Out of Surgery

Posted by Brittney

We just spoke with Dr. Willekes, the surgeon. Dad is out of surgery and everything went well. They repaired the valve with the da Vinci machine, but Dr. Willekes decided to make a new cord (see picture below -is it too graphic? sorry) by sewing one right onto the heart. They use Gor-Tex stitches to build a new one. To do that Dr. Willekes had to go in by hand, which meant cutting a little more into the main incision, but only added an inch or so to it. 

He came off bypass fine, and the leak subsided once the heart got down to a slower pace. Now they are unhooking him from everything, and getting him situated in his room. We will have to wait a little bit to see him, but he will most likely still be sleeping. They guesstimate that it will be 4-5 hours before he comes off the anesthetic, at that point they will take his breathing tube out. I've seen that on Grey's Anatomy and ER, he will have to cough it up I bet - ouch! 

That's all for now, we will be able to see him in a little bit and he will probably look pretty nasty. Brendan from work wanted a picture, but we'll have to see how bad he looks, I don't want to scare anyone :-)

We have now been in the hospital for almost 11 hours. We've been eating Goldfish crackers, Yo-Go's, and Granola bars. We had lunch a little bit ago and then Grandma & Grandpa Wilson came. We are all just waiting to see him now and then the dogs need walked and fed. I want to sneak them into the hospital so they can see that Dad's alright, because I know they will be concerned. But I think they are too big and too noisy to get past the nice lady at the desk. 

That's all for now, we will update later tonight when he gets off anesthetic and everything. He will be in ICU for now, then we will let you know where he ends up tomorrow. 

Thanks for all your positive thoughts and prayers, now we just want a good recovery!