Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
HI all and many thanks for the kind thoughts and get-well gifts.
I finally got out of the hospital on 2/24 (after 17 days!) and came home, though there is still a lot of recovery to do. I'm mobile, though, with little discomfort. Going to be on restricted physical regime for several weeks, though.
I didn't mention this ahead of time because the plan was for a basic outpatient procedure, heart catheterization (angioplasty or maybe a stent). Too long a story to tell in much detail, but the heart arteries were badly clogged and the planned procedure was no-go. The on-call surgeon was going to take over to do bypass when I died. Code Blue, flat line, whatever you want to call it. The surgeon dove in with both hand to manually pump my heart and prevent brain death. The surgeon Kept me going for 8 minutes by hand, the sort of drama usually only seen on tv. I remember the cardiologist asking me to make responses to show my brain was still ok. They installed a pump in my femoral artery so the surgeon could do the bypasses, but that blew out and I ended up getting my entire blood supply replaced twice before they got it under control. Ended up with double bypass and a repaired left ventricle. I woke up in Cardiac ICU 3 days later with no idea what had happened except the memory of my cardiologist telling me to give him a sign I was still functional.
SO I'm a supremely lucky man! Plus I now have a second birthday on Feb 7, 2019, celebrating my return to the living! My recovery has been unusually fast and trouble-free except for some water accumulating in my lungs. That actually is causing more medical problems than the heart surgery.
I'll be hanging around the forum but probably not too active for awhile.
I finally got out of the hospital on 2/24 (after 17 days!) and came home, though there is still a lot of recovery to do. I'm mobile, though, with little discomfort. Going to be on restricted physical regime for several weeks, though.
I didn't mention this ahead of time because the plan was for a basic outpatient procedure, heart catheterization (angioplasty or maybe a stent). Too long a story to tell in much detail, but the heart arteries were badly clogged and the planned procedure was no-go. The on-call surgeon was going to take over to do bypass when I died. Code Blue, flat line, whatever you want to call it. The surgeon dove in with both hand to manually pump my heart and prevent brain death. The surgeon Kept me going for 8 minutes by hand, the sort of drama usually only seen on tv. I remember the cardiologist asking me to make responses to show my brain was still ok. They installed a pump in my femoral artery so the surgeon could do the bypasses, but that blew out and I ended up getting my entire blood supply replaced twice before they got it under control. Ended up with double bypass and a repaired left ventricle. I woke up in Cardiac ICU 3 days later with no idea what had happened except the memory of my cardiologist telling me to give him a sign I was still functional.
SO I'm a supremely lucky man! Plus I now have a second birthday on Feb 7, 2019, celebrating my return to the living! My recovery has been unusually fast and trouble-free except for some water accumulating in my lungs. That actually is causing more medical problems than the heart surgery.
I'll be hanging around the forum but probably not too active for awhile.
) I'm happy for you that there the right folks in place through your ordeal. God is good! We'll keep the prayers going out for you and your family.
