While crossing from Woods Hole to Martha's Vineyard on Thursday morning, I used my cell phone to check in on a friend of mine who was having valve surgery last week.
His name is Frank, and he's a very good man. He helped me deal with my own upcoming surgery some years ago, not in small part by his pragmatic and positive outlook on the subject.
His problems were far more difficult than mine. The root where his mechanical aortic valve was implanted was growing weak from years of steady thumping. He also had a very thin lining between the heart chambers, and was tracking a slowly growing aortic aneurism.
He underwent surgery at Montefiore hospital in the Bronx, NY, with a trusted surgeon who had worked on him before. The surgery was to replace part of the aorta and the valve, a combination common enough to be bought off the shelf. Probably, he had a patch done as well, to shore up the chamber lining. He weathered the surgery very well, and the surgeon was excited at the prospects for a quicker-than-expected recovery.
Shortly after he was taken off the pump, somewhere a blood clot slipped free. He suffered a massive stroke immediately. This morning, he is still alive, but now has no ability to move the left side of his body. The next few days will tell much of the story for his immediate future. I hope it goes better for him this week.
We wish the best for all of our friends and acquaintances through this site. Every once in a while, someone falls to a statistic, and we're reminded just how serious this business is, how precious is the good result, how easy for things not to go the way that we wish.
A moment here, for Frank's travails. A brief pause for all of those who leave something of their life behind on this journey.
We wished you better.
His name is Frank, and he's a very good man. He helped me deal with my own upcoming surgery some years ago, not in small part by his pragmatic and positive outlook on the subject.
His problems were far more difficult than mine. The root where his mechanical aortic valve was implanted was growing weak from years of steady thumping. He also had a very thin lining between the heart chambers, and was tracking a slowly growing aortic aneurism.
He underwent surgery at Montefiore hospital in the Bronx, NY, with a trusted surgeon who had worked on him before. The surgery was to replace part of the aorta and the valve, a combination common enough to be bought off the shelf. Probably, he had a patch done as well, to shore up the chamber lining. He weathered the surgery very well, and the surgeon was excited at the prospects for a quicker-than-expected recovery.
Shortly after he was taken off the pump, somewhere a blood clot slipped free. He suffered a massive stroke immediately. This morning, he is still alive, but now has no ability to move the left side of his body. The next few days will tell much of the story for his immediate future. I hope it goes better for him this week.
We wish the best for all of our friends and acquaintances through this site. Every once in a while, someone falls to a statistic, and we're reminded just how serious this business is, how precious is the good result, how easy for things not to go the way that we wish.
A moment here, for Frank's travails. A brief pause for all of those who leave something of their life behind on this journey.
We wished you better.
