Thank You

I am currently living temporarily with my 73 year-old aunt while she waits the six-week-period they told her not to drive in.

Going into it, of course my mom (her sister) and I were worried for her as she was scheduled for a double bypass, but bypasses seem so common now, we did not realize what she was in for, because we haven’t had heart surgeries.

We arrived at St. Lukes in Houston where we live at 6 AM and I think some unexpected emergencies came up because she did not get into a room just before they prepped her until noon. We were all agitated about the wait but we were quickly snapped out of those selfish things we let bug us when the nurse came out for the first update.

She told us that my aunt came in with her heart working at 25% and I could see a tinge of worry in the nurses eye even though she was reassuring. A double bypass was now going to be a quadruple bypass. She did make it clear that she COULD NOT not give us any idea what the chances of her living through it were.

We really never thought that there was any significant chance of her not coming home. The next eight hours were tense and further updates informed us that after taking vein from both legs and the chest wall, they had decided to only do a double bypass and that they had found significant damage to her mitral valve, so a ring would be put in.

The worry was at a peak because with a heart at 25%, the repaired valve would make the heart need to work harder. We were never told a survival rate but we were told that the heart would probably be weaker and that the most difficult and telling thing would be how her heart reacted when it took over for the machine that keeps blood pumping during surgery.

A very wonderful surgeon at the end of the day gave us the final news that his expectations had been greatly exceeded and her heart had taken over stronger than before than it had been before, which he said was a great success due to the addition of the ring.

That surgery was June 16, 2011, she came home having never felt ANY PAIN on June 24th and was walking on her own just fine. As of today we try to avoid the heat but we take a nightly walk a long way around our neighborhood and many wonderful people come outside to wish her well.

Before she was showing some signs of dementia such as asking the same question repeatedly within a 10 minute period. She has rarely done that since she came home due to the increased bloodflow to her brain.

Even though she is doing very well, the process is difficult due to her husband’s dementia at age 93. I love my uncle very much and having to dodge the occasional swat of a cane is nothing, but when he starts wanting her to wait on him “hand-and-foot” I have to yell and restrain him. I hate that but we make up every day and I remind him I love him.

I am 33 with prolapse mild enough to only need to visit the cardio every 5 years but I could very well need repair someday. My mom has an enlarged heart and both of us have always been scared of heart issues, but we feel much better because of the amazing things these wonderful surgeons do, with almost no pain whatsoever. She never even took a pain pill.

Thanks to my God and always keep your life as positive as possible and eliminate can’t from the vocabulary unless it is to say I can’t eat that fried unhealthy meal today.”

Kevin