D
delcar
Hi Everyone,
I am delcar's wife and he wants me to give you an update on him. He had his surgery on 8-6-08. It was done with a Robot. It was completely successful!!! He is doing really well. We are still at UCLA. He is still in ICU (the cardiac version of that). They may transfer him to a room today or even tomorrow.
Dr. Shiman (cardiologist) said it was a "complicated" repair. In fact the anesthesiologist called the Dr. after looking at a ultra sound they did before they put him under and told the Dr. that his valve was unrepairable. Dr. Shiman said he told them "well let me take a look at it".
It took a long time. All total he was in the OR or OR recovery close to 15 hours. The anesthesiologist tried for 2 hours to get a line in his neck vein. They finally had to just not do it. They couldn't get it past a certain point. Probably something to do with a wire from his pacemaker. The Dr said he had to shorten all 6 of the "lines" or something like that, that open and close the valve? It was a little hard to understand since I know nothing about how the valve works. He then put a piece of Gortex around the entire valve to hold it together. Dr. was a little pleased with his work.
Anyway, they were moving him from the OR table to the gurney to take him to ICU, and they saw some bleeding. So they had to open him back up to try and find the leak. The heart looked good, no leaking. They then decided that the point of entry in his neck where they had attempted to insert the line was the problem. It apparently had formed a big clot and under pressure the clot had gone down in behind his right lung. Dr. collapsed the lung and put a drain in. Dr said it's a good thing it happened in the OR. Might not have had the same outcome if not. We are grateful.
So, he spent 2 full days on breathing machine. Kinda slowed his recovery a bit, but he is doing really well now. No more complications. He of course is weak and tired. This is day 4 after surgery. He walked today, is eating well and has very little pain. Yeah!!
So thanks for all of your support and prayers. You all helped him with your experiences and your knowledge. I'm sure in a few days he will be back on here, but he wanted me to tell you all that he's doing really well.
delcar's wife
I am delcar's wife and he wants me to give you an update on him. He had his surgery on 8-6-08. It was done with a Robot. It was completely successful!!! He is doing really well. We are still at UCLA. He is still in ICU (the cardiac version of that). They may transfer him to a room today or even tomorrow.
Dr. Shiman (cardiologist) said it was a "complicated" repair. In fact the anesthesiologist called the Dr. after looking at a ultra sound they did before they put him under and told the Dr. that his valve was unrepairable. Dr. Shiman said he told them "well let me take a look at it".
It took a long time. All total he was in the OR or OR recovery close to 15 hours. The anesthesiologist tried for 2 hours to get a line in his neck vein. They finally had to just not do it. They couldn't get it past a certain point. Probably something to do with a wire from his pacemaker. The Dr said he had to shorten all 6 of the "lines" or something like that, that open and close the valve? It was a little hard to understand since I know nothing about how the valve works. He then put a piece of Gortex around the entire valve to hold it together. Dr. was a little pleased with his work.
Anyway, they were moving him from the OR table to the gurney to take him to ICU, and they saw some bleeding. So they had to open him back up to try and find the leak. The heart looked good, no leaking. They then decided that the point of entry in his neck where they had attempted to insert the line was the problem. It apparently had formed a big clot and under pressure the clot had gone down in behind his right lung. Dr. collapsed the lung and put a drain in. Dr said it's a good thing it happened in the OR. Might not have had the same outcome if not. We are grateful. So, he spent 2 full days on breathing machine. Kinda slowed his recovery a bit, but he is doing really well now. No more complications. He of course is weak and tired. This is day 4 after surgery. He walked today, is eating well and has very little pain. Yeah!!
So thanks for all of your support and prayers. You all helped him with your experiences and your knowledge. I'm sure in a few days he will be back on here, but he wanted me to tell you all that he's doing really well.
delcar's wife
