1st Hurdle: Cleared
Damn! but I hope I'm made of such tough stuff when I'm 82.
Lilian came through her surgery beautifully, well, if being on a ventilator with tubes coming out of one's trachea, chest, bladder, and internal jugular vein is considered beautiful, that is. The lovely surgeon was able to bypass everything with only 3 vessels rather than the 4-5 he anticipated, which resulted in about an hour or more less time on the bypass machine and only 2 long scars on her extremities where the vessels were harvested from: One on her arm and one on her leg.
What bothered her most prior to going into surgery?
Having to remove the bobby pins from her hair. She had thought that as she would be wearing one of those surgical shower cap thingies she would be able to keep her hair up. "No, no, no," said the nurse and out they came, much to her chagrin. I think she may have tried to keep a few in place but the nurse made her comb her fingers through her hair twice to make sure they were all out. They are in a urine specimen cup (unused) awaiting her recovery.
When we saw her late yesterday afternoon, she was able to rise to consciousness enough to nod to questions, such as "Do you have pain?" ("Yes" and then "No", as the lovely morphine took effect.), and she wiggled all 4 extremities. From this, I can say that she had no catastrophic neurological event, and that's definitely something.
The next few days will show us what sort of path the return journey will take, but for now we are just extremely grateful that she has done so well.
As always, thank you for all the wonderful goodness you sent. (And, Cagey, your care package was waiting on the table when we straggled home all limp and wrung out from the day. The Choxies went far to revive our spirits. Sadly, Sara is now a junkie, as are the rest of us. She had to be told in no uncertain terms that they were not acceptable breakfast food. At least not acceptable for small-handed ones. I then had to turn away so she wouldn't catch a whiff of the hypocrite on my breath. Ahem. The stickers will entertain them later today, while I try to get some things done, so I bless you twice for your wonderfulness.)
Over and out.
Lilian came through her surgery beautifully, well, if being on a ventilator with tubes coming out of one's trachea, chest, bladder, and internal jugular vein is considered beautiful, that is. The lovely surgeon was able to bypass everything with only 3 vessels rather than the 4-5 he anticipated, which resulted in about an hour or more less time on the bypass machine and only 2 long scars on her extremities where the vessels were harvested from: One on her arm and one on her leg.
What bothered her most prior to going into surgery?
Having to remove the bobby pins from her hair. She had thought that as she would be wearing one of those surgical shower cap thingies she would be able to keep her hair up. "No, no, no," said the nurse and out they came, much to her chagrin. I think she may have tried to keep a few in place but the nurse made her comb her fingers through her hair twice to make sure they were all out. They are in a urine specimen cup (unused) awaiting her recovery.
When we saw her late yesterday afternoon, she was able to rise to consciousness enough to nod to questions, such as "Do you have pain?" ("Yes" and then "No", as the lovely morphine took effect.), and she wiggled all 4 extremities. From this, I can say that she had no catastrophic neurological event, and that's definitely something.
The next few days will show us what sort of path the return journey will take, but for now we are just extremely grateful that she has done so well.
As always, thank you for all the wonderful goodness you sent. (And, Cagey, your care package was waiting on the table when we straggled home all limp and wrung out from the day. The Choxies went far to revive our spirits. Sadly, Sara is now a junkie, as are the rest of us. She had to be told in no uncertain terms that they were not acceptable breakfast food. At least not acceptable for small-handed ones. I then had to turn away so she wouldn't catch a whiff of the hypocrite on my breath. Ahem. The stickers will entertain them later today, while I try to get some things done, so I bless you twice for your wonderfulness.)
Over and out.
Labels: Whining to a Captive Audience
posted by Diana at 8:35 AM
11 Comments:
Diana, I am so glad to read this! What a strong woman your MIL is and how lucky for her. I am sure things will follow as they should and everything will be fine. You all must feel relief that the major event is over. Keep us posted. Sending you healthy and relaxing vibes to share with all!
I am so glad things went well. I hope she has a speedy recovery.
Oh Diana, I'm so happy and relieved for you. That is just terrific news. And a care package to boot. Not a bad day all in all, eh?
Did she come off the vent pretty quickly? I always think the families are the ones who need major handholding, because CABG pts. look awfully intense coming out.
Now...BREATHE.
Ruth- She's a tough old bird. Being one of the WWII generation has its advantages when it comes to sheer resilience.
Lauren- Thanks, honey.
Julie- She came off the vent last night with no problems. She really does look good. Tired, of course. Drugged on pain meds, of course. But she's herself and that's saying a lot. Charles kept looking at me to make sure all seemed OK as it is a rather gruesome scene with all the tubes and lines and all. Now she's just down to the chest tube, foley, IV and nasal canula. And she was asking for those damn bobby pins!!! Her ICU nurses were fabulous, of course.
Yay! I am glad she came through the surgery well. I'm also amused about the bobby pins. It reminds me of my grandmother for some reason.
Diana,
I am so happy you got the care package - aptly named because a lot of "care" was sent with it. Been thinking about you since yesterday, waiting to hear about her. :-)
Hang in there!
Oh, whew! I've been thinking about you all day and hoping you'd have enough energy to give us a report.
many hugs
Diana, so glad that things seem to be moving along alright. I was thinking about you the last couple of days. And I'm glad Lillian is getting such good care.
We'll keep you in our thoughts.
This is exactly what I had hoped to read when I anxiously clicked over to your blog this AM.
I had a feeling, though, that it would be good news.
This is giving me flashbacks to my Dad's double bypass surgery 7 years ago. All those tubes. But I was surprised at how relatively quickly he recovered. I hope Lillian's recovery will be similarly speedy and uneventful. So far, so good.
Thanks for taking the time to let us all know! Now have a beer.
So glad to hear all went so well, and better than expected.
Hope recovery is quick and as easy as is possible.
And please do not lose a single bobbie pin or things could get ugly.
Ah, a sigh of relief is echoing from over by Lake Superior. I was moved by the bobby pin/hair concern detail most of all. That is so generational!
What a lovely care package, too.
I'm so relieved.
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