My 91-year old grandmother was fainting a lot. After several trips to the hospital, it was determined that she had 3 leaky heart valves, and as a result, she was not getting enough blood flowing to her brain. Any time she would try to exert herself, she would get dizzy and, on a few occasions, lose consciousness.
The doctors gave her two options:
1) Do nothing and die randomly in the next 6-12 months.
2) Have open heart surgery to repair the heart valves. The doctor only gave her 50/50 chances of surviving the procedure.
Because she absolutely hated the idea of Option 1, she elected to have the surgery. "At least if I die during surgery I won't know it's happening."
This was about 3 weeks ago. I traveled home to visit her "one last time" just in case things didn't go well. My whole family was pretty much preparing for the worst. She's 91-years old. Even if she didn't make it, that's a pretty solid life.
There were a few minor complications, but at the end of the day she survived the surgery. Now it's 3 weeks later, and she is up and walking around and has more energy than we have seen her have in years! She is in cardiac rehab to help strengthen her heart back up, but she is happy and energetic and ready to take on another 10 years of life.
It's pretty amazing how the human body can bounce back from something so dramatic as having its chest cracked open and its heart being cut into.
The doctors gave her two options:
1) Do nothing and die randomly in the next 6-12 months.
2) Have open heart surgery to repair the heart valves. The doctor only gave her 50/50 chances of surviving the procedure.
Because she absolutely hated the idea of Option 1, she elected to have the surgery. "At least if I die during surgery I won't know it's happening."
This was about 3 weeks ago. I traveled home to visit her "one last time" just in case things didn't go well. My whole family was pretty much preparing for the worst. She's 91-years old. Even if she didn't make it, that's a pretty solid life.
There were a few minor complications, but at the end of the day she survived the surgery. Now it's 3 weeks later, and she is up and walking around and has more energy than we have seen her have in years! She is in cardiac rehab to help strengthen her heart back up, but she is happy and energetic and ready to take on another 10 years of life.
It's pretty amazing how the human body can bounce back from something so dramatic as having its chest cracked open and its heart being cut into.
