kookykat
10-19-2006, 02:12 AM
Foul language alert - if you don't care for it or have small children sitting near your monitor, you might want to pass this by, please. Consider yourself warned.
Okay, now we're both calmed down and informed. Sharon will be having triple bypass surgery in the early morning. We both like her surgeon very much. He was actually *impressed* that I was able to talk back to him in his own language! LOL
They need to fix the left main system, which means the LAD (left anterior descending artery), circumflex artery, and ramus intermedius artery.
They're going to do a saphenous vein graft and a LIMA (left interior mammary artery) graft. That was when he got impressed, when he said it in very general terms, and I even got the anatomy right of where the saphenous vein was...<G> Ah, the life of a transcriptionist!
She's going to start being prepped at 5 a.m., poor girl. Surgery is set for 7 a.m. I'm to be there around 10:30 (but I'm gonna call to find out what time surgery actually STARTED, since it's approximately a four-hour procedure), so I'm ready for her when they bring her into recovery/ICU. This will be the same ICU she was in at the very beginning of the Stroke Saga back in 2004, I believe. Could be wrong about that, but the nurse kept saying second floor. She's going to be intubated for a while, possibly a day or two, depending on how easily her lungs recover from the anesthesia. She'll have to have at least her left hand restrained, but I'm going to request that they not do the right arm - it's not functional enough right now for them to worry about it. I finally found out why that's been so limp...they've doubled her Flexeril dosage, so the muscles are relaxing *too* much now. Sigh.
Sharon will be in ICU for a couple of days to a week, depending on how quickly she heals. They're going to talk to the ortho surgeon about getting Sharon up at bedside and/or up in a chair, at least until they get the brace for her ankle ordered and fitted. He's the final word on whether they can attempt ambulation or even standing.
I don't know how they could say her EKG was normal. You should have seen it. I've never seen one that abnormal. Of course, it might just be that she knows there's a problem now and is letting it happen without fighting it, too. I did get out of Sharon tonight that she's had chest pains for a long time. Silly wabbit. We need to work on our communication...but this is something we've argued about for a long time, this martyr syndrome she seems to have. :( She was told, more than once, by the nurse tonight (second one, great nurse, ought to be in some kind of Hall of Fame) that she is NOT to be brave, that she IS to ask for pain medication AS OFTEN AS SHE NEEDS IT!!!!! We'll see.
Loved the anesthesiologist. He asked specifically that I be there
before surgery was finished so that I could assist them in the ICU.
YAY!!! He got a taste of it when he kept asking Sharon questions, and
she kept deferring to me to answer for her. Once I explained my
concerns, he said, 'I'm going to ask you to be here before she gets
into the ICU, because you'll be a big help to them in caring for
Sharon. I'll make sure they know that in the notes.'
Surgeon had no problem with having *me* sign the papers.
Anesthesiologist deferred to me as caregiver and decision-maker. He
took my suggestions for sedation and ran with them, basically - I know
what works and what doesn't far better than they do. They're going to
use Ativan, which will have the added benefit of calming any seizure
activity that might spark up from all the upset.
Now, let's talk about Malibu Barbie...or is it Skipper...who was the
brunette...friggin' nurse. Don't piss me off right out of the gate. You
only get ONE chance to make a first impression with me, and she BLEW
it.
First of all, I was told that *I* would get to tell Sharon the bad
news. I got there and was informed by *****y Barbie that the nurse
pracitioner had taken it upon herself to come in and hammer at Sharon,
not explaining anything, just telling her this awful news and then
leaving. AAAAAHHHH!!!!! I was so angry I almost walked out. It was
either that or punch something (or someONE). *****y Barbie kept
spouting off at me how there's not an 'active' Power of Attorney in
place, and we could have someone from Psychiatry come down and see if
they'd be willing to declare Sharon incompetent for those purposes.
