It's Routine Surgery, Really

But nobody can deny that heart surgery is serious. Any kind of surgery is, in my book! I know this blog is supposed to be about my adventures in DC, but as long as I have a blog, I might as well write it all down so I remember the experience. I have this sad habit of not remembering significant happenings in my life--so I'm making it a point to remember this one.

For the faint of heart or easily bored, I suggest skipping the following 2 paragraphs. What I'm going to do is describe the surgery, how it went down, and what's happening now.

What dad has is mitral valve regurgitation, which caused the blood to flow in the wrong direction in part of his heart--making his heart work harder & causing swelling, as well as an irregular heartbeat. The doctors thought they may be able to fix everything with medicine, but that didn't work, so my dad elected to have the surgery. They were unable to repair the valve, so they instead inserted a bovine valve (pig!) which is the closest option to the real thing. This is better than a metal valve, the other option, because now he can be on fewer meds that cause him discomfort. They hooked him up to a heart-lung machine, which keeps the blood circulating throughout the body and provides necessary oxygen to the heart, lungs, brain, etc. all while the heart is stopped so they surgeons can work on it. Amazing, I think!

The next part of the surgery was called maize--which was a procedure done by making burn marks and hopefully shocking the heart back into a normal rhythm. Irregular heartbeat was what brought on this whole problem. It's a 50-50 chance that the maize will keep his heart in a regular heartbeat.

Lastly, they had to cut off an appendige (sorry about the graphics) in order to reduce the swelling. I have always said he has a big heart.. :) But literally, a swollen heart has to work harder--this will make it more efficient and relieve stress.

The surgery itself is routine, like I said, but it's invasive and painful for the most part because they have to break the sternum bone--which is the thick bone protecting your heart. This is where dad's at right now--in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU), waiting to get better enough in order to be able to remove all the tubes and things that are connected to him.

Again, I'm sorry if I bored any of you. Just good to have it down on "paper."

It's amazing to me how much support my family has gotten throughout this process. I'm in awe. My dad is a hero; I know he'll pull through this well. I'm glad that the surgery part is over and now we can focus on the healing process. It will be hard to go back to "normal life," but I feel better knowing that we have a good support system at church, at the hospital, and in the community.

It's like I just kind of pressed a "pause" button on my life the past few days. It's been in and out of the hospital, not much sleep, making our own lunches and getting quite cozy in the surgical waiting room. I've found it as a blessing-- my dad gets his heart fixed, and it brings us all together as a family. It's been awesome.

Work and Washington will be there waiting for me when I return. I will have just a month left in the city when I get back.

Thanks for reading. I hope you all have a wonderful day. <3