Thursday, November 15, 2012

The Heart of the matter!

It's been an eventful month - Ron has been unsteady - falling - with a bit of 'dementia' in the evenings.  The liver team has been following him closely......but we now know - after a 'wake-up' call from his old heart - we were barking up the wrong tree.

Tuesday, November 13th

10:00am - a call from Ron - he was having chest pains - I told him to call 911 - and I 'raced' home.  I called and alerted the kids - Brittany loaded the kids and headed to our house.

Paramedics were in place when I arrived home - Ron was having chest pain with pain and tingling down his left arm.

He was transported to 'our' hospital, Piedmont (Atlanta) - the same hospital where he received his liver transplant in February 2011.

After a couple of nitroglycerin tabs - the chest pain disappeared - he was evaluated by the cardiologist (Dr. Taylor).........it was decided he would be observed overnight -  stress test ordered for Wednesday (with a back-up plan for a heart catherization, if needed on Thursday).

Tuesday evening he had another cardiac episode at 10:00pm. The plan changed - nix the stress test and straight to cath lab Wednesday morning.

Wednesday, November 14th

The heart cath presented with 3 blockages -  in the front top left main artery (90%), bottom front left main artery (70%) and a smaller one on the right side.

Because Ron's kidneys are a bit sluggish - it was decided he would be hydrated overnight to flush out the dye given during the heart catherization -  bypass surgery scheduled for first thing Thursday morning.

With a nitroglycerin IV drip - he had an uneventful Wednesday night.

Thursday, November 15th - Heart Surgery Day!

7:30am - Taken to operating room
9:45am - Vein harvesting (yuck)
10:12am - Chest incision
10:45am - Placed on heart/lung bypass machine
12:00pm - Surgery over - triple bypass - heart is good - watching the kidneys
2:00pm - Visited Ron in ICU - he looks good - looks better than after liver transplant - he opened his eyes a couple of times - nodded yes to a question from the nurse - breathing tube in place - Ron is calm.  If all goes well - the breathing tube should be removed in 4-6 hours.

I have to thank everyone (family and friends) for all their support - we've got a long road ahead - but with all the support - we're going to make it.

More updates soon.






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