At the hospital
Well we didn’t get much sleep but we’re here! Dinner was great last night by the way, it was a neat little place in midtown. It’s restaurant week so they had a few selections from a tasting menu.
They took Amanda back to the pre-op room quickly, I’ll join her in a bit before she goes back. Surgery probably won’t start till 8 and should last around 4 hours or so.
Please pray for no complications during the surgery and that this stent won’t have any problems and will last.
Already out
The doctor just came out, everything went really good. There were a few other doctors accompanying him from the valve company. They explained a little more about the valves placement and even had a video to show me. The surgery went quicker than we expected. Her stent procedure took over 4 hours, this one was only about 2 hours. I haven’t been back to see her yet but I’m sure they’ll let me back soon.
Please pray that her pain will be under control and everything continues to go smoothly.
In recovery
I just went back to see her. She’s doing good and didn’t seem to be in much pain. I was a little surprised the pain wasn’t to bad, praise God for that. She was waking up from the sedation and wasn’t to talkative but wanted me to hold her hand. They had her all wrapped up like a little Eskimo with about 5 or 6 blankets even one on her head! She always gets supper cold in the OR. They still have to prep her to move but hopefully she will stay the same, with little pain. I was only able to stay about 5 minutes but once they get her ready she’ll be moved to a room for overnight observation, I’ll be able to join her then. Please pray the pain remains minimal and she is able to stay comfortable as they begin to get her ready to transfer.
In a room
She still doing good the pain is minimal but she is nauseous. They had to go through both sides of her groin and also her neck. The nausea was so bad that she started coughing hard and it caused her neck incision to start bleeding. They had to hold pressure for a while to stop the bleed so she’s a little sore. That is a minor complication compared to what we’ve seen in past surgeries. Her nausea is better now but they did have to give her a couple medications to get it under control.
She will need to be on bed rest for 18 hours, much longer than we anticipated. The holes in the groin are large so they have room to pass the valve through and are much larger than a normal cath procedure. She will be able to roll on her side in 6 hours but no sitting up, standing or walking till 4 in the morning. The bedrest is strict because she could start bleeding from the large groin sites. After her first cath procedure many years ago she got out of bed to early and had massive bleeding, we don’t want that to happen again. They’ve already taken her back to a room I’m just waiting for them to get her settled and then I’ll to go back.
Still doing good
She’s awake much more now and there’s hardly any pain except for her neck and her back is sore now from laying down so long. Her neck started bleeding under the skin this time so they had to hold pressure again. It’s is also raw from the bandages they use. She usually has a reaction to the bandages but they have a different kind on now and it looks better. We’re in the room now but it’s not private.
We were by ourselves for a while but then had another patient come it with her two daughters. They were speaking English until they noticed I was awake then they swapped to Hindi. Needless to say it wasn’t quite the entire time they were here and they weren’t soft spoken at all. A family feud ensued at one point between the sisters! I was on the verge of saying something but then I overheard they were moving to another room. We have been through recovery from surgery more times than I can count, I don’t think people understand how multiple family members in the room are usually never good for recovery. From what I’ve observed not many can hold their arguments for the waiting room and not in front of their patient whom is just coming to out of surgery. That is never good for recovery but what do you do they’re family right! Thank goodness for them getting another room, we should be alone till we leave now.
The doctor came by to check on things, he was pleased with everything and will come by again in the morning. He said he should have us out between 10 and noon tomorrow. I was able to sneak off and get a late lunch before he showed up, an amazing hospital cafeteria lunch it was. The line was long for the fresh cooked food so I ended up with a baked potato with chili and a side of potstickers! Hopefully I’ll grab something a little better before I head back to the hotel. The nurses always hound Amanda to eat something after surgery but she never feels like anything till the next day.
The regular cardiologist also came by for visit, it was good to see him. He’s a little socially awkward and laughs at odd times, it always cracks me up. He’s been a good doctor who pretty much is liaison on surgeries and will always find other doctors and surgeons to get things done. It was a little hard to get ahold of him when we first started seeing him but he’s very available now after we voiced concern about not being able to reach him. We have his cell number now and he quickly responds to texts when the office won’t connect us with him.
There’s an oversized “Barkley” size chair in here so got a little cat nap in while Amanda was resting earlier. I’ll ease off to the hotel in a bit so I can get some sleep, I want to be back early so I don’t miss the doctors visit. I’ll grab Amanda a fountain Doctor Pepper on the way, that will make everything better!