For those who may or may not know, Granny was taken by ambulance to the hospital early Friday morning. She couldn't breath, was sweating profusely, highly agitated, and had chest pain. After emergency treatment, spent rest of day and night and most of next day in ICU. She has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure and pneumonia (this part due to the elevated white blood cell count, meaning some kind of infection is present).
At this time, she is in a regular hospital room, getting lots of meds and attention from the hospital staff, and has stabilized for the most part. She is feeling better, although gets tired with very little exertion, including lifting her arms when eating. I spoke with the cardiologist today (Sunday) and he says she has a very weak heart--part of it is working, but some of it is not. He was able to hear the heart malfunctioning after Granny had just gotten back from walking with a therapist in the hallway, so he knows for sure she has some blockage.
The next procedure is to have a cardio cathetor (? spelling) which is a line put through a vein I think from the leg up to the heart. Then they put in dye to see where and how much blockage there is. During this procedure, they can also use balloons or stints to open up blocked areas. Some people require open-heart surgery for severely blocked areas, however, Granny is NOT a candidate for this option due to her age & overall condition.
The cardiologist also told me that Granny is currently NOT in a condition to undergo this cardio cathetor procedure yet. SO, she will stay in the hospital until she is well enough to have this procedure. The cardiologist was saying, 24, 48, 72 hours...just wasn't sure how long it would be before she is ready. Granny is in a private room with a phone, however, she cannot easily answer it nor hear well, so is not a good idea to call. If you'd like to send her a card--I'm sure she'd like that. (just send it to the home and I'll take it to her since not sure how long she will be in the hospital)
If you really need to know the hospital info: Baptist Health Medical Center, 3333 Springhill Dr., Room 204, North Little Rock, AR 72116 501-202-3000
2 comments:
Please send our best wishes to Granny. She is in our thoughts and prayers. (Little) Delia was asking about her on Sunday and asked when would be the next time we could go visit.
Thank you for the prayers--she really needs some doozies....I'll let her know.
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