Quintuple Bypass help

[spazzychalk]

i;m sitting in my dad's hospital room with my laptop right now scared as hell. I googled Quintuple Bypass and found this thread on your site http://brain.hastypastry.net/forums/...ad.php?t=17524 and thought i would make my own... for infoa and emotional support and prayers. im new in town and have no support ssystem other than my mom at home nursing her mom and ready to pop from stress before this happened.

he is 52, non smoker, never smoked, drinks some, tries to eat right, over weight but used to be very athletic from when he was a kid until a few years ago including being a world hall of fame martial artist. i guess back in 2000 he has his first cardio cath with angioplasty. i think originally 2 of the arteries were 100% blocked and the third was 90% blocked. LAD widowmaker was mentioned. he is in such amazing shape that his heart grew new vessels around the outside to compensate. he had a total of 4 caths, dont know how many were for angio and how many were repairs. I know he said one of his stents is gold, there is either 1 or 2 more. at least one of the caths was to laser out blockage built back in the stents. last week he had a thalium stress test. initial results were great, he got to level 14, when someone in good health at his age would only make it to level 10 or 11. a few days later when the thalium readings came back one of the arteries getting zero blood. no tissue death or damage, no heart attacks, no strokes. just fatigue and forgetfulness. this morning was his cath and i was expecting another angio. they quit the cath early, both stints blocked up again, and 3 new bad areas that would require stints. the surgeons said surgery which of course i immediately challenged. no sense in asking a surgeon what he would perfer.

im in melbourne FL at holmes regional medical center which an enormous heart center, in fact the entire place is huge. i think this particular building is less than 2years old, and the heart center is so new and advanced and etc etc that some of the top cardio surgeons in the country are moving here (i heard) to work out of this facility. talked to his cardiologist who agreed with the surgery. apparently the stints increase risk exponentially. 1x1=doulbe + another equal double that + anopther one = double that. we're looking at doubling risk factors 5 times. plus theyve already been cleared before and clogged again. now apparently there cholesterol is good but LDH good cholesterol is low. its a genetic problem. anyways when the cardiologist stopped in to say hi before the cath i started in about this and was blown away by him. instead of a typical dr response i mentioned he said hold on a minute, walked out to the n ursing station to get his chart and come in a talk about it. we kicked around ideas together, he suggested a new drug and taking him off an old drug and starting soemthing else, just my mentioning diet brough up red wine conversation, medical studies supporting it and debunking grapes only, that the benefits occur from the ferminting process. also fish in the diet came up, where he came quickly that AHA rasied the reccommended servings to 3 fish a week. my dad doesnt like fish but takes fish oil pills to which he replied OTC is no telling what youre getting, he can put him on pharma fish oil pills to be sure. im a very anti dr anti establishment modern medicine is evil drivin by pharma instead of care and find myself saying the same thing 5 times to a dr before he asks me what i just told him and then still does nothing with it kinda person and i REALLY liked this guy, he's just the anti-dr. i wasnt there immediately after thec ath so i didnt talk to him then but i guess my dad did and he is the one who said do the surgery and about the exponential stints, and another comment about how many people with each are still alive in 10 years. im having a really hard time with this we were all expecting an agioplasty and LHD therapy. my dad's front is that hes excited to get it all out of the way and taken care of.

i guess back to answer some of the things on the other thread i got here from, cadiologist cesar jara doesnt work out of this hospital (office) even thought he probably does everything here, his office is at westhoff (locally known as worst off) so dont know if that makes a difference in the comment about them backing each other up but he still didnt strike me that way

his team of surgeons is james battaglini and ormond mendes who have been doing nothing but this for 20 years and have some special gimmick where one is right handed and one is left handed and they both go in at the same time and work together and theyve been together since med school.

PCP yanqing gu

info on docs or procedues or hospital or experiences or ANYTHING would help. or just talking.

im throwing him a suprise superbowl party in his hospital room. i figure the only thing that could suck more than watching it alone is recording it and having to hear everyone talk about it before hes seen it. got ahold of at least 2 of his friends on his cell tonight who said yes. left messages for 2 others, then erased the calls fromthe log. they;ll just kinda wander in before the game to check on him and end up staying.

then if we cant get the back end of whats left over after insurance we're gonna have to have a fund or fundraiser or benefit or some such if the financial assistance application doesnt go through because he makes good money but im disabled, moms retired, and her mom is here being nursed too its check to check on everthing expect when you lay it on paper

[spazzychalk]

another thread somewhere else http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...9182146AAQJmwV said

WORST but most available - Saphenous vein grafts have worse patency rates (dont even know what Saphenous vein or patency rate means but i understood worst)

BEST - left internal thoracic artery with the distal end being anastomosed with the coronary artery (typically the left anterior descending artery or a diagonal branch artery). - dont know what any of it means but i can read it in front of me while im asking the dr??

then a whole nother site saying pig vessels even better flow than leg vessels and no insision

and someone said something about possibly going in under the rib cage without spreading them even though no one ever does thaT??/

[Nana4&cntn]

Hi there, my name is Kathy and I live in Omaha Ne, my father went thru open heart surgery for a quintuple bypass several years ago. He is doing awesome!

It was really scary in the beginning, especially right after surgery as he was so cold and pale.

Prior to his surgery, he could barely walk across the street without stopping to catch his breath.

A week after surgery he was walking around the block his home is on, some of it was up hill and he was breathing fine. Still sore from having his chest cracked open, but nontheless he was and continues to do great!

I hope your father will learn to like lean meats especially fish and chicken as to eat the other meats will cause additional problems.

My dad is 70 years old, still working, hunting and driving all over the United States on vacation. I keep hoping he will finally retire and enjoy himself. I think he is afraid to spend too much time with his wife cuz she will drive him nuts as she does the remainder of the family.

Please feel free to drop in at the Forum for Emotional Support at the beginning of the listing of general subjects. We have a group of great folks there who provide support for eachother, we always enjoy new folks!

Please keep in touch,
Kathy