In article <SPudnfjfA4w_SRbbnZ2dnUVZ_uPinZ2d DeleteThis @rcn.net>,
Julianne Toomey-Kautz <JulianneTK DeleteThis @Kautzlaw.com> wrote:
>As Susan, says below, it never rains but it pours:
>
>
>Hi all,
> It never rains but it pours. Things remain pretty
>much the same with my mom except that we got her moved
>to our hospital (Rush North Shore for those who know
>the area) so now she's with our doctors which she had
>indicated with squeezes and raised legs that she
>wanted. We haven't done the trache yet because
>apparently thanks to insurance rules (and we have good
>Blue Cross PPO expensive insurance that permits most
>stuff) once you have a trache you get kicked out of
>hospital and sent to a nursing home/long-term vent
>unit. So we're iffy about that since we don't know
>if that's the best for mom right now when she still
>has infections. And we've been trying to get her to
>our hospital and our doctors for ages but couldn't go
>from one hospital to another after a trache.
> And now we have a new problem. My dad has been
>complaining of shoulder, back, and arm pains for a
>while...worse since mom got sick. He kept saying it
>was arthritis pain and gobbling arthritis meds. He
>had an EKG in April that was okay and an okay stress
>stress test in January, but I did make him take some
>Nitro last week because I was worried that it could be
>heart. Thank God I dragged him to the cardiologist
>today because he has three occluded arterties and
>needs a triple-bypass, possibly a quad. I've always
>suspected he'd have to have this one day because the
>Werner men all seem to have heart trouble but his
>timing is lousy. So at least now they're in the same
>hospital. I know this is a fairly common operation
>(Dr. Meg says it's more common than appendectomies
>today), but I'll be glad when it's safely over and
>he's recovering nicely. He's in good health otherwise
>so there shouldn't be any problems.
> But I need more prayers please!
>Thanks!
>Susan
>
here's hoping that everyone comes through exactly as you
wish them to.
A note on thoracic and especially cardiac surgery: the
procedures are very much more low risk now than ever. My 78
year old mother in law had a quintuple bypass performed in
January, '06, and she is just fine now.
One complication that occurs rather frequently is called
"ICU psychosis", a state of confusion and depression seemingly
resulting from extended (more than about a week or so) time in an ICU -
a patient's circadian rhythm is thoroughly disrupted; my
mother-in-law experienced it, and it can be hard to deal with
these tend to clear up spontaneously after a couple of days; just
one more thing to watch for. Having familiar people around
helps with it.
Cheers,
Mitch Edelman
>> Stay informed about: update on Susan's family