Catheter Ablation Procedure

Laura and I arrived at the hospital in the early afternoon, and Aunt D was there visiting with her again.  We're so thankful that she was there to spend time with Nana.

Nana had a catheter ablation procedure performed on the upper right part of her heart to hopefully control her heart rhythm.  She has an a-fib (atrial fibrillation) heartbeat, and hopefully this will help change her heart beat rhythm to a normal one.  Her procedure was supposed to begin at 3pm, but it was closer to 4:30pm when they finally began.

Laura, Aunt D, Cousin D and I spent a couple of hours in one of the waiting rooms being afflicted by the wonders that are afternoon TV.  I can now say I've been subjected to Judge Judy and Dr. Phil, and I really don't care to endure that again.  Around 6pm, Laura and I decided to go get some dinner (and to ponder the Oxygen Fiasco).

We got back from dinner around 7pm, and immediately went to the waiting room to see if Aunt D and Cousin D were still there.  Nope--they had left.  I said "Let's go check out Nana's room," and as soon as we got off the elevator on her floor, we saw some orderlies (is that what they're still called?) wheeling a gurney with Nana towards her room.  Praise God for good timing!.

This was another difficult day, as Nana had to lay flat on her back for about 4 hours.  As she was recovering, she kept asking Laura when the spaghetti was going to hatch, and what it does.  I'm not sure if she was just talking in her sleep, or if this was an after effect of the anesthesia, but it was pretty amusing.  What happened is that the hospital staff either washed her hair, or got it wet, and that became the "spaghetti" and the "hatching" was her hair drying.  It's amazing how the human brain connects words together, and if something interferes slightly, the lookup table can be a bit off.  Sometimes humorously.

Dinner for Nana tonight consisted of meatballs, plain white rice and green beans.  Since Nana has a hiatal hernia, swallowing things can be tricky...especially rice.  Again, Laura asked the nursing staff for something else, and they brought orange sherbet and chocolate pudding.  They also brought some green jell-o, which Nana decided to not eat because green jell-o is something to be wary of (this is an inside joke that I really don't want to explain right now).

We managed to get home from the hospital close to 11:30 pm after a long and tiring day.

Catching Dr. Y

Dr. Y (at Dr. W's request) came and presented an option to Laura and Nana: A catheter ablation procedure to help control her heart rhythm.  He said that it could be done soon, or Nana could return and have it done.  He then left the room.

Nana decided that since she was already in the hospital, that it would be a viable option.  Laura had to go hunt down Dr. Y to let him know their decision.  Laura spotted him in the elevator, and the door was closing.  She jammed her arm in the elevator, and managed to catch Dr. Y and get things set up.  The ablation procedure is scheduled for Friday the 11th.