Sunday, June 28, 2015

The wonders of surgery…

Here is my son Mark in 2008 hugging one of the Pantheon columns in Rome, Italy. We were on the trip of a lifetime and, other than keeping sure that he cared for his diabetes, we had little to worry about.  We now fast forward to last week and, once again, diabetes had become the concern. Mark was admitted to the ER with a very high blood sugar and dehydration. I was very worried but knew that a few days on fluids and he would probably come out of it.

Imagine our surprise when they started questioning him about his heart. Evidently the EKG was out of whack and the next thing you know he was sent to the Cardiac Cath Lab where they found blockages in four of his coronary arteries.
It is interesting to note that this came as a complete surprise to all of us, not the least one being Mark himself. No wonder they call this the “silent killer” or the “widow maker”. If the diabetes had not acted up I dread to think what might have happened. 

They wanted to take him to surgery immediately but his elevated sugar levels made this impossible so they spent two days nursing him back to “normality” and then, last Friday, they were able to perform open heart surgery and a quadruple bypass.

Luckily we have a state-of-the-art heart center connected to our hospital here in Pinehurst and his care has been outstanding. He has literally been given a new lease on life and, knowing Mark, he will
grab it with gusto. As for me … I’m still in shock!











 






 

8 Comments:

Blogger possum said...

OH MY! Ginnie!
You have been thru it - well, so has Mark... not meaning to take anything away from him. But folks often overlook how much the loved ones go thru in times like this.
Looks like he will be OK. Now you must look after Ginnie!

3:35 AM  
Blogger Anvilcloud said...

How remarkable that they caught it in time. I hope you feel more relieved than traumatized. All the best.

5:47 AM  
Blogger joared said...

Glad to hear your sons heart condition was found and his diabetes successfully treated though altogether I can appreciate it was a shock to both of you. The future looks bright.

7:25 AM  
Blogger NCmountainwoman said...

So glad the problems were noted before he had any heart damage. Wishing him a speedy recovery.

9:18 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ginnie, I'm happy he's okay now. It's so hard to see a kid that sick. I went through something similar with my daughter last New Year's. Everything turned out okay Thank god.

1:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Glad to hear mark is okay now. Tough to watch a kid go through this.

1:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here's wishing you both a speedy recovery ... John

7:52 AM  
Blogger Beatrice P. Boyd said...

What a wake-up call to many others, I am sure, Ginnie. Glad to read that Mark is doing OK and as bad as elevated sugar levels and dehydration can be for anyone, in this case they might have truly been a life saver. Hope the recuperation continues for both of you.

1:17 PM  

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