Day Three
Posted 10:45 pm on Friday, December 10 (though it seemed like weeks since the beginning of the ordeal):
We just got back from the hospital, after another long day today. Apparently Dad was conscious before we got there, and my sisters got to talk to him a bit, but he was asleep for both of the first two visiting half-hours, so Mom and I didn't get communicative time with him until tonight! Even tonight he was pretty much asleep, though he was a bit more responsive to Mom when it was just her, I believe. He doesn't look a lot different today than yesterday (though we saw today that their idea of a "small" incision on his leg is WOW, long) but he feels better to the touch, warmer and more comfortable. (And they put Blue's clues-covered socks on his feet, so they hid the non-pedicure and kept him warmer that way!) And his non-conscious periods seemed to be true sleep, not sedation -- his face was active (dreams?) and his legs would move a bit at times. So that's a good thing, I hope.
The interesting part today is that the surgeon came and talked to us for a long while. He admitted today that he and the cardiologist the first night were debating under whose care he'd die -- whether the surgery would kill him outright, or if his heart would give out just after. Scary. But he has done SO much better than they expected (and they didn't know my Dad -- he doesn't give up that easy and comes from strong stock -- and had NO idea of the enormous network of prayer and support he has!) that he now feels confident that, barring infection or other complications, Dad should make a more or less full recovery.
Dad's blood pressure is much more stable than yesterday, though still not perfect, and all his other vitals are good -- it was such a relief to watch the heart monitor today and see it doing rhythmic, two-part beats. But Dad is not completely out of the woods yet. The right side of his heart is almost completely non-functional at the moment. The right side pumps to the lungs, and the left to the rest of the body, so the right has the easier load to start. If it recovers, fabulous. If not, the left is often able to compensate. We asked the surgeon what happens if *neither* of those options takes place, and he said that means he'll have a weak heart and need a lot of care indefinitely. They don't know yet if that side of the heart is dead or just strained, but based on other signs he suspects it's just very, very badly strained, and he thinks it will mostly (but probably not all) return to normal functionality.
Dad is still in intensive care and will be for a while. (We overheard another family's doctor saying their mom would be out of IC less than 24 hours after a quad bypass -- that's what a difference a scheduled bypass makes, rather than an emergency, post-heart-attack bypass!) So I can't even assume that the recovery will be longer than they say yet, because they can't even begin to say how long it will be!
Tomorrow and Sunday will be two more long hospital days for me -- we'll try to get in earlier to see him awake, if that's going to be his awake time. They do like him to be sedated mostly, not only because of the pain, but because the majority of the healing has to happen when he's fully relaxed. I belive we will have to return home on Sunday night or Monday morning, and I'm dreading leaving -- my prayer is that he can be tube-free by then (or significantly tube-reduced) but I don't think he will be. I will be impatient to return.
Please keep praying. This isn't over yet, but our prayers are definitely being heard.
We just got back from the hospital, after another long day today. Apparently Dad was conscious before we got there, and my sisters got to talk to him a bit, but he was asleep for both of the first two visiting half-hours, so Mom and I didn't get communicative time with him until tonight! Even tonight he was pretty much asleep, though he was a bit more responsive to Mom when it was just her, I believe. He doesn't look a lot different today than yesterday (though we saw today that their idea of a "small" incision on his leg is WOW, long) but he feels better to the touch, warmer and more comfortable. (And they put Blue's clues-covered socks on his feet, so they hid the non-pedicure and kept him warmer that way!) And his non-conscious periods seemed to be true sleep, not sedation -- his face was active (dreams?) and his legs would move a bit at times. So that's a good thing, I hope.
The interesting part today is that the surgeon came and talked to us for a long while. He admitted today that he and the cardiologist the first night were debating under whose care he'd die -- whether the surgery would kill him outright, or if his heart would give out just after. Scary. But he has done SO much better than they expected (and they didn't know my Dad -- he doesn't give up that easy and comes from strong stock -- and had NO idea of the enormous network of prayer and support he has!) that he now feels confident that, barring infection or other complications, Dad should make a more or less full recovery.
Dad's blood pressure is much more stable than yesterday, though still not perfect, and all his other vitals are good -- it was such a relief to watch the heart monitor today and see it doing rhythmic, two-part beats. But Dad is not completely out of the woods yet. The right side of his heart is almost completely non-functional at the moment. The right side pumps to the lungs, and the left to the rest of the body, so the right has the easier load to start. If it recovers, fabulous. If not, the left is often able to compensate. We asked the surgeon what happens if *neither* of those options takes place, and he said that means he'll have a weak heart and need a lot of care indefinitely. They don't know yet if that side of the heart is dead or just strained, but based on other signs he suspects it's just very, very badly strained, and he thinks it will mostly (but probably not all) return to normal functionality.
Dad is still in intensive care and will be for a while. (We overheard another family's doctor saying their mom would be out of IC less than 24 hours after a quad bypass -- that's what a difference a scheduled bypass makes, rather than an emergency, post-heart-attack bypass!) So I can't even assume that the recovery will be longer than they say yet, because they can't even begin to say how long it will be!
Tomorrow and Sunday will be two more long hospital days for me -- we'll try to get in earlier to see him awake, if that's going to be his awake time. They do like him to be sedated mostly, not only because of the pain, but because the majority of the healing has to happen when he's fully relaxed. I belive we will have to return home on Sunday night or Monday morning, and I'm dreading leaving -- my prayer is that he can be tube-free by then (or significantly tube-reduced) but I don't think he will be. I will be impatient to return.
Please keep praying. This isn't over yet, but our prayers are definitely being heard.
posted by Emily @ 11:38 PM
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