Heart Institute

[Hector17]

Sounds like your moaning a bit to complain of a sore arm when golfing or walking on the beach in Acapulco in January...so I kept it to myself, but did go to the CIVIC a couple of weeks ago.
Short story...am home today...with a new aortic valve aand a double bypass. 4-6 weeks till the breast bone heals, 2-3 months till good as new....ouchhhh and boring. everything is a chore right now.I'll live vicariously through you guys for a bit

 

[paul mott]

Wow, you've had quite an adventure, and glad to hear you survived it, and are on the mend now. Nothing like going into the Heart Institute to get your motor rebuilt, after all the mileage you've put on it. Don't know who or what prompted you to get it checked out, but likely saved your life. The fact it's early Spring that means you won't be missing to much as far as Summer activities go, and by then you should be feeling great.

 

[jsubban]

Get well Hector, sending my best wishes.

 

[mmad]

Wow, glad you're on the mend Hector, speedy recovery.

 

[HUBGFEsup]

Get well Hector!

 

[Jingles]

Best wishes on a speedy recovery, Hector! Hope you are able to get back on the ice next season!

 

[blackram]

Glad to see you've survived guy! Was wondering why you were so quiet. I guess you'll have to live vicariously through us this time, like we've done with you before. :YMPARTY:

 

[slurp]

Have a speedy recovery Hector! Glad to hear your surgery went well.

One reason I have been scarce is similar.... except it is my SO who had a valve job and aorta repair in Kingston on Jan 31. Things did not go as well as hector sad to say. After the valve and aorta were done the surgeon said the right ventricle (opposite side from the repair) "began leaking". Dude was white as a ghost as he told me he thought he lost her on the table. I was picturing him dropping a scalpel on her fucking heart as he spoke. Now way of knowing but found 2 other patients he did with similar issues in less than a weeks time. Who knows, maybe there are more ? She was in surgery way past the expected time so I knew something was wrong. Then later that night she was not improving at the rate he had hoped and he pronounced it was unlikely she would survive the night.

She did and progressed very slowly, a pump keeping her heart going until it got strong enough to go on it's own. By then she had pneumonia, a common occurrence in this situation. Finally the breathing tube came out but she could not talk, made grunting sounds. She went unresponsive middle of the night, CT scan showed a stroke, again common when the brain is oxygen starved as hers was. Then she developed an infection in the pick line but it took them a week to figure that out. Basically she was immobile for 3.5 weeks so her body weakened during that time. Then there was internal bleeding which pooled in her groin and made so her right leg (opposite side from stroke) weak and odd sensations, sometimes painful. All tests negative on the leg and it slowly improved.

Finally they felt she was well enough to transfer closer to home after 5.5 weeks. 2 days later her incision was infected and her blood pressure dropped to the point it was touch and go again. At first they blamed the pain meds but now they are saying it was the infection. Current hospital blaming Kingston for it, since infectious disease folks were involved in Kingston I have my doubts. Again, who fucking cares, just fix her.

She came around and is now able to walk with a walker, not too far but as soon as her foot improves she can transfer to a rehab hospital to learn to walk and build strength to come home. I probably forgot some of issues, there were so many one after the other that it makes your head spin. Poor girl has been through the mill.

So yeah, glad to hear Hector had a better time of it. When it goes bad it goes bad fast.

 

[blackram]

Holy shit Slurp, that's friggin' harrowing! Shows how sometimes things go well, and sometimes they can go to the shitcan. :don'twantto-see:/

 

[paul mott]

Very stressful for both of you Slurp but makes one appreciate life more, as easy to take it granted and think that those health issues only happen to other people

 

[antoine]

Holy Crap!

Slurp, I hope your wife recovers. It reminds me of an experience with my wife's health where we would sometimes see the light at the end of the tunnel and then hear the announcement: "We apologize, the light at the end of the tunnel has temporarily been turned off".

And Hector, I'm glad you made it through this. Rehabilitation and recovery is long and boring, keep your spirits up, both of you.

 

[Hector17]

Thanks for the well wishes guys!! I expect to be in full stride by earl/mid June...sorry to hear of your friends plight Slurp...setbacks are not helpful...recovery is hard enough

 

[Hector17]

Hi Guys...sorry not to have posted lately, but I have done everything but die.. While the operation itself was a success, I ended up back in the hospital almost a month later with excruciating pain. It was stemming from a very nasty infection and after testing, and diagnosing etc, they sent me home with home care to come in. Attached to Vacuum pump machine to suck out the poison, and promote the wound to heal, and an IV pump to administer antibiotics into a PICC line I have inserted. We go along with that for a few weeks...heavy, and frequent use of pain meds to stave off pain were barely working. SSo, back I go to the hospital about 2 weeks ago to wait for a procedure called a "debridement" where I am RE CUT right up the middle of my chest, and they surgically repair the infection by scraping out the bad tissue, and RE closing you....but of course, as bad luck has it, my sternum was infected too, so they had to RE-Separate the sternum to scrape it. So here I am, back at home, vac machine, iv pump, and right back where I started requiring the sternum to heal and knit again. Seems like the pain is subsiding as I am skipping entire doses now, and I feel I am turning a corner, but it will be a very long road...golf is out for 2018, so my usual "shitthrow" week in Mexico in September is off....just no fun!...I miss you know who, but we do text frequently. Just thought I'd let you guys know I hadn't bit the bullet yet.....it's the only thing that could've gone worse...would've been to go septic and die, otherwise I've checked all the boxes for things that can go wrong.

