Heart-Valve Replacement Surgery

Mom went in for the valve replacement surgery this morning. They went back and forth on what time frame it would be, from 10am to 1pm, to 10am again to 1pm again. Finally, they came at just after 10am.

Julie and I went with her to the pre-op prep room. There we consulted with the anesthesiologist. Shortly after that, he began his work getting her ready. Julie and I gave hugs and kisses, and 'checked into' the waiting room. Then we went to drop off into the car-trunk all the 'stuff' we had from the hospital room. Whew, now we were a less encumbered and could walk more freely.

Julie was very tired, and very much wanted a bath. The night before was difficult because of the errors the nurse-staff kept making, so Julie was pretty frazzled. Still, she said she just couldn't leave the hospital while Mom was in surgery. So we stopped of for lunch in the cafeteria, and then settled into the waiting room.

Tea, coffee, smoke break, computer working; tea, coffee, smoke break, computer working... Over and over again. At around 2:30ish, someone called us on the phone at the front desk to tell us that they were proceding to put the valve into place.

Tea, coffee, smoke break, computer working; tea, coffee, smoke break, computer working... Finally at around 3:30pm, Dr Guyton came out to update us on the progress. Mom was finished with the surgery, it went well, and they were 'closing up'. They said that due to her age, they had to be extra careful with the closing.

At 4pm, Dr. Thourani came out to discuss the same stuff with us. Surgery went well. There is slight leakage around the new valve, but that's to be expected - probably permanent. The flow through the valve is way better than it was before. They decided not to use the groin aortic artery for catheter observation, and instead went in through an artery in the upper right shoulder. In closing their heart incision, they removed a small portion of one of the ribs in order to have access for the closure. The rest of closure continued and should be done soon.

At 4:30pm, the pager went off, and I took the call at the front desk. Mom was all done with surgery and in the ICU on the 4th floor. Julie was out on a smoke break, so I waited until she returned, and then we moved up there to wait another hour or so for her to get comfortable enough and conscious enough to go in and visit with.