Tuesday, December 2, 2008

5

I didn't even know there was such a thing as quintuple bypass surgery.

My uncle started to have chest pains when he bent over last Wednesday. He acknowledged it but pushed it aside having to prepare to go to his new girlfriend's parent's house for Thanksgiving. He pushed through the weekend. Having numbness and tingling in his limbs. Monday he finally decided that it was time to make a visit to the doctor. Although by the time he was ready to go his business partner/ex-girlfriend tried to get in the car to go, he had full numbness in all his extremities. He could not get in the car himself. They called 911 and the ambulance took him the ER. The doctors told him that he was too critical for their hospital and he was transferred to a hospital in Gulfport, Mississippi. The tried all night to stabilize him. They put stints in his arteries. But his body rejected them. They elected to do bypass surgery. One of his main arteries was 100% blocked, another was 95% blocked. They were unable to properly stabilize him before surgery. They told my grandparents that he had a 50/50 chance of surviving the surgery. The surgery was scheduled to be 8 hours. After only about 4 hours they emerged proclaiming the surgery a success. He had a quintuple bypass.

5 arteries were replaced. 5? I have never heard of a quintuple bypass. Triple yeah. Even quadruple. But never a quintuple. Ridiculous.

He is off the heart bypass. His heart is only functioning at 35%. He is still on a ventilator. He has to wake up before he can be taken off the ventilator. It is a very critical time. If he doesn't react favorably, he could have a stroke and die, he could have a heart attack and die, or just die. As my dad put it he could wake up, know he survived the surgery, have the tube removed, and stroke out and die. If he does survive all of this, his recovery will be long and painful.

I'm not particularly close to my uncle. He is my mom's half brother. He is kind of the miscreant of the family. He is always getting in to trouble. Dating, marrying, having kids, and then moving on. Starting businesses, losing money and moving on. He is a unique character.

At Thanksgiving my mom's other half brother came to eat with us and we were telling jokes and stories about Uncle Rusty.

I don't know what I am going to feel if he does pass. I don't know how to deal with the loss of family. The adult way. I was only a teen when my grandmother died. I'm not sure what I'm suppose to say to my mom. She is very upset. She is alone in her little apartment. My dad is stressing out about paying to fly her down to Gulfport. I guess I am sad, scared, nervous, anxious. That doesn't really narrow down how I feel.

I'll update again when I know more for whomever is interested.

3 comments:

Laura said...

Wow, that is hard. Losing family is not easy, even if you aren't particularily close to them. I will keep your family in my thoughts. I hope things improve and if not, I hope your family can find peace.

Laura

adrienne_sakura said...

He's doing well for someone who had 5 bypasses. My mom is flying down there tomorrow. It will be a long recovering if all goes well. He is off the ventilator though. Thank you for your prayers.

familyofmgms said...

Hey hon, my grandfather had a multple bypass surgery and is now back playing golf and going on cruises....so don't lose hope that "normal" life can return one day! I know it is stressful, on the top of the holidays and everything else. I'm a good listener if you need to vent.