So, my dad had heart surgery today, to fix a severely leaking mitral valve. It was successful, the leak is now gone and he's recovering.
It was scheduled for around noon but he had to wait until 2:20 or so due to an emergency surgery, he was very calm, and knew he had to have it done.
They called us every 30 minutes or so to keep us updated on the progress of the surgery, they said if it was bad news they'd come out and tell us but luckily they didn't have to do that. They called us when they made the incision, when they repaired the valve, when they were placing him on and off the heart/lung machine, and when they were closing.
We were able to go in and see him for a short time while he was in ICU, he wasn't as swollen as I thought he would be, he was still sleeping of course, the nurse said he was meeting all of his goals for post-op and they would probably remove the vent later tonight after he woke up. And they are going to get him up and in a chair by tomorrow night. He'll walk a little bit by tomorrow night and more each day. His heart rate was 105 (which is high, but of course he had just got out of surgery), which was great to see, since his heart was unable to pump properly his rate was low. They were giving him a mild blood pressure medicine to try and keep that low until he heals some more.
He'll have to be on an anti-clot mediciation for about a month, but they said he will probably not require heart meds or anti-clot meds the rest of his life
This started a little earlier then I expected:
Last Friday I was standing outside with him after his pre-op blood/x-ray etc.. and he was complaining about being sleepy, so he leaned back on the pole. The next thing I know he was stumbling sideways and almost passed out, he fell on his shoulder on the ground and turned as white as a sheet, I yelled for help, and luckily a nurse was there, and they got him into a wheel chair and wheeled him inside to the ER. They took his vitals and got him a bed..... They determined it was probably due to his low heart rate caused by all the medicines to keep it low. X-ray's were negative on anything broken. So he stayed admitted to the hospital until today's surgery.
It was scheduled for around noon but he had to wait until 2:20 or so due to an emergency surgery, he was very calm, and knew he had to have it done.
They called us every 30 minutes or so to keep us updated on the progress of the surgery, they said if it was bad news they'd come out and tell us but luckily they didn't have to do that. They called us when they made the incision, when they repaired the valve, when they were placing him on and off the heart/lung machine, and when they were closing.
We were able to go in and see him for a short time while he was in ICU, he wasn't as swollen as I thought he would be, he was still sleeping of course, the nurse said he was meeting all of his goals for post-op and they would probably remove the vent later tonight after he woke up. And they are going to get him up and in a chair by tomorrow night. He'll walk a little bit by tomorrow night and more each day. His heart rate was 105 (which is high, but of course he had just got out of surgery), which was great to see, since his heart was unable to pump properly his rate was low. They were giving him a mild blood pressure medicine to try and keep that low until he heals some more.
He'll have to be on an anti-clot mediciation for about a month, but they said he will probably not require heart meds or anti-clot meds the rest of his life
This started a little earlier then I expected:
Last Friday I was standing outside with him after his pre-op blood/x-ray etc.. and he was complaining about being sleepy, so he leaned back on the pole. The next thing I know he was stumbling sideways and almost passed out, he fell on his shoulder on the ground and turned as white as a sheet, I yelled for help, and luckily a nurse was there, and they got him into a wheel chair and wheeled him inside to the ER. They took his vitals and got him a bed..... They determined it was probably due to his low heart rate caused by all the medicines to keep it low. X-ray's were negative on anything broken. So he stayed admitted to the hospital until today's surgery.