**** you, sweetheart. Don't tell me there's no PoA, because that's
absolute BULLSHIT!!! It's not about Sharon being incompetent. It's
about people who don't know her well enough to get the correct answers
from her or making sure she understands what she's being told putting
her and themselves in a position to harm or KILL her because they're so
****ing bent on misinterpreting HIPAA law. Worst ****in' thing health
care as an industry ever did, next to not requiring that all
transcriptionists be paid a living wage, meaning MINIMUM WAGE,
people!!!!!! (but I digress)
I will be talking to the social worker and the patient advocate
tomorrow. I do not need to go through this every g-d time we go to a
different unit.
Luckily, it was just this one snotty nurse. Otherwise, we'd have been changing wards. Seriously.
Hopefully, my feet will last. My ankles look like they've got softballs
attached to them on the outsides...but, nuthin' I can do about it.
Well, there is, but it involves lowering my blood pressure, keeping my
ankles elevated to a level above my heart, and staying off my flippin'
feet. Ain't gonna happen for a while.
Then, to top it all off, friggin' Jeffrey won 'Project Runway.'
JEFFREY??? The WORST designer on the whole damn show??? Oh, please. Now
I can never watch another episode, because it's not about fashion, at
least not in the way fashion USED to be about good lines, creative use
of fabric, and making someone look their best. Apparently, it's now
about making women look like skanky crack ****** from the 1980s. Ick.
Okay, that's my rant and rave for the day. The ortho unit nurses are
going to stop in and see Sharon when they have a couple of minutes.
They were already missing her, and we definitely miss them!!!
The foot looked a bit better tonight than it did last night. More toes were wiggling, and the push was stronger. The flex was *definitely* stronger! :)
I was told tonight it'll probably be about six weeks before they'd even consider doing the back surgery. Sooooo, that means Sharon's in ICU *or* the cardiac unit for probably another 10 days total (10 to 14 days is what I was told all together). From there, she'll probably go to a rehab unit. We're going to get the paperwork done tomorrow, hopefully, for Title XIX secondary insurance, which I've been told Sharon will very nearly absolutely get, because it's a whole different thing from the primary insurance, which is what Sharon kept getting turned down for. So, we'll see. If she gets it, she'll have 20 days in the rehab place (unless she comes home, we're still debating that) fully covered and then we'd need to have the Medicaid coverage to take care of that 20 percent that Medicare stops paying for after the initial 20 days. The problem with bringing her home is if she needs to have blood tests. They're talking about putting her on Coumadin, so I *know* she'll need tests for that on a very regular basis. Hopefully, we can set something up with one of the home health agencies.
Still and all, she'll be very close to the end of the bed rest (three to four weeks; I was wrongly informed that it was four to six weeks) period imposed by the surgeon. It's been two weeks already (tomorrow, matter of fact). So, maybe getting her into a rehab unit and getting her back up and walking wouldn't be such a bad thing. If they can get her strong enough to come home, that's half the battle right there.
We'll see. First priority is to get through tomorrow's journey.
I'll post in the morning before I head to the hospital and let you know what I know of their progress. After that, I'll post after I get home from my first shift of seeing Herself. I'll spend a bit of time with the monsters and then go back for a few more hours.
I do know that Sharon will have about a six-inch incision in her chest (midline, from just below the sternal notch (the little dip in your collar bone) to just below the cleavage cleft. She'll have another 'minimal' incision (I'm thinking one to two inches) for the vein harvest - we were told they do that laparoscopically now.
The video we watched was old - the guy's entire leg was cut up for the vein harvesting - and the floor numbers were not current - so I don't know how much of it is true nowadays. I don't know if she'll have chest tubes. I don't know if she'll have pressure monitor wires. I'll take pix, at any rate. Ought to be interesting.
Okay, puppies need out, and Mama needs her bed.
Later, gators. Thank you for all the good thoughts and prayers and well wishes. I tell Sharon about them every time I go see her, and I can tell you that every single bit makes her feel better!
