As many of you know, my mom and dad are in Houston for my Dad's heart surgery. Since we would like to keep everyone updated, my mom will be providing regular updates and pictures ~ a new blog author, I love it!
Pre-op:
The Marriott shuttle drives to and from the medical center about every 1/2 hour as well as on call. So onto the shuttle we went after a quick breakfast.
St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital is a nonprofit, general, acute-care hospital in the Texas Medical Center. With the Texas Heart Institute, it is consistently ranked as one of the top providers of cardiac care in the world. It's founder Dr. Denton A Cooley was the surgeon who performed the first successful heart transplant. Spirituality is alive at St. Luke's as staff and volunteers recognize the importance of helping a patent's spirit heal. Art, music, humor and the beauty of nature enhance the well-being of all and are a part of the hospital's healing environment.
We had quite a busy day meeting the Doctors and Caregivers at St. Luke's. A butterfly was fluttering around the outside of the building, but it moved too fast for my amateur camera to capture
Into the lobby we head to find 2 wonderful elderly women at the information desk smiling and waiting to help us. In one corner is an old fashioned popcorn machine and in the center is a grand piano. The piano is played by volunteers and the lobby was filled with cheery music reminiscent of our summer sing-a-longs at the White House.
1st appointment was at 11 with Jim's surgeon, Dr. Ott who was born in Williamsburg, MA and remembers the area fondly as a place he visits to see his family. In the waiting room across from where we were sitting Jimmy noticed the attached photo of a painting of a Monarch on a flower and asked me to take a picture of it. From there, we moved on to blood work, EKG and xray all within about 45 minutes. It was amazing how well things ran and how kind and caring everyone is!
Next, a quick lunch in the Cafeteria. We were relieved to find the food varied, cooked to order and delicious. (We hope the "cardiac diet" is equally as delicious.)
At 3:00 we met with Dr. Jain and Jim filled him in on how he spent his summer vacation....hospitals, angioplasty, angina, etc... Dr. Jain shared with us that Dr. Cooley retired from surgery 3 years ago at age 86. Dr. Ott has worked under him for over 25 years and has impeccable surgical skills - so much so that Dr. Jain has difficulty seeing where the bypass incision connects to the original arteries with his angioplasty camera.
Jim's sister Laurie and our brother-in-law Ted have just arrived to accompany us through the toughest part of this adventure. We will head back to the hospital for 6am. Jimmy will have another angioplasty to check the integrity and opening of the stent put in this summer and then surgery either tomorrow afternoon or Wednesday morning depending on that stent.
So, until tomorrow, thanks for your thoughts and prayers and caring calls and emails!
Debbie
UPDATE: I just heard from my mom and the angio was clear so surgury will be this afternoon.
Also, the hospital allows you to send e-greeting to their patients, so if you would like to send my dad a message visit this web page and they will print out your message and hand deliver it to him :)
Thanks, Chera!
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