I spoke to the nurse on the Cardiac Recovery unit this morning on the way to work. It appears he had a good night last night and was removed from the respirator to breathe on his own. She stated he was sitting on the edge of the bed having a sip of something at the moment, and was in pretty good spirits.

She also said he stands a pretty good chance of being taken out of the recovery area and put in a regular room on the CVPV unit. When that happens, I will have a phone number where he can receive calls which I will post on here.

Just bear in mind he's pretty weak. It will be a few days before he is fully awake and aware after the anesthesia. It takes a little longer when they effectively kill you on the table like they do in open-heart.

I'm not so sure about going up to spend much time with him. I'm not sure if it is a physical let-down from the stress, the rampage of perimenopausal hormones, or if I am fighting some sort of infection. Given the precautions they took before and after his surgery and the potential danger of infection, I would rather he be upset with me for not visiting Like I Should™ than wind up sick with whatever I may pass to him.

Updates as I have them.
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(12:30) I went up to see the family on my miniscule lunch but none of them was there. I suppose they were all out getting a bite to eat. So I called the nurses' desk from the waiting room and got a small update.

He has been taken off the IV meds and seems to be doing quite well. They will be doing another test of his outflow before deciding whether or not to move him to a room on the CVPV floor.

I missed the morning visiting hour, will be working busily at my desk during the next one, and at home fixing dinner for everyone there during the later one. And no, there is no flexibility with visiting. It matters not that I work here and have for over 11 years and know how to behave in an intensive care unit. Be there on time or miss your opportunity.

But I digress.

Delft's is better. That is what is important.

Posted by: Mamamontezz at 08:02 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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This is Erin, Bert's daughter. I'm not sure if Lila has posted anything on here, as the hospital catagorizes Dad's lovely website as "pornography", but in case she hasn't, here are the details. Dad is out of surgery. He is doing well -- they re-grafted one of his previous bypass efforts, and inserted a ring around his mitral valve to restore function. We haven't seen him yet, but we're very optimistic as they did not have to do a blood transfusion and everything seems to be going well and according to schedule. Dad's family is here and we're having quite a nice time catching up and laughing at Dad's childhood antics. Thank you all for support of my Daddy. I appreciate it, and I know that he does too, more than he can (and will) say. If you have any questions, please email me at erinm26@hotmail.com (please put dad's name in the subject line so I don't delete it as spam) and I'll try to respond as soon as possible. Again, thank you for caring.

Posted by: Erin at 04:03 PM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
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We got here at 5:55am.
They admitted him immediately.

Beth arrived from her hotel and joined us in Delft's holding room. Her eyes are striking, and she has a very genuine kindness about her.

The tech completely denuded his body (beard and scalp excluded). He looks pretty naked that way. Don't say anything but I kinda like it....

A more emergant case pushed his back to 9:30am.

At 9:10 he was taken to prep.

At 9:30 he was taken to surgery.

At 12:40 I got a call from Sister to tell me that they just got him open and on bypass. Because this is his second open-heart, opening the chest is much more difficult and involved and took a considerable amount of time. They don't expect him to be out of surgery for at least 3 more hours, potentially much longer.

I will update this as I can.

Posted by: Mamamontezz at 11:53 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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I got back home last night at 1700, feeling like fidos's ass; but bouyed up by all the support that everyone one of you has shown me. I cannot express just how much that show of support has meant to me over this last week or so.

It was a real blow to get home and find that a virus of some sort has wiped out half of my periphial components/drivers...(thank god I saved my old keyboard!) I'm still looking to get a full functioning mouse to be fully back, but at least I can navigate in a limited manner, albeit a clumsy one.

I just talked to the cardiac surgeons nurse, and they want me to come into the office at 0945 Monday to discuss just what Dr. Shearer has determined is the proper course of action; and to come in at 0600 Tuesday to be prepped for surgury at 0800.

If anything like the last time, I'll be in post surgical care for about 3 to 7 days; then a two month rehab at home.

The speed with which thay are moving on the surgury does have me a bit scared...hell, to be honest, I'm terrified. they have put the fatality risk of the surgury at 35-45%..my bypass procedure was rated at 5-10%, so I think I have a good reason to feel a little twinge of fear. I have one of the best surgeons in the Midwest and one of the best Cardiologists in the US looking after me though, so that does help ease my mind that I'm in good hands on the technical end of things, and all the support you've shown me in th last week assures me that the the spiritual/emotional end of it is in even better hands; so as LC Brendon might say "no worries, mate!"

More to follow as I learn of it. Hopefully, Beth and JB can find the time put up a few posts here in my absence to keep everything running.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 02:29 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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