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25 February 2007
I am so thankful to God this website exists. All involved please know how very important the work you do is.
Eighteen days ago my very strong healthy 76 year old Dad Lionel Lumbra suffered what I have now learned from this site to be an 11 cm. ruptured abdominal aortal aneurysm. This occurred while in transit from one hospital to another or we would have lost him then.
He is in Albany Medical Center, New York, a very well-known hospital. He has been in the surgical ICU until two days ago when they needed the bed. They then moved him to the heart transplant unit where he currently is now.
My sister flew in from Arizona immediately and I travelled from here in Vermont down to New York. We continue back and forth on the phone now having returned home because we have families to tend to but have an intense need for information. Due to my Mom's fragile health she has only been to the hospital twice but calls and speaks to his nurses daily. She also last week dealt with a terrifying phone call from a doctor with no skill in dealing with families in crisis giving her a laundry list of failing organs instead of explaining properly the supportive efforts they were giving him to allow his body to begin to recuperate.
No one in my family has had any prior knowledge of what happens with aneurysms except that they have taken two other family members, nor have we had much of anything explained to us especially in my Dad's case. One day we waited (us five daughters) for seven hours to be given literally 70-80 seconds to discuss our concerns. We realize there is no exact date, no guarantees, which we are not asking for. Just information.
Our Dad has not awakened, he has been kept on first morphine and a sedative as well as restraints to keep him from pulling on his ventilator or feeding tube. A few days ago they did a trach try to make him more comfortable but could not move the feeding tube to his stomach because of its condition. Sedatives have been taken off since last week now. Second or third day he developed a fever and they did exploratory surgery and found his gall bladder "worse than gone" and removed it. They had a tube between his lungs and a membrane (?) because during surgery he had a partial collapse. Now he is on dialysis to rest his kidneys to lessen the load on his body. When will I hear his voice, see him open his eyes?
Today my Mom visited him and he yawned a couple times, the second or third movement on his own all this time. She spoke to him and he turned his head her way, eyes closed. Of course we all want to believe it was because he heard her voice. Last week when my sis from AZ was here she held his hand and he squeezed hers back for the duration of about a minute. She watched his other hand and it was not clenched, only the one he was holding hers with. We desperately hold onto these tiny signs.
Can someone help by telling us, is this the "norm" for these so very injured patients? Should we talk to him quietly, can he hear us? I learned from this site that the aorta the doctors spoke of was the vessel that leads to the pelvis and legs, not his aorta in the heart. We all wonder and wait. I don't mind waiting, as long as I know what is going on with my Dad. We are limited to one phone call a day to this heart unit. Are we expected to simply go on with life as normal while our loved one lies on his back so gravely ill under someone else's care and be expected not to ask questions? Will he have permanent physical damamge? What can we expect? Not exact details but some information, please.
Any help would be so welcome, thank you so much for being here.
Update: 15 March 2007
Sorry to report my Dad died Monday before last at 11:04 p.m. My older sister Laurie and myself were by his side.
I was told some errors (by a nurse) made in his caretaking with devastating results so am dealing with losing him and the fact the loss may not have had to occur.
I will write again in a bit, need some time. Thank you for all you have done.
Discussion, comments, or questions: Mary Larson
© Copyright 2006 Mary Larson
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