Rae
New member
Hi --
Here's the situation My mother in law had aortic valve replacement two weeks ago tomorrow -- replaced the aortic valve and repaired the mitral and tricuspid valves. She was in ICU for 2 nights then they moved her to a regular room -- that was a Thursday, then they released her that Sunday -- we were thinking Monday would be the day... 2 days later back in the ER bc of shortness of breath mostly at night after she laid down ...-- they put her on a lasix IV and the fluid drained, 2 days later, after much prodding by MIL - the surgeon had an appt with her, did more X-rays, more fluid, they upped her lasix dosage ... 2 days later she was so short of breath in the middle of the night, had to call the ambulance and we had to go to a different hospital (the closest one) ....
That was Saturday am ... She is back on the ventilator, lungs were filled with fluid (pulmonary edema) and now she has an infection in her lungs ...they will know tomorrow if it's pneumonia... she is on the 3rd round of antibiotics.
They have drained most of the fluid, but now they say her heart is weak bc it has been working overtime since the lungs weren't able to cooperate...
Does anyone have any experience with pulmonary edema or lung infection post surgery? Or any specific questions we need to be asking the doctors? We now have a cardiologist and a pulmonary doctor.
We are hoping and praying for the best and that she can recover from this setback. Thanks in advance for your help!
Here's the situation My mother in law had aortic valve replacement two weeks ago tomorrow -- replaced the aortic valve and repaired the mitral and tricuspid valves. She was in ICU for 2 nights then they moved her to a regular room -- that was a Thursday, then they released her that Sunday -- we were thinking Monday would be the day... 2 days later back in the ER bc of shortness of breath mostly at night after she laid down ...-- they put her on a lasix IV and the fluid drained, 2 days later, after much prodding by MIL - the surgeon had an appt with her, did more X-rays, more fluid, they upped her lasix dosage ... 2 days later she was so short of breath in the middle of the night, had to call the ambulance and we had to go to a different hospital (the closest one) ....
That was Saturday am ... She is back on the ventilator, lungs were filled with fluid (pulmonary edema) and now she has an infection in her lungs ...they will know tomorrow if it's pneumonia... she is on the 3rd round of antibiotics.
They have drained most of the fluid, but now they say her heart is weak bc it has been working overtime since the lungs weren't able to cooperate...
Does anyone have any experience with pulmonary edema or lung infection post surgery? Or any specific questions we need to be asking the doctors? We now have a cardiologist and a pulmonary doctor.
We are hoping and praying for the best and that she can recover from this setback. Thanks in advance for your help!
