My Surgery

At the age of five, Michael underwent open-heart surgery to repair an aortic valve, knowing one day he would need to have a valve replacement. On the morning of August 10, 2009, Michael went to his annual cardiology appointment. When he arrived at his appointment, Michael knew he was probably going to need a valve replacement within the year if not sooner. The appointment literally saved his life. To the doctor, Michael’s appearance didn’t show any obvious signs of a major heart problem, and upon completion of his visit, Michael drove to work. However, after reviewing his echocardiogram the radiologist found a possible tear in his aorta. Immediately, the doctor called Michael’s office and told him to go to the emergency room. Upon further testing at the hospital, the medical team confirmed there was a large tear in his aorta.

During the next 36 hours, a team of doctors was assembled and more test taken to determine how this complex, life-saving procedure was to be performed. All tests and signs pointed he was healthy physically and mentally to withstand such a surgery. At 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 12th, Michael’s girlfriend and sister watched as he was taken into the operating room. Doctors believed the surgery would last six to seven hours. As the eighth hour was approaching we sat anxiously waiting some news. Within that same hour a nurse came and told us they had to stop a great deal of bleeding and the surgery was more complicated than doctors anticipated.

WAKING

After ten grueling hours, doctors had successfully repaired Michael’s heart. At approximately 7:15 p.m., family and friends were told they could see Michael as he was waking up. As he lie there, face swollen, surrounded by numerous tubes and machines, Michael began to respond to people’s voices. He answered doctors’ questions by giving the thumbs up and squeezing people’s hands. Michael also wrote I Love You in the air to his girlfriend and motioned he wanted a drink. We were all smiles seeing that Michael had pulled through. Thursday, was a day of heavy sedation due to pain and his body recovering from the shock of so much trauma. On Friday morning, the 14th, Janet noticed the first signs that something had gone wrong. Michael’s speech was high-pitched and fragmented. As the nurses began to ask Michael questions regarding the year, the current president and his job, Janet noticed he didn’t have the correct answers.

ANOXIA

Michael also did not know it was Janet’s birthday, although, just prior to his surgery, he was apologizing that he would be in the hospital for her birthday. During the next few days Michael continued to suffer memory issues, exhibit erratic behavior, have impaired speech and display severe anger outburst at which point doctors knew they needed to perform a brain MRI to determine if there was any damage. It was concluded that Michael had a small infarct on his frontal lobe. We were told it was so small; neurologists did not classify it as a mini stroke. However, Michael suffered anoxia (oxygen deprivation) resulting in stroke like affects to his entire body.

COMPLICATIONS

In the weeks that followed, Michael remained in I.C.U., where he experienced numerous life-threatening complications; including pneumonia, the persistent fear of blood clots, bed sores, and staph infections, the use of a defibulator on two occasions after his heart beat became irregular and rapidly increased, and the constant battle of breathing on his own. Michael lost that battle for a period of time while in I.C.U. when he developed a mucus plug in one of his lungs; causing respiratory failure, which led to immediate re-intubation. Shortly after, the doctors determined that Michael needed a tracheotomy. Four days after receiving his tracheotomy, Michael was moved from I.C.U. to a respiratory hospital; however remained on I.C.U. status for the first week for close monitoring.

THERAPY

At the respiratory hospital the doctor’s main objective was to wean him off the use of the trach and all breathing apparatuses. Respiratory therapist worked with him daily, monitoring his oxygen levels, clearing the trach and providing breathing treatments. During his month long stay he was able to attain the goal of breathing on his own achieving a milestone in his overall physical health. Several days leading up to his discharge, Michael also began to show other signs of improvements as both his feeding tube and pik line were removed. The next step was to transfer Michael to a rehab hospital.

When arriving at the rehab hospital via ambulance, the scene had changed as the room was absent of all IV stands, feeding machines or respiratory devices. The only thing that Michael relied on was his catheter which was removed two days later. However, each day was an extreme challenge for Michael because of his weakened state and on certain days he was unable to participate in some or all of his therapies due to his sudden change in vitals and emotional instability.

PROGRESS

Michael’s lack of control over his impulses, rage and aggressive behavior proved to be a major deterrent in the timeliness of his progress. Although weak, weighing fifty pounds less and unable to stand on his own, Michael was ready to face the trials of physical, occupational, speech and holistic therapy. While all aspects of his therapies were challenging, it became apparent to his speech pathologist, while observing Michael eating and drinking, that learning to swallow properly was one more hurdle he would need to overcome. Swallowing liquids became the main focus of his speech therapy due to the threat of aspirating.

On November 13th, after five weeks of therapy the long awaited day had finally arrived… Michael was going home. Michael was surrounded in his home by family and friends for the first time in over three months!