One Woman’s View

A New Day…

Posted on 28 March 2010 | No responses

Well, it’s been a while, huh? 

Okay, now that I’ve broken the ice, let me explain why I’ve been absent for so long, and why the old posts have been removed.

Five years ago, we found out that my husband had an abdominal aortic aneurysm.  As long as it stayed relatively small, the risk of any problems was small as well.  Every six months he would have an ultrasound to measure it, and then meet with the vascular surgeon to get the results. 

Last November the news was not good.  The aneurysm had grown to the point where it required surgical repair because the risk of a rupture was too high.  Any surgery is risky for my husband, who is a hemophiliac and has other complicating conditions like diabetes, but his hemophilia also meant that any rupture could be fatal long before he could get to a hospital for an emergency repair – so there was little choice about having the surgery.  Being so close to the holidays, I had asked the surgeon if there was any way it could wait another month, but he thought that was too much of a risk.  As it turned out, the repair has waited far longer than any of us thought at the time…

We began the process of getting his pre-surgical testing done.  He needed to have a battery of blood tests and be monitored by a hematologist to ensure they could control his bleeding during the surgery.  He needed a CT scan with angiography so that the vascular surgeon could determine if the repair could be done via endograft (small catheter thru the artery in the groin that allows the doctor to insert a stent without having to do an open repair), and he needed a cardiac stress test to ensure his heart could handle the surgery.

It was the stress test that turned out to be the most important.  During the test, they detected a blockage in his heart.  All plans for the aneurysm repair were put on hold while we dealt with this new problem.  He had to go to a hospital over an hour away for the cardiac catheterization because they were worried about the bleeding issues and wanted him at a facility that had the proper lab and someone trained to run the clotting factor tests while the procedure was taking place.

The hope, of course, was that the blockage would be minor enough to be left alone, or at least something that could easily be repaired with a stent that they could insert while they were doing the catheterization.  Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way.  There were several blockages, all were pretty severe, and most were in locations that could not easily be stented anyway.  The verdict – my husband would need bypass surgery.

By the time we got that news, it was already mid-December.  Little could be done before the new year, so we waited.  My husband didn’t know this, but most days I was a nervous wreck, not knowing whether to be more afraid of what would happen during the surgery, or of the dual risks that he might have either a heart attack or a rupture of the aneurysm.  I am sure he was terrified, although he did a good job of hiding it most of the time.  It was, unfortunately, difficult for us to talk about it.  How could I tell him how frightened I was?  He was the one who might not live through it, after all.  I was just the one that would be left alone if he didn’t.  And I couldn’t really ask him about how he felt either, since I got the distinct impression that he was trying NOT to think about it as much as possible – perhaps to keep his own fears at bay. 

So the holidays were quiet, pensive, and not much of a celebration.  In January we met with the surgeon and they began working on a plan for the operation.  It took about two weeks to get all the doctors on the same page (one wanted to do the operation at the same hospital where he had the cardiac cath, the other thought it would be safe enough to do it at our local hospital now that they had a better handle on his bleeding issues).  Eventually the surgery was scheduled for Feb. 11th, and to my relief, at the local hospital.  At least I wouldn’t have to drive an hour each way every day, and especially at night when I’d be exhausted and it was likely to be snowing or icy.  

Speaking of snow, Mother Nature seemed to think this was the appropriate time to throw a monkey wrench in things.  All week leading up to the surgery, the weather reports predicted an awful snowstorm heading our way – and, of course, it was due to hit Feb. 10th.  By that afternoon, the surgeon called to say they were postponing the surgery. 

You see, the final plan had been that they were going to bring the lab tech that knew how to do the clotting factor test up from the other hospital for the day of the surgery (the two hospitals are affiliated under the same group).  But they could not get the hospital administration to agree to that, so they hired a courier service to take the blood to the other hospital repeatedly during the surgery so they could have a constant report on his clotting factor levels.  Unfortunately, when the Governor declared a state of emergency for the entire area, and closed portions of the highway that ran between our local hospital and the one where the lab was, that plan had to be scrapped.  The couriers were willing to brave the weather, but with the road closed, they had no way to get to the other hospital. 

At first the surgeon thought they would have to wait until the following week.  But the next day he called us back and said they could do it on Friday, Feb. 12.  He had actually asked another patient who was having an elective procedure to give up their spot so my husband could take it – they were that worried about getting his surgery done as soon as possible.  I never knew who that patient was, so I will send out my thanks here and hope, somehow, they will know how grateful we were to them.  

That night I made us a nice dinner, and spent a good part of the evening curled up next to my husband on the sofa, with my head on his chest, listening to that heart beat and hoping it would not be the last time I heard it.  Time, of course, never stands still, and before long it was time for him to get scrubbed up with the special soap they gave us so we could head out to the hospital.  We had to be at the hospital by 5am, and with the roads still icy, we wanted to leave by 4 so we could take it slow. 

That was the beginning of our medical journey.  The six weeks since have been filled with many challenges, of which I will write more in posts to follow.  However, I did promise to explain why I removed the older posts on this blog.  The main reason, aside from the fact  that they are out of date and no longer relevant, is that I’m changing the focus of the blog.  It truly is going to be “one woman’s view” – my view, but it’s going to be a bit more personal. 

I will still post about politics, social issues, and other things that I think are important to discuss – especially when those issues directly affect our personal lives as well.  But for the moment anyway, our healthcare adventures are far from over, and I want to document that.  Perhaps it will help someone else facing similar issues.  Perhaps it might even help make a difference in the way the next patient is treated, and the experience they have.  I hope so…