Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Out of surgery

Hi everyone:

We just met with Dr. Cziperle, the surgeon who implanted the Heart Net device in Patty. Most of the time Patty has been away from us has been devoted to prepping her--and whatever the hell the "after" counterpart of prepping is (desurgerizing?). The actual surgery took 58 minutes. We were told that Patty's vitals were fine throughout, and that the device was placed without any major problems. The woman leading the study for Edward Hospital told me that the echocardiogram (a down-the-throat version instead of the typical, ultrasound-like device) showed that Patty's heart really still hadn't been pumping very efficiently, so the Heart Net really should help improve her heart function. Further evidence, it would seem, that Patty has done remarkably well with her crappy heart.

We've been told that Patty is in her room right now, is conscious, and is working with nurses to get her pain management right. Apparently, Patty's first words in coming out from anaesthesia were, "It hurts," which made me feel a strong and sudden sadness, and an equally strong and sudden urge to see her. I was hoping instead to hear something along the lines of, "She feels great; she's ready to go home." We'll be able to see her in about 45 minutes; the wait is of course irritating me, because I know they're keeping me away because they don't want a husband barking, "Do something for her," when that's precisely what they're trying to do.

So all who have worried about Patty can breathe a sigh of relief. Of course, after a procedure some time ago in which "everything went fine", Patty told quite a different story than the doctors. So, once I have a chance to talk to Patty and get her take on things, I'll post again. For now, at least, it sounds like very good news.

Love,
Brian

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