to 400. They kept giving him insulin in the hospital to bring it down. I believe it went that high because of the injections they gave him because of his dye allergy. His blood sugar is now back where it should be with medication. Wes didn’t seem to spring back as quickly after the last stent, but he’s doing fine now.

Home Again and Family
We didn’t anticipate returning home to the States so soon; we wanted to stay and continue our mission in Mongolia. We do miss our friends in Mongolia. However, it does feel good to be in the States and be with family again. We’ve been able to see all of our children, Wes’ brothers and two of his sisters, and my brother.

Bonnie and Jacob flew in from California and stayed for a week to help us. They left on June 16 to return in time for Austin’s junior high graduation. Suzanne and Cheryl came late in the evening of June 23 to visit with Dad and stayed for several days. We appreciated all the visits.

We’ve also enjoyed seeing our friends from Ukiah. We’ve seen Marc and Leanne Irwin, Steve and Margie Fowler, Carl and Sharon Morgensen, and Darwin and Nina Richardson. We were able to attend Chase Irwin’s wedding reception in Salt Lake (June 17). Carl and Sharon drove their Toyota Avalon from California to Utah since they are entering the MTC on July 5. We bought their car from them and are enjoying it.

Besides visiting with Stan and MyrLene, our family went to their home on June 26 where we also saw Frank and Roberta. (That evening Wes went to the emergency room.) Scott and Crystal came to Marjorie’s on July 3, and Steve and Linda came by on July 11.

We’ve been busy with the grandchildren. We see them often. The only grandchildren we haven’t seen are Austin in California, and then Suzanne’s children whom we’ll see this fall.

On Father’s Day the family got together at Marjorie’s. For the 4th of July celebration on July 3 we attended the Kaysville Parade in the morning, had a BBQ in the afternoon, and watched fireworks in the evening.

This coming week from July 21 to July 24 we’ll go camping at Yellowstone with Marjorie’s, John’s, William’s, and Wendy’s families. We are staying at a KOA in West Yellowstone.

We’re still in Utah. We’ll finally drive home on July 27 after Wes’ followup visit with Dr. Miner. We appreciate Marjorie’s hospitality. She didn’t know we’d be staying with her for almost 7 weeks.