Thursday 12/31

 Hi all,

I'm not quite sure what to say because things are mostly unknown right now.  Things are not going as well as I had hoped.  She is waking up but not moving her extremities as well as she should be.  She is down getting multiple MRIs right now which may help tell what is causing this but not likely to tell what can be done about it.  She was moving her legs and left arm when I left her as she went down for MRIs.  It wasn't clear if she was always doing this on command.  She definitely recognized me but is still intubated and so it's hard to say how clear she is.  The next 24 hours will tell a lot about how this ends up.  I don't know when I'll have anything new to report but will let you all know.

Major Surgery Day

 Kelly went to surgery this morning.  She slept pretty well last night.  Her major concern this morning was how scared our dogs will be with all the New Years fireworks and gunshots in Albuquerque.  

Her vascular surgeon is Dr. Bakeen

About Dr. Faisal Bakaeen, Heart Surgeon

Hello! My name is Dr. Faisal Bakaeen and I am a cardiac surgeon having graduated from Cambridge University School of Medicine in 1994. To date, I have performed approximately 2,500 cardiac surgeries, of which over 750 involved heart valve procedures. I regularly perform surgery at Cleveland Clinic.

I believe my greatest strength is that I believe being a heart surgeon is a tremendous privilege. Surgery can often give patients the best chance of a cure and add valuable years to their lives. Excellence in patient care and outcomes drive our success.

I received a text that the initial incision was at 9:39 Eastern Time.

12:03 -  The major portion of the surgery is underway.

3:45 - The surgery is done.  I just got done talking with the surgeon.  He says that everything went well.  Several of the things that he was afraid might happen didn't.  He says that everything that they can measure with her looks good.  It won't be until later, after she wakes up, that they can measure her brain function which is what she was most afraid of.  She was under induces cardiac arrest for around 20 minutes which I think is about expected.

I'll be able to see her for 10 minutes or so later this evening.  She'll still be intubated and out of it but it will be wonderful to see her face.  I was about to puke the last couple of hours. 

Love you all and more sometime later.

Cleveland Clinic Part II

I meant to have this set up days ago but I had endless problems with the app and only got it ready on Tuesday night.  This should give those of you who aren't aware of what's going on a little background.  You can continue to text or email but even better if you add a comment to this post.  Thanks for all your support.  

Well, we are back in Cleveland for more surgery.  For those of you who are not up to date, I will fill you in.  Two years ago, the last time we were here, Kelly had an operation for cardiomyopathy on her heart to make the heart muscle smaller.  She also had her aneurysmal (swollen) ascending aorta (the part that comes right out of the heart) replaced with a Dacron graft.  All went very well and we were both impressed with how together this place is.  After we got home she had rehab and did great until the fall of 2018 when she had a dissecting thoracic/abdominal aortic aneurysm that was repaired in Albuquerque with three stents.  Again she did well but follow up on that a year later showed that the lower stent was leaking.  We have been following that leaking stent every 6 months.  The last CT unexpectedly showed that her aortic arch was aneurysmal.  So we are here again to have that fixed.  Unfortunately, you can’t plan this stuff.  Things happen when they will happen.

All her initial workup, labs, COVID, cath., & etc was all negative or unremarkable.  She has been otherwise great.  She walks 3-5 miles a day and we bike ~20 miles a week.  Today, Monday,  she is having a carotid bypass so that her brain and arm can get blood while her heart is stopped.  She is in surgery as I write this. 

On Wednesday, she will have the big operation.  They will cool her down, stop her heart and then replace the arch.  It's pretty scary shit that no surgeon in New Mexico would touch.  It's reassuring to have a surgeon who states, "I do this all the time."

We are staying in room 728 at:

Residence Inn Cleveland University Circle/Medical Center                                         1914 East 101st Street                                                                                               Cleveland, Ohio 44106 US