Home, April 5, 2014

I am home after nine days at Vanderbilt, including five days of plasma exchange and a thymectomy. The surgery went well, but the post-op was a problem.

My blood pressure and heart rate were high after surgery. I was in recovery for a long time
because of this. My surgery was at 7:30 AM and took about three hours. I was in recovery about four hours. We finally made it to our room about 8:00 PM Thursday (I stayed in a recovery bed until the room was ready).

My room was on the surgical floor. Almost as soon as I was in the room, my heart rate started increasing again. It was up and down, up and down. Several nurses were in and out of the room for the next twenty minutes. When my heart rate hit 187, the nurses called in the Rapid Response Team. By the time they arrived (in a very few minutes) I had gone into atrial fibrillation. I do not know how many meds they gave me there, but they finally moved me to SICU, which is on the same floor. They worked with me for some time and were able to lower my rate to the low 100s then finally to the 80s. Doctors were planning to shock me out of afib sometime Friday if I did not come out of it on my own. I came out of it around 11:30 AM. Yea! Praise the Lord--without being shocked.

Since the thymus gland is on top of the heart, my heart was irritated and angry, this happens sometimes with this type of surgery. I now have a Vanderbilt cardiologist. Thanks again for your prayers and support.