Mum is in the hospital
Mar. 4th, 2004 11:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taxladyMy sister phoned last night. My mother is in the hospital in California. She fell and broke two ribs. They found a serious heart arhythmia and did some tests. She has a very restricted valve on her aorta. Now we have to decide whether or not she should have heart surgery and get an artificial valve. We're are trying to balance risk versus possible improvement in quality of life.
The morbidity risk of the operation is fairly high for someone my mother's age - around 25%. There is added risk because my mother is a diabetic, has had several strokes, and because she doesn't handle general anesthesia very well. Other risks include strokes, infection, damage to her heart, plus there was probably something else I don't remember.
The possible improvements to quality of life are that some of her headaches may go away; she won't get out of breath as quickly from exertion; she will probably be more alert; it should stop her dizzy spells; and it might improve her short term memory (which is practically non-existant now) a little.
If we decide that she should have the surgery, they will do an angiogram and see if she has any other heart problems that should be repaired surgically. Then they could do that at the same time as they replace the valve. But, then the risk goes up again. If she doesn't have the surgery, the valve will continue to deteriorate. It seems that it is hardened and doesn't open up properly. The doctor would only tell me that this was age related. The faulty valve restricts blood flow which causes dizziness (probably the reason she fell), headaches, and doesn't help her mental condition.
She has headaches that cause her entire face to grimace. They only last a short while. While she was hooked up to the heart monitor, they noticed that the headaches occurred at the same time as her heart would stop beating for two to four seconds. The doctor was confident that they can manage the headaches with medication, if we decide not to go ahead with the surgery. He said that she hadn't had that much today, with pain medication. But, the pain medication that they have tried so far is making her woozy. I tried to talk with her on the phone today. I couldn't understand anything that she said and I'm not sure she knew it was me. So, that doesn't sound like an ideal solution.
My sister will be getting a second opinion. At the moment we are both leaning towards not allowing the surgery.
That's why I'm not posting comments to journal entries. I've just got too much on my mind.
The morbidity risk of the operation is fairly high for someone my mother's age - around 25%. There is added risk because my mother is a diabetic, has had several strokes, and because she doesn't handle general anesthesia very well. Other risks include strokes, infection, damage to her heart, plus there was probably something else I don't remember.
The possible improvements to quality of life are that some of her headaches may go away; she won't get out of breath as quickly from exertion; she will probably be more alert; it should stop her dizzy spells; and it might improve her short term memory (which is practically non-existant now) a little.
If we decide that she should have the surgery, they will do an angiogram and see if she has any other heart problems that should be repaired surgically. Then they could do that at the same time as they replace the valve. But, then the risk goes up again. If she doesn't have the surgery, the valve will continue to deteriorate. It seems that it is hardened and doesn't open up properly. The doctor would only tell me that this was age related. The faulty valve restricts blood flow which causes dizziness (probably the reason she fell), headaches, and doesn't help her mental condition.
She has headaches that cause her entire face to grimace. They only last a short while. While she was hooked up to the heart monitor, they noticed that the headaches occurred at the same time as her heart would stop beating for two to four seconds. The doctor was confident that they can manage the headaches with medication, if we decide not to go ahead with the surgery. He said that she hadn't had that much today, with pain medication. But, the pain medication that they have tried so far is making her woozy. I tried to talk with her on the phone today. I couldn't understand anything that she said and I'm not sure she knew it was me. So, that doesn't sound like an ideal solution.
My sister will be getting a second opinion. At the moment we are both leaning towards not allowing the surgery.
That's why I'm not posting comments to journal entries. I've just got too much on my mind.
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no subject
Date: 2004-03-05 06:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-05 04:12 pm (UTC)Thanks for your thoughts.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-05 01:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-05 04:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-05 06:32 pm (UTC)Big hugs and Supportive Thoughts.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-07 04:02 am (UTC)Thanks for the hugs, etc.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-07 05:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-06 04:54 am (UTC)Whatever you decide I hope that you will have peace with it, I would hate for you to go on forever guilty. Which I know is going to be pretty hard.
Good Luck and best wishes.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-07 04:06 am (UTC)I'm not really feeling any guilt, just hoping to help make the best decision. The decision is getting easier, since my sister spoke to someone whose mother had that operation. It took her six months to heal and she was younger and in better health than my mother. The six months healing period was full of pain and stress and panic attacks and mood swings that the woman had not had before.
My sister is going to find out if the procedure has improved.