Dad's Surgery 1/23

My dad's surgery was yesterday morning.  He went in around 6:15 and they called us from the recovery room around 1:00.  The surgeon came up and said that everything went ok and that he would be in there for about another hour or so.  They came back later and he was having trouble waking up and breathing.  The put the ventilator back in and he's still on that.  They still have him hevily sedated.  They did decrease the sedation and he responded to the nurse by moving his toes and squeezing her hand.  They were not getting the amount of urine out of him that they wanted so they increased the amount of fluids.  His blood gases are still not right but they said that a combinaion of ventilator changes and increasing his urine output should correct that.  They are hopping to decrease the sedation and the vent tonight and tomorrow and hopefully he will be awake and off the vent by tomorrow night.  They are saying that by keeping him sedated and on the vent it's allowing him to heal and allowing him to get the rest he needs.  We will all feel better though once he wakes up and he's off the vent and in a regular room.

Hang in there, at least while he is sleeping he is healing.  I know this time is hard on the loved ones, but it will get better.  This is a very serious surgery and not one you can rush recovery through.  Little by little you should see improvement.  God Bless you and your patient.

Gerri  

Thanks Geri!!  We've decided that he right were the doctors want him to be.  They have decreased the ventilator and the sedation a little.  Hopefully they will continue to decrease the sedation and vent and he will be awake and breathing on his own soon.  The nurse said last night that he might never go to a regular room that he might be discharged from one of the step down units.

My mother was the vent after being in a car wreck to allow time for healing. She had a fracture of her breastbone, got pneumonia, etc. It was really scarey for me, seeing her on that thing. But it did its job and she was slowly weaned off. It is better for your Dad if they go slow getting him off than to do it too quickly and have to put him back on it. I hope his recovery will go well and that he doesn't have any more problems. God Bless.

                                        Pat

My cousin said that the brother of a co-worker had this done and he was in his 40's and he was on the vent for 72 hours.  I am really impressed with the progress he's made today.

My dad is still on the vent and still sedated.  The doctor said they think he has a blood clot in his lungs and that's the reason he's still on the vent.  They are treating him for the blood clots so he said it will just take time for the bloot clot to dissolve then he will be able to be taken off the vent.

Well, it's been 16 days now and my dad is still on the vent and still sedated.  It's been 16 days since I've seen him open his eyes and talk to me.  His blood oxygen is in the mid 90's and he's on 100% oxygen from the vent.  He's retaining fluid and it's affecting his lungs and his heart.  His BP is low and his blood sugar is high so he's on meds for both.  Yesterday they told us he has a gall stone.  When he went into surgery, he didn't have any of those problems.  We believe though that he went in with some lung problems.  When he would get out of the shower, he would have to sit on the side of the tub to catch his breath.  He would be out of breath if he walked almost any distance.  We believe the blood clot in his lungs was already there before he went in and the surgery just weakened him more to the point of needing the vent.  We know he's going to get better though.  God isn't done with him yet, he's still got a lot of singing and witnessing to do.

My dad passed away on Feb 11 having never woken up after surgery.  There was just nothing more they could do.  The doctor doesn't understand what happened, he said my dad was the perfect candidate for surgery.  We have a large family and lots and lots of fiends to support us, so we're gonna make it.  Thanks for all the prayers and I will continue to remember you all in my prayers.