WENDELL GETS 4 NEW CORONARY VESSELS

Though Wendell had some nasty shortness of breath since last October, he finally saw his PCP and had some testing done. That was just in the past few weeks. He failed an 'ambulatory pulse ox, and his EKG showed some 'slowing' of one side of his heart. Dr Sargent ordered him more testing at that point.
He had a 2 night sleep study that showed he had SOSA- severe obstructive sleep apnea, and it's treated with a CPAP - continuous positive airway pressure.
He also did very poorly on his Cardiolite Stress Test. His pulmonary function tests were really inconclusive, and that left him with having a cardiac catheterization. That was exactly 2 weeks ago. The results were devastating to us at that moment. He had 4 major coronary arteries that were blocked- one 100%, one at 90% and 2 at 80%. The treatment was to be scheduled the following Monday with open heart surgery- and a quadruple bypass grafting.
March 20 came..and Mandy and I took him at 4:30am to the Butler Hospital for his surgery.
JJ and I had discussed an OR team we hand picked, and each was very happy and agreeable to do so. The surgeon, Dr ElKhatib, was one of the best.
JJ, Keith, Mandy, Paul and Rev Scavo and I waited in the small waiting area for about 5-6 hours till we finally got word that all was done and he was headed to the Surgical ICU to recover.
His first nurse was Kathy. What a wonderful nurse she was.
Wendell was on a ventilator for less than 8 hours. We had anticipated 24 hours. By that evening, he was awake, alert and talking. His vital signs were stable. He had tubes coming from every visable orifice. Tuesday , they had him out of bed and in a chair for meals.
He spent till Wednesday in the ICU and then was transferred out to the Main unit on telemetry.
Friends and family were continually upholding him (all of us) in prayer.
Wendell had a few rough days with shortness of breath. Not fun. They kept him on oxygen for a long while. Each day was a little bit better than the last.
The pulmonologist said his lungs were clear and that the surgery was what caused the shortness of breath. He'd be coming home on oxygen , however.. but just at night and when he was up walking.
His legs were swollen and he had 5 incisions on his legs. These remain swollen and sore looking. The drain holes tend to leak a bit, so the dressings on them remain.
He was discharged to home on March 27 to begin his recuperation.
I couldn't imagine all the teaching they do before he went home. We watched a video, and the nurses showed me how to care for his wounds. Diet is an important part of his recovery and maintenance.. 1800 cal ADA, low fat, low cholesterol, 2Gm sodium, Healthy Heart.
He'd be starting a walking program too.
I asked for VNA to come for visits, as I'm a Maternity nurse, not a cardiac nurse, and so much of this was new to me.