Almost twelve hours after we got the call, they wheeled my dear husband into surgery. Everything exploded at 1:45 PM. Dr John, one of the surgeons, came in to brief Dick and I on what would be happening. The anaesthesiologists came to give us their information, the delivery wheel chair arrived, the final signing of the papers were signed, etc. etc., then the long walk down the hall, to the elevator and the saying goodbye. Instead of taking him to pre-op, they took him right into the OR. To the best of my memory this is what Dr John said would be the general timing of all this:
2:00 take him down and put him to sleep. There are many tubes, lines, and a full body scrub that must go be done before they begin; praise God Dick will not have to feel a thing. AT THIS POINT - If for any reason the donor's heart is not suitable, everything will come to a halt.
3:00 Dr. John and Dr. Shumway will begin to open him. They will have to disconnect the LVAD and clean out old scarring that has occurred from the prior surgery. There will be quite a bit of bleeding when they remove the LVAD which is of great concern to me. Please pray bleeding will not be an issue.
Also at 3:00 another Dr. will be harvesting the donor's heart, where ever that dear person is, and will transfer it back to Fairview. This will take approx 2 hours. Timing is everything!
5:00 PM - I pray at 5:00 Dick will have been successfully opened, the LVAD removed, the bi-pass machine hooked up and the old heart removed. When the new heart arrives, I pray the doctors are ready and waiting.
God only knows how long it will take to put in the new heart, but in an ideal world, prayerfully by 7:00ish doctors will be finished and will be ready to close. This takes another two or more hours.
Dr John said that if all goes well, Dick should be out of surgery by 10:00 PM.
Dede is on her way up right now and Jonathan is coming tomorrow. It's Saturday and the waiting room is virtually empty, but even though it appears I'm all alone, I not really alone. Jesus told me along time ago, that He would never leave me nor forsake me and I am confident that He who is faithful has and will work all this for good. Both Dick and I are under His wonderful arms of protection and are blessed beyond measure.
I will keep you posted.
Lovingly,
Mary
We just returned to SF a little after midnight and have been catching up on all of your exciting news. You are both in our prayers! By now, a successful surgery should be over and Dick should have a functioning new heart. We will be anxious to hear how surgery went.
ReplyDeleteYou must be absolutely exhausted after running on adrenaline since receiving the call from MN.
Keep us posted on how Dick is doing. We will be praying for his body to accept this long, "awaited for" heart and that he will soon be up and able to enjoy his "new life."
Prayers and blessings~
Mike