It’s been over 15
years since I put out a Mid-Winter Communique but it seems like the time has
come again.
Most of our
adventures this year (2016) are here in the BLOG and it was a fun Canadian travel time.
But since
September Fred has developed an intimate relationship with the Health Care
system.
First, it was
pains in his chest.
In Emerg, they
confirmed that he had not had a heart attack but did not know what was going
on.
After a week in
the hospital, they really couldn't find anything wrong with his heart – needed
to do more testing. His kidneys were not functioning at their peek and they
won't do an angiogram (which is the only test that would give us any more
information about what his heart is doing) while his creatinine is so high and
this can only be done in Calgary.
According to the
doctor, there is nothing we can do for that except keep flushing out his
kidneys with lots of water. I asked him whether our elevated levels of anxiety
were warranted and he said we are in the process of dealing with of some of the
issues so we can relax a bit.
Finally, they
decide they can dilute the dye enough to be relative safe for the angiogram and
we managed to get an appointment for the angiogram and possibly an angioplasty
– clean out the artery – and insert a stent to keep it clear.
We were at the
Foothills hospital in Calgary (about 2 ½ hours away) by 6:45 am on Friday, October 21. Fred was
admitted and had an angiogram, angioplasty and a stent put in by 10 am.
Another oops!
Things screwed up! They were still trying to figure out why he was still short of
breathe and got pain sometimes but not others so they kept him in there to monitor.
They decided that
he had a sticky valve and it should be either repaired or replaced and that
meant surgery. BUT they won't have any definite plan until their conference
meeting at the end of the week.
They flew Fred
back to the hospital in Lethbridge and he stayed there for over a week until
the first of November.
Got a phone call
from the cardiac team in Calgary saying they want him up for a consultation interview with the
surgeon – so off to Calgary.
Saw the surgeon
who said everything looked good for surgery in early January.
Doctor did a lot
of explaining which helped ease our totally frantic minds!
He explained all the worn out or damaged parts
of Fred's heart and what has been done and what still needs to be done to
sustain his lifestyle.
It all sounded so reasonable
Because he had the angiogram and the angioplasty, he needed to be on the anti
rejection drugs for at least 6 weeks before they can do the open-heart surgery.
So he targeted the first week in January for the surgery – 5 days to a week
in the hospital and then 2-3 month to recuperate.
I asked him if we
should cancel our reservations on the Island
for March and he said "No".
Good sign!!
Long story short:
- Admitting for Pre-Op – December 17th
- Surgery – December 19th
In the meantime
We wish you all Season’s Greeting
and
All the Best for 2017!!!
