Currently in Belton MO (Low 15 Low Clouds and Sun High 38)
Bob is home now after a second successful aortic valve replacement surgery. His surgery was at St. Luke's Hospital near the Plaza in Kansas City Missouri
Bob's recovery started out a little rough. He doesn't tolerate anesthesia well and this was a very long surgery, approaching 6 hours. What started out as the expected grogginess and confusion with dry mouth and sore throat evolved into a what is technically called Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction (POCD): Some patients may experience memory problems or cognitive impairment, which is more common in older individuals [cue jokes here]. Luckily POCD only lasted a couple days but there were a lot of tests to make sure it wasn't anything more serious. After a couple of days normal mental functions returned [cue more jokes here].
Bob then attacked his recovery hard hoping for an early departure. He was "ALMOST" ready to ask when he could leave but when he walked to his first bathroom break on Friday morning his heart monitor started beeping as he went into AFIB (atrial fibrillation). His heart raced to 202 and blood pressure fluctuated causing fatigue and lightheartedness. Because of the seriousness of AFIB the nursing staff immediately jumped into action with IVs and meds all day.
Friday was then a relaxing day instead of a recovery day. What we learned Friday is that AFIB is a common reaction to the trauma experienced by the heart. Saturday was a much better day and Bob went from relaxing to recovery filled with walking and breathing exercises. Sunday morning Bob asked the Nurse Practitioner (NP) and got the OK to depart. They began the process that one of the last steps is making sure the new prescriptions were sent to right Pharmacy. As the NP and Head Nurse were finalizing departure info Bob's heart monitor went off again.
Bob's heart had an VTach-ish episode (
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
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