I'll try to make this a condensed version...I know many of you know what's happened, but I feel the need to record it in my blog journal. :)
On Wednesday night, April 8th, Mom & I got home from a meeting at church. We'd barely walked in the door and sat on the couch and Mom complained of a crushing sensation in her chest and pain in her jaw. I immediately looked up the symptoms of a heart attack and as I listed them, Mom said she had about 4 out of the 6, so Dad called 911. She was taken to Lourdes in Pasco where they ruled out a heart attack and a blood clot in her lungs. After many labs, tests, scans, and x-rays, they determined at around 2:30am that she'd have to be flown to Seattle for an emergency surgery. She left Pasco on a jet headed for Seattle while we raced home to pack a few things and meet her in Seattle.
By the time we got to the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, Mom had been in surgery for about 3 hours. She was in surgery for a total of 7 hours that morning to repair a severe tear in her ascending aorta - otherwise known as an aortic dissection. The doctor that spoke to us during the surgery made things sound great, that the doctors were happy with what they saw, that Mom was an exceptional case, and that she'd be fine (all of which, we know now is true!). A doctor that came a few hours later when her surgery was finished didn't have such great news for us, which made us very worried. To do the surgery, they had to completely drain all of Mom's blood from her body and put her on a heart/lung bypass machine, so they were concerned about neurological damage, damage to her other organs & extremeties, and excessive bleeding.
We finally got to see Mom around 2pm in the Cardiac Critical Care Unit, where she was hooked up to a ventilator and sedated. We were so worried, especially with all that the doctors were telling us. We were so lucky to have such a great support system - we got so many calls, texts, emails, and Facebook messages. We are so so grateful and blessed by our family and friends. Our family was over as soon as possible and we had friend stopping by the entire time. We are so blessed. We kind of took over the waiting room with all of the people we had here - I'm sure we were a little intimidating to the other families (10-12 people all the time!).
By Friday morning, Mom was taken off the ventilator and was able to whisper to us. By Saturday, she went for a walk and on Sunday, she was moved out of the ICU! It was such an Easter blessing! Since then, she's been taking 4 walks a day, she took a shower yesterday, and has all the wires removed! The sutures were removed today and they're kicking us out tomorrow!!
We've been learning a lot about what happened. She had an aortic dissection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aortic_dissection), which is a tear in her ascending aorta. She had a graph (graft) of part of her artery. So, for the rest of her life, she will become good friends with her surgeon and doctor, Dr. Mokadam. She will have to carefully monitor her blood pressure and come to Seattle every six months for cat scans and echocardiograms. We are so thankful for his expertise and knowledge.
So- we'll be home tomorrow! I'll stay home with Mom for a while to nurse her back to health. I know we're just as excited to see everyone as everyone is to see Mom, but I think we're going to have a sign on the door for when she's napping or when it's not a good time to come in. We do want people to visit, because she's very energized by that, but there will be times that are better than others. Thank you for your respect in this!
Here's a picture from out Mom's window and also the puzzle we all put together the first couple days we were here (this puzzle looks difficult - but you wouldn't believe how hard it really was! There are four or five puzzles in the waiting room and all the pieces had been dumped together - so it took an extra long time to find all the pieces. What else did we have to do?!):
So, now we've learned a lot about taking care of your heart, checking your blood pressure regularly, and maintaining a low-sodium diet. We have been looking for heart jewelry to commemorate our time here in Seattle, so if you have any suggestions, let us know. :)
Thanks again for all of your prayers, support, texts, emails, Facebook messages, calls, and messages. We love you all so very much!
9 comments:
I'm so glad your mom is recovering! What a scary ordeal for all involved. I hope she continues to do well. She's very lucky to have such a supportive family, great friends, and a fabulous community that loves her!
Wow! I had no idea. Glad things went well and that she's able to come home and start her road to recovery. Hope all continues to go well.
I hadn't heard. I am sorry for all that she (and the rest of you) have been through, but I am so happy that it is all turning out well. Our love and prayers go out to you all.
So it sounds like you and your mommacita are going to get to go shopping in seattle a little more often now---good going!!!
I am so excited that she is getting better. Garrett said your mom is very luck most people don't live through that. he has see some of that at work and it's not fun.
I'm glad that it's all over for your family and that your mom came through so great! You have a LOT of support from family and friends, which makes trials like this a little easier. Hope you get to feeling 100% soon, Connie!!
Oh Marcie, I'm so glad everything turned out okay. I have been thinking of you. Give Connie a hug from us.
We ended up buying family rings for my Aunt, my mom and I to remember these past few months with Grandpa.
We are so glad that your mom is doing so well. What a miracle. Please pass on our love to her.
You guys have been in my thoughts and prayers ever since your mom went to the hospital. She has always been so kind to me and supportive. Please know that if you guys need anything let me know.
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