My mother

[craftylynn]

My mom is 79 years young she has undergone a valve replacement along with a repair she was having trouble breathing and they had to put a tube down her throat we are wanting to have a meeting with the dr to find out about what kind of life she is going to have can anyone give me a ideal of questions we should ask i can not think right now

 

[Ross]

Hi CraftyLynn and welcome to the forums.

I'm assuming your mother just got out of surgery? If this is the case, recovery can be a while especially in older folks, but unless things have gone really wrong from the get go, she should make a full and complete recovery. She may take a few weeks to start on that path of recovery, but without more information, this would be my best guess.

If you can, fill us in on more details please.

 

[craftylynn]

surgery

surgery

My mom had the surgery done march 9, 2004 it was suppose to be 6 hrs and end up being 9 hours. she was real slow coming off the anstheic it took two days for her to come oout of it they were having trouble with her kidneys she was breathing real bad. they decide that they would have to put her on the ventilator becuase of her breathing when they sucktion her they got a big mucuose plug which they said that could of been her problem they had to give her plates not sure if i spellled that right. w hat kind of questions do i need to ask.

 

[Ross]

Sounds like they are doing the right things. I'd be on them to make sure they have a Pulmonologist, Urologist and any other specialist that is needed on her case.

The best thing you can do is to be there for her and make sure that the hospital personnel are doing their jobs. Suctioning should be done at least every hour if not more frequently. What is her kidney output like now? That's going to be hard to determine when she can't eat or drink normally, but bug them about facts and figures. Anything you don't understand, make them teach you until you do!

I had a real rough time also and was in much the same shape as she and I'm only 42. It takes a lot of time, but if they stay on top of her changing condition, she should be fine in a couple of weeks.

Was she very active at all before surgery? Any other health issues?

 

[Tom F.]

Ordinarily the vent tube comes out the day of surgery as you wake up. I would first explore with your doc the reasons why this did not happen with your mom, although it sounds like they may have an idea. Surgery that runs a little longer in time than predicted is not that unusual, but you might want to ask why. Do you know the type of valve she has? I would ask that and ask about her post op meds. I would ask a prediction as to when she may go home, and when she will be able to do fer herself. But like Ross says, whatever you do not know about or understand, make them teach you. Unfortunately, sometime docs do not such a good job at explaining things. Mine was great, but I have sure seem others that were not. You have to take control and make them tell you what you want to know. As time goes on, new questions will come up. Keep asking.

 

[Nancy]

Hi Craftylynn-

Welcome to the site. Sounds like your mom is having a little rough patch after her surgery. My husband is 72 years old. His heart surgeries have been fine and his recovery from them was on target, but he has had some very, very serious other medical problems which landed him in the ICU several times for over a week. And there have been times he was even close to death. He has also been in kidney failure, and just missed dialysis by the skin of his teeth. Now he is doing well.

There are also a few others here who have had to be put back on the ventilator for a time after surgery, for various reasons, and who have had severe problems.

I am telling you all of this because I want you to know that it is possible to have a good recovery from situations like you have described. It will just take a little while longer for your mom. It sounds like her doctors are working very hard on her case to straighten things out as they come along. They know what to do.

One of the most important things you can do for your mom right now is to make her believe that she will get over this hump and will eventually recover. You don't want her to lose hope. It will make a world of difference. When Joe was in such terrible shape, I spent as much time as I could in the hospital. I tried to be there when the doctors made their rounds so I could hear first hand how Joe was progressing. I also put on nice clothes, fixed myself up and walked in with a smile and a joke, and the morning paper. I told him about the neighborhood gossip, anything to normalize his situation, and give him the feeling that I was SURE he would recover, even if I was scared most of the time. I did this even when he was "out of it". I still talked to him and encouraged him.

So hang in there. And we'll all be here for you when you need us.

Take care, and God Bless.

 

[KathyH]

Hi CraftyLynn,
Sorry to hear your mom is having a tough time of it. As Ross and Nancy have said, ask any questions you have. I don't know how active or what kind of health issues your mom has, but sometimes people in that age bracket take alittle longer to come out of it, especially if they were under anesthesia for a long time. Try to see her Dr and talk with him, write down your questions so you won't blank out or forget things. I'm sure he will be happy to answer them for you.

You mentioned plates- did you mean platlets? Some people can get a low platlet count which can be a result of different medical conditions or from some medications even. Platlets are found in your blood and they help the blood to clot. When they give platlets it is a yellowish small packet that is given IV.

I hope your Mom will be feeling better soon.
Kathy