Love,
Mik, Sharon, and the furbies
Okay, now we're both calmed down and informed. Sharon will be having triple bypass surgery in the early morning. We both like her surgeon very much. He was actually *impressed* that I was able to talk back to him in his own language! LOL
They need to fix the left main system, which means the LAD (left anterior descending artery), circumflex artery, and ramus intermedius artery.
They're going to do a saphenous vein graft and a LIMA (left interior mammary artery) graft. That was when he got impressed, when he said it in very general terms, and I even got the anatomy right of where the saphenous vein was...<G> Ah, the life of a transcriptionist!
She's going to start being prepped at 5 a.m., poor girl. Surgery is set for 7 a.m. I'm to be there around 10:30 (but I'm gonna call to find out what time surgery actually STARTED, since it's approximately a four-hour procedure), so I'm ready for her when they bring her into recovery/ICU. This will be the same ICU she was in at the very beginning of the Stroke Saga back in 2004, I believe. Could be wrong about that, but the nurse kept saying second floor. She's going to be intubated for a while, possibly a day or two, depending on how easily her lungs recover from the anesthesia. She'll have to have at least her left hand restrained, but I'm going to request that they not do the right arm - it's not functional enough right now for them to worry about it. I finally found out why that's been so limp...they've doubled her Flexeril dosage, so the muscles are relaxing *too* much now. Sigh.
Sharon will be in ICU for a couple of days to a week, depending on how quickly she heals. They're going to talk to the ortho surgeon about getting Sharon up at bedside and/or up in a chair, at least until they get the brace for her ankle ordered and fitted. He's the final word on whether they can attempt ambulation or even standing.
I don't know how they could say her EKG was normal. You should have seen it. I've never seen one that abnormal. Of course, it might just be that she knows there's a problem now and is letting it happen without fighting it, too. I did get out of Sharon tonight that she's had chest pains for a long time. Silly wabbit. We need to work on our communication...but this is something we've argued about for a long time, this martyr syndrome she seems to have. :( She was told, more than once, by the nurse tonight (second one, great nurse, ought to be in some kind of Hall of Fame) that she is NOT to be brave, that she IS to ask for pain medication AS OFTEN AS SHE NEEDS IT!!!!! We'll see.
Loved the anesthesiologist. He asked specifically that I be there
before surgery was finished so that I could assist them in the ICU.
YAY!!! He got a taste of it when he kept asking Sharon questions, and
she kept deferring to me to answer for her. Once I explained my
concerns, he said, 'I'm going to ask you to be here before she gets
into the ICU, because you'll be a big help to them in caring for
Sharon. I'll make sure they know that in the notes.'
Surgeon had no problem with having *me* sign the papers.
Anesthesiologist deferred to me as caregiver and decision-maker. He
took my suggestions for sedation and ran with them, basically - I know
what works and what doesn't far better than they do. They're going to
use Ativan, which will have the added benefit of calming any seizure
activity that might spark up from all the upset.
Now, let's talk about Malibu Barbie...or is it Skipper...who was the
brunette...friggin' nurse. Don't piss me off right out of the gate. You
only get ONE chance to make a first impression with me, and she BLEW
it.
First of all, I was told that *I* would get to tell Sharon the bad
news. I got there and was informed by *****y Barbie that the nurse
pracitioner had taken it upon herself to come in and hammer at Sharon,
not explaining anything, just telling her this awful news and then
leaving. AAAAAHHHH!!!!! I was so angry I almost walked out. It was
either that or punch something (or someONE). *****y Barbie kept
spouting off at me how there's not an 'active' Power of Attorney in
place, and we could have someone from Psychiatry come down and see if
they'd be willing to declare Sharon incompetent for those purposes.
