The Story So Far II: Electric Boogaloo
Aug. 19th, 2007 02:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinanjuFirst--thanks to all the well-wishers. I and my family appreciate the good wishes!
So after dad went into surgery we hung around in the surgical waiting room for a while. Had a sausage biscuit from a local fast food franchise and a Pepsi for breakfast--ummm! Breakfast of champions, baby. (But damn it was good!). Dad's sister and her husband showed up while we were there. Eventually I went back to the hotel to take a nap, which I desperately needed. Only slept for an hour and half or so before my brother woke me. He'd gotten a call that dad was out of surgery. I showered and changed and off we went, back to the hospital.
We joined mom and the rest of the family and waited for the doctor to show up and tell us how it went. He was half an hour later than expected, but the news when he finally showed up was good. They did a double by-pass (as the doctor said, whatever they said they were going to do, once they opened him up it was irrelevant--they'd do whatever needed doing). Because dad's aorta is "a calcium brick" (the doctor's exact words) they had to work around it. Monkeying with that carried severe risk of a stroke if some of the blockage got knocked loose. So they did work around it.
The surgery went very well, and ended earlier than expected (which alarmed mom a little when they first told her the surgery was over, since that is sometimes a bad sign). We eventually got to see him briefly in Cardiovascular Recovery. He was still unconscious from the anaesthesia (he still is, as of this writing), of course. They didn't reverse the anaesthesia--they just let it wear off. We're expecting him to wake up around 8 p.m., though it might be earlier and it might be later.
Once dad's awake they'll check that he can move all his arms and legs and only then can they be sure he didn't suffer a stroke during the operation, though the doctor doesn't believe he did. Assuming that's the case, the risk of stroke as a consequence of surgery will recede as time goes by. That's the good news. The bad news is that dad will remain at considerable risk for stroke indefinitely due to the calcification of his aorta. Still, he's had that risk for a long time--as the doctor pointed out, he didn't just develop this calcification overnight; it's been there for a very long time already.
Anyhow...that's the story as of right now. Surgery went well. Double by-pass. He should be recovering from the anaesthesia in a couple of hours, but maybe longer.
So after dad went into surgery we hung around in the surgical waiting room for a while. Had a sausage biscuit from a local fast food franchise and a Pepsi for breakfast--ummm! Breakfast of champions, baby. (But damn it was good!). Dad's sister and her husband showed up while we were there. Eventually I went back to the hotel to take a nap, which I desperately needed. Only slept for an hour and half or so before my brother woke me. He'd gotten a call that dad was out of surgery. I showered and changed and off we went, back to the hospital.
We joined mom and the rest of the family and waited for the doctor to show up and tell us how it went. He was half an hour later than expected, but the news when he finally showed up was good. They did a double by-pass (as the doctor said, whatever they said they were going to do, once they opened him up it was irrelevant--they'd do whatever needed doing). Because dad's aorta is "a calcium brick" (the doctor's exact words) they had to work around it. Monkeying with that carried severe risk of a stroke if some of the blockage got knocked loose. So they did work around it.
The surgery went very well, and ended earlier than expected (which alarmed mom a little when they first told her the surgery was over, since that is sometimes a bad sign). We eventually got to see him briefly in Cardiovascular Recovery. He was still unconscious from the anaesthesia (he still is, as of this writing), of course. They didn't reverse the anaesthesia--they just let it wear off. We're expecting him to wake up around 8 p.m., though it might be earlier and it might be later.
Once dad's awake they'll check that he can move all his arms and legs and only then can they be sure he didn't suffer a stroke during the operation, though the doctor doesn't believe he did. Assuming that's the case, the risk of stroke as a consequence of surgery will recede as time goes by. That's the good news. The bad news is that dad will remain at considerable risk for stroke indefinitely due to the calcification of his aorta. Still, he's had that risk for a long time--as the doctor pointed out, he didn't just develop this calcification overnight; it's been there for a very long time already.
Anyhow...that's the story as of right now. Surgery went well. Double by-pass. He should be recovering from the anaesthesia in a couple of hours, but maybe longer.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-19 10:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-20 01:53 pm (UTC)If you don't mind me asking, how did the doctor "work around" the calcified aorta?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-20 03:31 pm (UTC)They did a double bypass but presumably of other arteries connecting to the heart. But since the doctors did everything that needed doing* once they were in, I assume that while the calcification of the aorta is not a good thing, it wasn't the cause of his problems--it will continue to pose a risk of stroke as it has for a long while.
*Well, aside from fixing the calcium buildup--which they can't really do much about anyhow.