Bad day in the hospital...

Nana had a bad day in the hospital today...  When Laura went over to visit her this afternoon, she found out that Nana's swelling had gone down a little bit.  Nana went to sit up, and move her legs to sit on the side of her bed.  When she did this, she stopped and was having difficulty.  Laura said that Nana's heart rate dropped to 40, and she started having a very hard time breathing.

They summoned nurses, and Nana was soon surrounded by people trying to figure out what was wrong.  I'm kind of running from memory here, but she was administered calcium, glucose, a chest xray, an EKG and probably some other stuff.  The nurses also wheeled in the emergency cart so if something more happened, they'd have what they'd need.

Laura told me that Nana was given cardizem, and it was probably too much for her.  The hospital staff was giving her calcium to absorb the cardizem, and glucose (I think) to help thin it.  But they have to be careful with the glucose, as too much fluid isn't a good thing for someone with failing heart valves.

The hospital has moved Nana to the ICU, and Laura came home because they were in the middle of their shift change.  Fortunately, the hospital is less than 10 minutes away.

Laura also told me that Dr. M came by and he, Dr. W as well as the head cardiologist for the hospital are trying to locate a surgeon who's willing to perform Nana's heart surgery.  He indicated that it might be hard to find someone because of the high risk involved.  Age, heart rhythm, kidney function and breathing difficulties are all factoring in to the level of risk.

I really hope that someone will be willing to do this surgery, otherwise, we're likely to have to keep bringing Nana back to the hospital seemingly every 10 to 14 days.

Laura left about 20 minutes ago to see how things are going, and to make sure that Nana's all settled.  She just now got home..around 10:30pm.  Nana's all settled in the ICU as much as possible.  A doctor should be by sometime in the morning and hopefully she'll be returned to her normal room.