Heart Lung Machines

[TheGymGuy]

Wanted to update this thread and say that I was on the Heart-Lung Machine for 2 hours. During that time there was a span of 20 minutes during which in addition to being in moderate systemic hypothermia I was also on antegrade cerebral perfusion via the right subclavian artery. I was awake shortly after I was wheeled into my room, 15 minutes later my breathing tube was removed, and 30-45 minutes later my family tested my cognitive function, my long and short term memory as well as my limbs functionality. I passed all tests and even now almost 3 weeks after the surgery I recall the little details right before the surgery, and the day 0, which was day of the surgery for me. I still remember the medical staff asking me to go to sleep and rest to get my BP down and me being extremely bored and a little high, I suppose, heck who wouldn't be when they awoke alive and saw their loved ones

Anyway, "pump-head" and or "cognitive impairment" was one of my fears and I am very glad that the team that was taking care of me was able to reduce lots of these risks. One thing that anesthesiologist and I talked about was the fact that they took a good amount of time to slowly re-warm the body and they used some very very advanced tools to monitor brain activity during the surgery. There even were 2 litte holes in my forehead skin about an inch over my temples where I think that had some monitoring equipment plugged in for accurate brain monitoring.

Either way, please discuss these concerns with your surgeon and anesthesiologist before the surgery and really pick their brains on their experience with so called "pump-head".

 

[JUST-WAITING]

It has been 9 months since OHS #2 - 6 months after the first (non -invasive) OHS- I came back to this site for the first time as a part of my therapy. My second surgery the doctor attempted to repair the leaking ATS 1000 and took me back off the pump - just to see it leaking n the other side. Then after 4 hours instead of the planned 1 - I ended up with a new Medtronic - piggy. I find my memory not improving- (so far) I can problem solve- but names are very tough. I also have found my emotions "fried"- Tears are coming out of me now- just talking about this- So thanks for listening- God Bless you all.