My mom--the old woman who wouldn't die
I know that sounds insulting to my mom, but it isn't. She came up with that expression herself. :-)
I just realized that I've referred a few people to my blog to read about what happened to mom (because I'm too damned lazy to write long emails!), but I never really explain what happened--just that she is doing well. So I thought maybe I should post a very brief explanation of what my poor mother has been through in the past few months.
It all started with an infected pacemaker--an infection that her doctor never really acknowledged or recognized. It was only because she's so well informed medically that she realized herself what was happening and what the dire consequences would be if it weren't removed that she got treatment. She eventually was referred to a surgeon in Colorado Springs who removes pacemakers, but he couldn't do the surgery because he didn't have a thoracic surgeon on standby (they're needed in case the heart tears while they're extracting the leads, in which case they have to immediately open the chest and try to repair the damage). So he referred her to a hospital in Cleveland.
Mom, dad and I traveled to Cleveland, where mom had the pacemaker removed. I would say successfully, because she didn't die (and this is a very high-risk procedure), except that the surgeon left a tiny piece of the lead embedded in her heart when he removed it. He didn't tell us this; mom only found out when they were getting ready to put the new pacemaker in.
And that's a whole different nightmare. It's a long story, but after many delays and threats by my mom to go home without a pacemaker, they finally scheduled the surgery. But, as we found out later, when the doctor (a different one) was installing the new pacemaker, she pushed the leads so hard that one of them ripped through the wall of mom's heart. We didn't know this at the time. Mom only knew that she felt very ill. She traveled home the next day, and on the flight to Denver she got very ill-so ill that a doctor sat with her throughout the flight, monitoring her, and an ambulance picked her up on the tarmac and took her to University Hospital in Denver.
She went home the next day but continued to feel very sick. She had an appointment with her cardiologist the following week, so she decided to wait until she could see him. As soon as he saw her, he admitted her to the hospital. They did an angiogram the next day, and he informed mom that she needed bypass surgery. (The hole in her heart hadn't yet been detected at this point.) So the heart surgeon saw her and they scheduled the surgery for a couple of days later.
In the meantime, while they were running tests, they discovered that mom had some pulmonary embolisms and pulmonary hypertension. That resulted in the surgery being canceled. They sent mom home and told her that in six months or so she could have the bypass surgery.
At this point, we thought that what was causing the extreme pain mom had on the flight and her feeling ill were caused by either one of or both of the following: a pulmonary embolism or lack of blood flow to her heart due to the blocked arteries.
During all this time, an infectious disease doctor was treating mom for her staph infection, which had spread to her bloodstream. She didn't know whether her artificial hip or her mitral valve were infected. She went through a great deal of stress during this time wondering how far advanced the infection was and whether she'd have to face more surgery.
So she went home to wait for her lungs to clear up. But... she was only home two days and she crashed. The home nurse called an ambulance to take her to the hospital. It was during this treatment that they discovered that one her leads wasn't firing and subsequent tests revealed the hole and the presence of blood in her pericardium. Then it all made sense--why she'd been so ill since having the new pacemaker put in.
She was taken by helicopter back to the hospital in Colorado Springs. And now suddenly everything changed. Waiting for her lungs to clear became less important because she absolutely had to have surgery to repair the damage to her heart and replace the dislodged lead. So a few days later, after they waited for her blood to thicken (she'd been on blood thinners for the blood clots), they did those repairs and at the same time did her three bypasses.
Mom is incredibly tough. She got through all these things--any one of which could have killed her--and is doing amazingly well. She's no longer on oxygen. She's dancing again and volunteering at the museum. I'm really proud of her. She had amazing medical care (we loved her team of doctors in Colorado Springs), but I think most of it is due to her attitude. She was determined to fight, and she did.
It was an awful ordeal, but I think that things are going to be much better for her now. While she was having multiple tests, she found out that some areas of her health that she had been concerned about were actually OK. Her blocked arteries are now bypassed, which means the many years of angina are a thing of the past. I think she has many good years ahead of her. Dad had bypass surgery a few years ago, too, so they're both in great shape now. They take good care of themselves. I look forward to enjoying many more years with them.
I just realized that I've referred a few people to my blog to read about what happened to mom (because I'm too damned lazy to write long emails!), but I never really explain what happened--just that she is doing well. So I thought maybe I should post a very brief explanation of what my poor mother has been through in the past few months.
