Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Crazy Day.

Today was the day that we all thought mom would find out when she is going home.  That was not the case.  She had her echo cardiogram at about 9am.  We were waiting in anticipation for the doctor to come in and share the results.  Then at about 10am this morning, she started experiencing intense pain.  I have never witnessed such pain.  On a scale of 1-10, she was reporting a 10.  Pain medication would not provide relief.  She was rushed down to a CT and an ultrasound.  "Rushed" is relative term, as time seemed to have stopped and we were all anguishing with her.  Then she was rushed into the operating room.  The hospital staff was great and allowed us to stay with her and try to give her comfort.  Even through the pre-op, they let us remain by her side.  As it turned out, the main artery that they had went through to do her angiogram last Friday had opened up and was bleeding internally.  The bleeding was causing pressure on her nerves, which was causing the intense pain.  During the operation, they sutured the artery. 

After the operation, she was placed back into the cardiac intensive care unit.  The doctor said that to experience this kind of internal bleed more than 72 hours after the initial procedure is extremely rare.  He has only seen it occur twice in the last two years.  The last time was actually 7 days ago.  My mom is definitely doing this with style and trying to go unprecedented that is for sure. 

After all of the excitement, the cardiologist was able to go back and review the echo cardiogram.  Her heart is operating at 30% right now.  This was less than we were hoping for, but it is improvement!  The positives are that her heart endured the stress of today like a champion.  With the pain she was experiencing, her blood pressure went up instead of down, which is a really good thing.  She is back in the ICU, which is the absolute best care possible.  She will be in the hospital for a bit longer which is the best place for things like this to happen.  She is right there where she can get the help she needs.  Thank you for all of the prayers.  Keep them coming.  Specifically for a speedy recovery and for all of our spirits to remain positive.

3 comments:

Sherry said...

Heather: Just caught up on the blog this a.m. -- how terribly awful for your mom and everyone in your family!! We are all continuing to pray for her healing and for comfort for you all going through this tough time w/her!

Sherry said...

Hey Heather, what hospital/room # is your mom in? We would like to send a card to her, but wasn't sure where she was. Well wishes . . . Sherry

The Reed Ranch said...

Heather my dear... last I checked your blog was Christmas.. so sorry to hear about your MOM.. my prayers have immediatley started... and yes she is in the best place now in the hospital where they can momitor. Please keep us posted. And remember Our God is an Awesome God.

Love to you all
gail