Reply #13: Are they talking about a bypass surgery for him?

[davsand]

My 80 year old mom had a quadruple bypass done three weeks ago and she's recovering nicely--so please try not to panic for your dad--ok? She's in a rehab center and doing her rehab therapy twice a day, and they estimate that she'll be back home (and feeling much better than before by the time she recovers fully.) Your dad may well be in that same situation. Are his docs taking time to explain everything to you and your family members? That can go a long ways toward helping you all navigate the emotions and "high creepy factor" that comes along with this.

It sounds like (from what you said earlier) that they opened up as much as they could with the stents, and now your dad may need surgery to put in a "bypass" for the one blockage they could not open up with a stent. This kind of thing is not uncommon--those blockages calcify over time, and that makes them impossible to open up with a stent. If he was 100% blocked my guess is he's not been feeling too good for a while now, but I also want to point out that I have seen articles that say that heart muscle can (and does) regenerate if good blood flow is restored.

This heart stuff is really creepy for the patients and their families, but the docs are VERY good at this, and the mortality rate (while it is still a risk and can't be dismissed) is nowhere NEAR as high as it was even ten years ago. Literally, within 12 hours of her surgery they had my mom standing up in the ICU. Within a couple of days (once most of the tubes are out) they had her up and walking short distances. She was out of the hospital within 7 days of the surgery.

It hurts, it looks creepy as hell with all the tubes and wires and other stuff, and it is just terrifying to face heart disease and open heart surgery all in one shot--but it really does not turn out as bad as you might think when you first get that diagnosis.

I'm here if you need to talk.

:hug:


Laura