**** you, sweetheart. Don't tell me there's no PoA, because that's
absolute BULLSHIT!!! It's not about Sharon being incompetent. It's
about people who don't know her well enough to get the correct answers
from her or making sure she understands what she's being told putting
her and themselves in a position to harm or KILL her because they're so
****ing bent on misinterpreting HIPAA law. Worst ****in' thing health
care as an industry ever did, next to not requiring that all
transcriptionists be paid a living wage, meaning MINIMUM WAGE,
people!!!!!! (but I digress)
I will be talking to the social worker and the patient advocate
tomorrow. I do not need to go through this every g-d time we go to a
different unit.
Luckily, it was just this one snotty nurse. Otherwise, we'd have been changing wards. Seriously.
Hopefully, my feet will last. My ankles look like they've got softballs
attached to them on the outsides...but, nuthin' I can do about it.
Well, there is, but it involves lowering my blood pressure, keeping my
ankles elevated to a level above my heart, and staying off my flippin'
feet. Ain't gonna happen for a while.
Then, to top it all off, friggin' Jeffrey won 'Project Runway.'
JEFFREY??? The WORST designer on the whole damn show??? Oh, please. Now
I can never watch another episode, because it's not about fashion, at
least not in the way fashion USED to be about good lines, creative use
of fabric, and making someone look their best. Apparently, it's now
about making women look like skanky crack ****** from the 1980s. Ick.
Okay, that's my rant and rave for the day. The ortho unit nurses are
going to stop in and see Sharon when they have a couple of minutes.
They were already missing her, and we definitely miss them!!!
The foot looked a bit better tonight than it did last night. More toes were wiggling, and the push was stronger. The flex was *definitely* stronger! :)
I was told tonight it'll probably be about six weeks before they'd even consider doing the back surgery. Sooooo, that means Sharon's in ICU *or* the cardiac unit for probably another 10 days total (10 to 14 days is what I was told all together). From there, she'll probably go to a rehab unit. We're going to get the paperwork done tomorrow, hopefully, for Title XIX secondary insurance, which I've been told Sharon will very nearly absolutely get, because it's a whole different thing from the primary insurance, which is what Sharon kept getting turned down for. So, we'll see. If she gets it, she'll have 20 days in the rehab place (unless she comes home, we're still debating that) fully covered and then we'd need to have the Medicaid coverage to take care of that 20 percent that Medicare stops paying for after the initial 20 days. The problem with bringing her home is if she needs to have blood tests. They're talking about putting her on Coumadin, so I *know* she'll need tests for that on a very regular basis. Hopefully, we can set something up with one of the home health agencies.
Still and all, she'll be very close to the end of the bed rest (three to four weeks; I was wrongly informed that it was four to six weeks) period imposed by the surgeon. It's been two weeks already (tomorrow, matter of fact). So, maybe getting her into a rehab unit and getting her back up and walking wouldn't be such a bad thing. If they can get her strong enough to come home, that's half the battle right there.
We'll see. First priority is to get through tomorrow's journey.
I'll post in the morning before I head to the hospital and let you know what I know of their progress. After that, I'll post after I get home from my first shift of seeing Herself. I'll spend a bit of time with the monsters and then go back for a few more hours.
I do know that Sharon will have about a six-inch incision in her chest (midline, from just below the sternal notch (the little dip in your collar bone) to just below the cleavage cleft. She'll have another 'minimal' incision (I'm thinking one to two inches) for the vein harvest - we were told they do that laparoscopically now.
The video we watched was old - the guy's entire leg was cut up for the vein harvesting - and the floor numbers were not current - so I don't know how much of it is true nowadays. I don't know if she'll have chest tubes. I don't know if she'll have pressure monitor wires. I'll take pix, at any rate. Ought to be interesting.
Okay, puppies need out, and Mama needs her bed.
Later, gators. Thank you for all the good thoughts and prayers and well wishes. I tell Sharon about them every time I go see her, and I can tell you that every single bit makes her feel better!
Love,
Mik, Sharon, and the furbies