On January 3, 2018, my dad went into the hospital to undergo a heart catheterization. This was in follow up to a stress test he had completed in late 2017. He could have had the procedure done before the holidays but opted to wait. Frankly, he felt fine and thought the heart cath would perhaps reveal the need for a stint or two, if that.
Well, the heart cath showed that there was a significant amount of blockage and narrowing of the veins. While he sat in recovery, my sisters and I followed his cardiologist to a monitor where we could see the ink pumping - or not pumping as some of blockages were causing 90% occlusion - through his arteries and veins. The cardiologist was very thorough, counting off the number of stints that would be required to fix the many, many problematic areas. My sister stopped counting at fifteen, and we hadn't even looked at the third major vessel yet. Suffice it to say, dad was termed "high risk" and informed that he would need to undergo a bypass procedure.
This was on a Wednesday. Because dad has some major anxiety issues, my sister, Megan, and I decided to spend the night in his hospital room with him. Luckily, he had a private room and this was not a problem, unless you count the stiff neck and lack of sleep my sister and I got that night. I should mention had we driven separate, we probably would not have both stayed.
After almost a day and a half of waiting on the surgeon, we found out his surgery wouldn't be scheduled until the following Tuesday. Dad wasn't allowed to go home, though. He was so high risk that had he opted to have the surgery done elsewhere, it would have required a hospital to hospital transfer. This prolonged stay meant they had plenty of time to perform all the pre-op tests necessary. He was poked and prodded from Thursday to Monday.
Surgery took place on Tuesday morning at 8 AM. Megan and I had been afraid of him being taken back without us seeing him first, so we had once again opted to sleep in his hospital room with him. Our brothers drove in well before the sun was up in order to see him. They had just about perfect timing, walking into his room about the same time transport showed up. All four of us kids headed down to the surgical floor with him. Of course, he had to undergo some last minute pre-op measures, so we waited in the Surgical Waiting Room until they called us back that final time before surgery. Dad was pretty well out of it, his voice slurred and his eyes closed as he said he loved us.
Megan and I knew it would be a long day but we were determined to stay on site; our brothers left, promising to return near the four hour mark. Our baby sister, Christina, wasn't able to be there because it her first day of the new semester. So, while it was just the two us, Megan and I went in search of coffee, tea, and breakfast. A while later, Ken showed up for moral support.
Waiting to hear how surgery went can be stressful. Time seems to slow to a mind-numbing crawl. Luckily, I had come prepared. I always travel with a book, but I had also brought several decks of cards for double-handed solitaire, as well as a new card game called Exploding Kittens. We used them all that day. Ken, Megan, and I played double- (or would it be triple-) handed solitaire for almost two hours.
We had just packed up the cards when we found out Dad was out of surgery and headed for the Cardiac Care Unit. Once again, my brothers had perfect timing and ended up arriving at the hospital as we were in transit to the CCU. When we got up to that floor, we discovered the waiting game wasn't over yet. He was being settled into his CCU room, which would take awhile. While I made phone calls to the aunts and uncles, Ken, Megan, BJ, and Jake all played Euchre. However, as only four can play that game, I got them to play Exploding Kittens, which allowed everyone to play. It definitely helped the time go by!
We talked to a nurse who explained how things would go and then to the surgeon himself. Instead of the triple bypass he had anticipated doing, he had been able to perform a quadruple, bypassing even more of the damaged areas. He hadn't been expecting to be able to do that, so this was actually good news but a bit of a surprise to us. We knew Dad's heart was in bad shape, but not that bad!!
Eventually we were allowed into his private CCU room. He looked so pale and, don't tell him I said this, old. It was unnerving. That first visit didn't last very long. Just enough to see he had made it through and that he was in good hands.
Finally, we got to go home and get some well deserved rest ourselves.
Finally, we got to go home and get some well deserved rest ourselves.
Dad spent another four and a half days in the hospital. He was released yesterday, January 14, 2018. It was a long, painful ride home for him, but he was so happy to be in his own chair watching his own television with his furry little pal by his side that he said it was worth it.
Now we just need to get him healed up and back to his old self.
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