Saturday, April 12, 2008

The Third Day After Surgery is Always the Worst

When I walked up to Mom's room this morning -- the third day after her
double bypass surgery -- the curtain was closed on the room. Not a
good sign.

There were three nurses surrounding her bed, and one of them was
reapplying a heart monitor. (Never mind why they ever took it off in
the first place!)

She had gone into atrial fibrillation (sic?) -- essentially, her heart
was beating at near 200 beats per minute. The nurse explained that
this happens in about 95% of heart surgeries, and that they had
applied a "bolus" (some kind of heart medication) to help keep the
heart rhythm closer to normal.

Her heart rate is still up and down at the moment as we watch the
monitor -- between 140 and 160.

Needless to say, she won't be getting out of the hospital today.
Probably more like Monday.

Despite the scare, she's doing okay, although she had a lot of pain
with her back overnight, and she doesn't look nearly as well rested
today.

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