Saturday, September 1, 2012
Home Is Where The Heart Is
For those of you who haven't heard yet, Dad's been back at University Hospital since Tuesday 8/28/12 because of the increased swelling in his legs that has spread into his abdomen. It's the reason why he wasn't at the Utes season opener last Thursday - literally being in the hospital is THE ONLY thing that would keep that guy away from a game at Rice Eccles :) (Warning: I know I'm going to mess up the medical jargon here when I try to explain what's going on with Dad - especially since I'm here in St. George and haven't heard it first hand from the docs like Mom and Bry and Carter, but we wanted to get something posted anyway.)
He's been feeling progressivley worse and more fatigued since his blood clots last month. His transplant team turned him over to the cardio thorasic team at the U to try to figure out what was going on, and after coming in for a CT scan and numerous other tests, the docs found that he had a lot of fluid building up around his heart - inside the pericardial sac that holds the heart. They were all stumped as to what was causing the fluid build up, but they said that that pressure on the heart is what's been causing his swelling, fatigue, shortness of breath and slow recovery. He had a right/left heart cath done on Thursday morning where they were able to insert a tube to drain the fluid and also were able to get a picture of what's going on in his heart.
They found that the pericardial sac has hardened up into a shell and either needs to be removed all together, or will have to have a small window cut out of it to prevent future fluid build up. Basically, he has to have heart surgery sometime here in the next week or so. The doctors told us that this is most likely a result of the surgical complications he endured during his lung transplant almost nine months ago. What was supposed to be a 3-4 hour surgery back on Christmas Eve ended up taking almost 11 hours because his aorta was accidentally knicked and he almost bled out on the table. Basically, he has to have heart surgery sometime here in the next week or so :(
They're watching him now and are running tests on the fluid that's still draining which will determine how urgent the need for surgery is. Hopefully it will stop draining altogether and he'll be able to go home for a couple of days before being readmitted for open heart surgery. His attitude, is of course, awesome and although we're all extremely nervous about how well his frail body can endure a surgery like this, we're also relieved that finally there's an explanation as to why his recovery has been so difficult - especially when his new lung has been doing so well. I still have questions that will hopefully be answered soon about the effects of having your pericardial sac removed, the effects of heart surgery on his new lung, etc.
We'll keep you posted as soon as we hear anymore news. A day doesn't go by that we aren't humbled and grateful that he's still here with us and fighting for the life he loves so much. We love all of you more that words can say and are continuously grateful for your prayers and concern!
He's been feeling progressivley worse and more fatigued since his blood clots last month. His transplant team turned him over to the cardio thorasic team at the U to try to figure out what was going on, and after coming in for a CT scan and numerous other tests, the docs found that he had a lot of fluid building up around his heart - inside the pericardial sac that holds the heart. They were all stumped as to what was causing the fluid build up, but they said that that pressure on the heart is what's been causing his swelling, fatigue, shortness of breath and slow recovery. He had a right/left heart cath done on Thursday morning where they were able to insert a tube to drain the fluid and also were able to get a picture of what's going on in his heart.
They found that the pericardial sac has hardened up into a shell and either needs to be removed all together, or will have to have a small window cut out of it to prevent future fluid build up. Basically, he has to have heart surgery sometime here in the next week or so. The doctors told us that this is most likely a result of the surgical complications he endured during his lung transplant almost nine months ago. What was supposed to be a 3-4 hour surgery back on Christmas Eve ended up taking almost 11 hours because his aorta was accidentally knicked and he almost bled out on the table. Basically, he has to have heart surgery sometime here in the next week or so :(
They're watching him now and are running tests on the fluid that's still draining which will determine how urgent the need for surgery is. Hopefully it will stop draining altogether and he'll be able to go home for a couple of days before being readmitted for open heart surgery. His attitude, is of course, awesome and although we're all extremely nervous about how well his frail body can endure a surgery like this, we're also relieved that finally there's an explanation as to why his recovery has been so difficult - especially when his new lung has been doing so well. I still have questions that will hopefully be answered soon about the effects of having your pericardial sac removed, the effects of heart surgery on his new lung, etc.
We'll keep you posted as soon as we hear anymore news. A day doesn't go by that we aren't humbled and grateful that he's still here with us and fighting for the life he loves so much. We love all of you more that words can say and are continuously grateful for your prayers and concern!
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