Please remember us in your praying!

As ever things are challenging here.
Danny our lad is settled into his new home a lovely supported living bungalow and they seem to care for him quite well.

I have not been on for a bit because it has all been a bit overwhelming.
My Hubby has been ill for a while. He has heart issues and has had heart surgery twice in the past.
He also has spinal issues. Both Neck and lower back. We have been waiting on surgery for that. Anyhow we ended up getting a call to say it will be done in Dublin. This is quite far about 4 hrs drive each way.

The cardiologist wanted to check the heart before we went for a pre assesment.

We had to go to the Cardiac unit last Monday evening. They wanted to check the heart as Bob has been getting a deal more chest pain and he was in hospital a while back from taking the GTN? It caused him terrible pains in the head when he took it. Anyhow when we were there they were not happy with the trace. So asked us to phone the next day.We were asked to go into the Hospital last Wednesday for an Angiogram - it was a long day and our eldest son came to keep us company and give me a bit of support. The end result of that was that they have found another blockage but they are not doing anything to it at the moment. I guess they will tackle that at a later date. They will hopefully operate on the lower spine at a later date too..

OP date is 25th March
trying to explain. vertaba 3, 4, 5 keep you alive!
They are REMOVING 4,5 & 6 then they will put a metal scafold in its place. There is a 15% risk factor. 40% if they did the back at the same time due to cardiac and also spinal complications. So they are only doing the neck. It may take anything from 5-9 hrs. It may affect the voice and this may not recover.

If we don;t go through with this,( the voice is already affected) and the spinal cord already compramised. Within 10yrs he may likely be paralised anyway.

As for the voice bit - it is new to us to. We were only told that yesterday at the pre assesment. Hubby has found recently the voice goes and we thought it was due to the meds he is taking. We seemed to be spending a fortune on throat losenges. We found out at the assesment that it is the result of the spinal cord being crushed and is already affecting the voice. Having the op may also affect that as well and maybe perminently. Also it may help it? Hubby loves to sing and we will certainly be very sad if it is lost or perminently damaged. It is a worrying time.

- I had a dream last night that I was driving home from Dublin and couldn;t see the toll both I had to go in on the motorway and crashed into it - HUbby was beside me and his head fell off in my lap! I do so hope they re-attatch it firmly to avoid any unforseen incidents at the toll on the way home? lol


The up side of all this is that maybe he could turn the head 360 after?

Anyhow I am trying to be possitive - I just wish we could get a break and things go ok for a while!

Oesdog

 

Thanks for the thoughts.
I am trying to be possitive and see the funny side of things. Yes it was a bit of a scary dream. But a few weeks ago DH and I were away and the car was parked up for near a fortnight. Well we had to drive home from Dublin and that meant going through the toll. DH put his foot on the brake to slow down to go through and NOTHING HAPPENED!!!!! We litterally careared into the Toll lane sideways and narrowly missed the car in front. DH managed to get the thing stopped. We got the car checked out at the garage and they could not find a fault or why the brake failed after it was sat for a few days? Anyhow I guess that was playing on my mind and the thought that DH will be getting his head virtually detached with this op. Gosh it is hard to even think of how they are going to secure it I mean his head? I am thinking they will need to screw it on real tight if I am driving home after? I also think there has been a deal of stuff in the news about heads rolling and IS etc and it all got sort of sucked up into the mad sort of panic over the driving and then it just turned into a rally bad , funny sort of dream.
I do have a bit of a black sence of humour!

Oesdog

 

Thanks for all the thoughts.
It is hard right now to even get my head round things. I hope and pray all goes well and Hubby can be on the mend shortly. Though we will have to have another surgery on the lower back and also one on the heart again to remove the blockage. So one step at a time and then maybe we will think of travelling again.

Oes

 

Juat a wee update to let you all know that we are back home again after the surgery, It was a very hard time indeed as DHs potassium levels were too low so it took two drips and until late at night before they could safely operate due to the pressure on the heart. WHen they opened him up they fouind that the vertabra in his neck were just chalk. So cement and scafolding were involved. Anyhow now he has a deal of bolts through his neck but the head is still on and we didn;t lose it in the toll on the way home -lol

We are now trying to recover and will be going back in 6 weeks. We will hopefully then be waiting on the next spinal op which is in the mid section. We will also be having another heart op to clear the blockage they found so it is all go here from one thing to the next. Thank you for all the thoughts and prayer.

Oes