Have-a-Heart (Valve Replacement)

Barbra Walters had one, and so does Robin Williams. Turns out Mom wanted one too. Tuesday (May 17, 2011), Mom underwent open heart surgery to have her aortic valve replaced, along with a couple of by-passes. The surgery went well, and all was successful -- that's the short story. Below is the long version. Please send me an email at jon@rachielefamily.com with your warm regards, and I will forward them on.

May 22, 2010 – A Year Ago
Mom finally decided to leave the land of cheese to join us blockheads in Illinois. This required quite a bit of downsizing and compromising. The upside is that Mom was 5 minutes away (Chicagoans measure distance in time, not miles – so, 3 miles for you regular folks). This meant she could stop by for dinner, see Devin's school play, or Nolan's soccer game.

It also meant getting reacquainted with new routines, shopping at different stores, and finding new doctors -- all of which lead to a nice change of pace. After finding a new doctor and going through some tests to orient the doctor to her new patient, I got an emergency call at work on a Friday afternoon. "Your mom needs open heart surgery, now, or she will die."

Well, I was a little pissed that she called me, and not her patient. Secondly, I was pissed that she just laid it out there, giving me no orientation of what to do next. Mom and I made an appointment for the following Monday with a well-known heart surgeon at Northwestern University Hospital.

The doctor was older, talked directly to my mom as a coherent adult, and made sense. "Listen, you’re an older adult, not exhibiting any symptoms of a heart condition; I am not going to put you under the knife. Comeback if things get more serious."

2009 Back Surgery (Two Years Ago) – Not a Pleasant Experience
After having serious back surgery back in 2009, and having a stint in a "rehab" (fancy word for nursing home), she didn't want to have the same experience -- the pain, the loss of independence, the feeling of being trapped in elder care. I shared these same concerns, so hearing the doctor speaking helped us relax a little. And, quite frankly, we both were adjusting to the new home in Glenview.

So, now a year later, after the move, we got into a little easier routine. Christmas, Birthday Parties, Sunday Brunches, the kids’ games, Church, and school events had us interacting quite regularly (I'll ask my wife later if it was too frequent). Mom finally made the comment, “I am happy here, and made the right decision to be closer to you guys.” She got to know Krista as the "sunny-side up" person that she always is.

Weasy -- Wasn't she in the Jefferson’s?
But, things got harder for Mom physically. She won't admit it, but the walk to the car made her breathe a little heavier, and she was more dependent on using her purse holder (aka, walker). After a couple more symptoms, she scheduled an appointment with the doctor.

Mom always had a heart murmur, but her aortic heart valve was finally giving out. Her heart had to work harder to get oxygen and blood to her brain and legs. Mom had four choices 1) do nothing, 2) putting a balloon in her heart and expanding it to let more blood flow through, 3) new clinical study to have the heart valve replaced orthoscopicly, or 4) open heart surgery.

Well, doing nothing was not going to solve the problem and things were quickly getting worse. Having open heart surgery was out of the question -- who wanted to relive that experience in 2009 of surgery and the nursing home? The new clinical study sounded awesome. The doctor leading the study was part of the North Shore hospital system, and it showed amazing results. However, turns out you have to be like 95 with kidney disease and picked out your plot to qualify.

April 2011 -- A Small Surgical Procedure
Mom decided to go with #3 -- balloon angioplasty. The upside is that it was minimally evasive, had immediate results, no rehab, and out of the hospital in days – sign us up, we are in! So, we go the hospital in April, orient ourselves with the hospital, give each other a hug, and she's off to the operating room.

Forty minutes later the doctor tells us that he decided not to go forward with the angioplasty. The valve is bad, and three major arteries are 50-70% clogged. She needs to have surgery.

May 2011 – A Decision to Make
Now Mom had a tough decision to make. Honestly, I couldn't tell her which way to go. The bad experience from the prior surgery and recovery was difficult -- was she up for it, would she make it? On the flip side, life was good -- still independent and it was great being around family.
Her health getting worse, she finally made the decision – we need to move forward, things weren't getting better, and would only get worse.

Mom called the doctor a week ago, and scheduled the surgery. That weekend, we checked out three rehab centers, certain this time that we wouldn't experience the same horrible conditions.
Mom didn't tell anyone. She didn't want the attention, she didn't want the gossip around her new friends, and she was 100% certain she would make it.

A Long Hard Slog
The surgery was scheduled at 1:00, but the doctor wanted us there in typical Arlene Rachiele fashion – 10:30 am. Krista and I drove her to the hospital, and we checked in.

Thank God for Krista. A Son, let alone a man, has little to say. I don't have any more conversations with my neighbors than I do the dog. I no longer pick up the phone when it rings in my house. Meanwhile, Krista makes a national holiday of events like going shopping, going to the gym, or watching a soccer game. Her full-time job is maintaining a network of girlfriends via phone, text, and email correspondences.

I, on the other hand, buy (not shop), run around the neighborhood (I don't need no stinkin' gym), pick up the kids (not attend events), and have never socially texted (sounds dirty).

Between the dry-run the month before with the potential angioplasty, and Krista's personality, the time flew by and mom seemed at ease with the long journey ahead.

They brought her into the operating room at 1:00, started at 2:00, had her on the by-pass machine at 3:37, and had her off at 5:28, done by 7:10. She did great, and the doctor said everything went well. At 9:00 we went up to the intensive care unit and the nurse said her heart and vitals were great. She was off her blood pressure medication and her heart was beating normally.

This morning (Wednesday) she had the breathing tube removed at 5:30 am, she was able to sit up for three hours, and she even ate on her own. She has a temporary pace maker which they use to rev up her heart to 80 beats per minute.

She’s a little disoriented from the medication, but quickly realizes her silly mistakes in time comprehension -- "Was that last night or the night before?"

She will be in ICU for a week or two, and then off to a rehab center she picked out prior to the operation.

I promised her that I would pass along any messages, so please send me an email, or Facebook message.