 

[paul mott]

Gee you sure have had a rough go of it, and one surgery is difficult enough, but having to reopen you again must be traumatic...they should have just put a zipper in the incision to save being opened up surgically again! Makes one appreciate our health care system, and quite amazing the procedures they can do these days. Glad to hear it seems to be finally getting better, and too bad you're missing out on your golf and other activities, but you'll eventually be back doing those again.

 

[slurp]

Yikes Hector!!! Maybe my wife did not get the worst of it. Sure hope you get fixed up and back in the saddle.

Realized I never updated things on my wife. She had an infection in her incision as well but they managed to get it under control without re-opening her. Only good thing about the VRE (Vancomycin-resistant enterococci )was that she had a private room in the hospital to isolate. Local hospital claimed that almost all patients transferred from Kingston have VRE. Seems odd to me, you'd think KGH would be able to contain that. Plus she had been seen at KGH by infectious disease folks and spent a few weeks in ICU to corral the infection before the transfer. Still the infection kept her in the hospital about a month. All told she was in for about 9 weeks or so.

She has been home for 5 weeks with home care to change the dressings on her incision, the VRE concentrated in the drain hole at the bottom of the incision. They would pack the hole so it would heal from the inside, good news is that it finally has healed and she seems to be infection free finally. They also kept her picc line clean to take blood until they removed it. Nurse stopped coming last week but the physical therapy girl still comes to try help get her walking again. She gets around via walker and a cane, very slow progress getting her foot/ankle working. At least the pain has lessened a bit and she has cut down on pain meds a bit.

Today I took her shopping to make her exercise (instead of seeing Alessia which was my plan for today .... The sacrifices we sometimes make ... lol) and she pooped out before finding what she wanted. But this was after breakfast with friends, 2 stores and then the outlets in Kanata trying to find something. She ended up on a bench while I went into about 6 stores and striking out. She was bushed but it got her to work harder on walking ..... she is not motivated unless I find a way to take her somewhere for something she really wants, then she will use the walker until she can't go anymore. The foot and ankle still are not working but the nerve regeneration which caused some of the pain seems to be over.

All in all it is a lot more positive than last report. She has her follow up with the heart surgeon end of June, almost 4 months later than the usual. At least the heart has been solid, they say the tissue valve she got has a 5-15 year expected life span, she said no fucking way she will go through it again. There is a less invasive procedure they could do if the aorta is not replaced, perhaps since they repaired the aorta this time they could do the procedure without opening her up next time. If not she will let it fail and say goodbye.

My life is working, cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc but I still have found time to get laid luckily. I also have a broken foot that healed wrong but surgery likely won't improve things, sprained my opposite ankle at work and a wonky knee with arthritis .... I also had bursitis in it a couple years ago which made it even weaker. So taking wife for walks is a bit of a pproblem .... I used to bike to get exercise as it is less stress on feet and knee but with her in the walker that had to stop. Plus I have less time with maid duty LOL. With her improvement I have been able to get away now and then for some fun. It could be worse.

 

[blackram]

Hector, we're glad you're still kicking around. You get yourself better as soon as possible, and the post-yoga sessions will be back for you!

 

[Jingles]

Hector, sorry to hear of your infection issues, hoping you have a speedy, less painful recovery.

 

[mmad]

Hector, may you experience a speedy recovery. I'm hearing about a lot of infections after operations lately, what the hell is going on? Health is so precious and sometimes we don't notice how lucky we are to be healthy until we ain't !! I can't imagine how an avid golfer is able to sit out a season and not be grumpy? you're not grumpy, are you?
Slurp, all the best to you and your spouse. I'm familiar with what you're going through and hope that your wife has a speedy recovery. If you're keeping busy at work and at home, Violet must be missing you on her visits!

 

[slurp]

I got to see Violet last trip, she handed me all but the room fee back so I could buy her dinner LOL. I tried to give her the left over 20 back but she wouldn't take it. Knowing she would do something like that I had taken her some presents.

The infection epidemic is due to antibiotic resistance partly due to doctors handing antibiotics out like candy. The bacteria or whatever causes infections have morphed and are harder to kill. That's why Infectious Disease folks had to get involved, they need to determine the exact type of infection and which antibiotic will kill it. No more one pill kills all.

 

[HUBGFEsup]

Hector, get well soon please!