This morning started at 3:30 am , and poor mom couldn't even have coffee. She had to take a shower with Mayo's surgical scrub to prevent any infection. She and my father arrived at Mayo at 5:15 am to check in for surgery. Check in at 5:30 went smoothly, surprisingly, everyone was there early they had to wait in line. There was lots of prep work to do, putting in IV catheters, starting on fluids, etc.
The first incision was made around 9 AM. The doctor worked on fixing her aneurysm and noticed her tricuspid valve was actually only a bicuspid valve, but the valve itself was functioning normally, so she did not have to have animal tissue or a mechanical valve placed. Dr. Pochettino was able to finish up surgery around 12:30. She recovered in the surgery room until 3:00 pm. I was thankful for the puzzles to keep my mind from thinking the worst. My Dad made a Friend that talked with him a good few hours while we waited.
Below is the very talented surgeon Dr. Pochettino.
Around 4:30 PM they allowed us to go into their room in the ICU. They kept her sedated as her body temperature was only 93 degrees. The male nurse worked on her graduated from Bradley University. The physicians assistant (or nurse practitioner) told them to go ahead and wake her up, but the nurse kindly reminded her that her body temp was too low to wake her up.
Around 7:30 PM, she had started to wake up and insisted to be extubated, however, she wasn't breathing on her own well enough to remove the tube. She kept using sign language as she couldn't speak with a tube down her throat. Too bad none of us know sign language, but we know how to use Google! She kept signing "I can't breathe" over and over again. She started panicking and flailing her arms, which made the alarms go off. This was enough to send Lee and Ben on a beeline to the waiting room again. I believe they gave her some sedation to ease the pain and the anxiety. The nurse said this is a normal response. Around 10:00 PM, they finally removed the tube and she was so happy. The nurse said that he was going to stay with her until 7:00 AM the next morning. We left shortly after 10:00 to let mom get some much needed rest from her big day.
Thank you all for your prayers. Keep them coming as I'm afraid the recovery will be a long road ahead. A big thanks to Dr. Pochettino! Mayo has been wonderful, I know I can rest easy knowing she is well taken care of tonight. Good night All !
Thanks Rhody for all the details. Now comes the hard part for Judy.Rehab, rehab, rehab! I know she will work hard at it and will do well. No, I'm wrong,it was probably harder when she felt so helpless to be able to tell you she couldn't breathe. We are all thanking God that the surgery was successful and even better that she didn't need the valve replaced.
ReplyDeletewhat a blessing!