It all started with an infected pacemaker--an infection that her doctor never really acknowledged or recognized. It was only because she's so well informed medically that she realized herself what was happening and what the dire consequences would be if it weren't removed that she got treatment. She eventually was referred to a surgeon in Colorado Springs who removes pacemakers, but he couldn't do the surgery because he didn't have a thoracic surgeon on standby (they're needed in case the heart tears while they're extracting the leads, in which case they have to immediately open the chest and try to repair the damage). So he referred her to a hospital in Cleveland.
Mom, dad and I traveled to Cleveland, where mom had the pacemaker removed. I would say successfully, because she didn't die (and this is a very high-risk procedure), except that the surgeon left a tiny piece of the lead embedded in her heart when he removed it. He didn't tell us this; mom only found out when they were getting ready to put the new pacemaker in.
And that's a whole different nightmare. It's a long story, but after many delays and threats by my mom to go home without a pacemaker, they finally scheduled the surgery. But, as we found out later, when the doctor (a different one) was installing the new pacemaker, she pushed the leads so hard that one of them ripped through the wall of mom's heart. We didn't know this at the time. Mom only knew that she felt very ill. She traveled home the next day, and on the flight to Denver she got very ill-so ill that a doctor sat with her throughout the flight, monitoring her, and an ambulance picked her up on the tarmac and took her to University Hospital in Denver.
She went home the next day but continued to feel very sick. She had an appointment with her cardiologist the following week, so she decided to wait until she could see him. As soon as he saw her, he admitted her to the hospital. They did an angiogram the next day, and he informed mom that she needed bypass surgery. (The hole in her heart hadn't yet been detected at this point.) So the heart surgeon saw her and they scheduled the surgery for a couple of days later.
In the meantime, while they were running tests, they discovered that mom had some pulmonary embolisms and pulmonary hypertension. That resulted in the surgery being canceled. They sent mom home and told her that in six months or so she could have the bypass surgery.
At this point, we thought that what was causing the extreme pain mom had on the flight and her feeling ill were caused by either one of or both of the following: a pulmonary embolism or lack of blood flow to her heart due to the blocked arteries.
During all this time, an infectious disease doctor was treating mom for her staph infection, which had spread to her bloodstream. She didn't know whether her artificial hip or her mitral valve were infected. She went through a great deal of stress during this time wondering how far advanced the infection was and whether she'd have to face more surgery.
So she went home to wait for her lungs to clear up. But... she was only home two days and she crashed. The home nurse called an ambulance to take her to the hospital. It was during this treatment that they discovered that one her leads wasn't firing and subsequent tests revealed the hole and the presence of blood in her pericardium. Then it all made sense--why she'd been so ill since having the new pacemaker put in.
She was taken by helicopter back to the hospital in Colorado Springs. And now suddenly everything changed. Waiting for her lungs to clear became less important because she absolutely had to have surgery to repair the damage to her heart and replace the dislodged lead. So a few days later, after they waited for her blood to thicken (she'd been on blood thinners for the blood clots), they did those repairs and at the same time did her three bypasses.
Mom is incredibly tough. She got through all these things--any one of which could have killed her--and is doing amazingly well. She's no longer on oxygen. She's dancing again and volunteering at the museum. I'm really proud of her. She had amazing medical care (we loved her team of doctors in Colorado Springs), but I think most of it is due to her attitude. She was determined to fight, and she did.
It was an awful ordeal, but I think that things are going to be much better for her now. While she was having multiple tests, she found out that some areas of her health that she had been concerned about were actually OK. Her blocked arteries are now bypassed, which means the many years of angina are a thing of the past. I think she has many good years ahead of her. Dad had bypass surgery a few years ago, too, so they're both in great shape now. They take good care of themselves. I look forward to enjoying many more years with them.
posted by Julie at 12:21 PM
1 Comments:
Hi Julie,
Sounds pretty much like a horror story. Good to read that your mom is doing okay now. Wish your parents well.
I'll send you some more extended e-mail as soon as I have a bit more time. We're going through some troubled times concerning Noriko's work. It might even end up in court. Hopefully not, but there's a chance.
Take care anf talk to you soon.
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