The Saga of Santa Bob

This blog is place where family and friends can get updates on Santa Bob. I'll be updating as frequently or infrequently as possible.

Here's the story so far:

Tuesday, March 5, AM: Santa Bob goes in for surgery to fix a heart valve. The surgery goes well, with few complications. He's given some transfusions, transferred to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU), and starts coming out of his anesthesia.

Tuesday, March 5, PM: The platelets from the blood transfusion cause a large spike in blood pressure. Santa Bob suffers an aortic rupture and is rushed back into surgery. Dr. T reports that he has suffered an event that is probably not survivable and goes back to the OR to work on him some more. Tom and Viv spend the night in the ICU waiting room.

Wednesday, March 6 AM: Santa Bob survives the surgery. He's back in the SICU and sedated. A machine is breathing for him, helping his heart beat, and he's on lots of meds. They leave his chest open in case more work needs to be done.

Brother Stan comes by from Mepkin to pray and give anointing of the sick.

Thursday, March 7 - Tuesday, Mar. 12: Santa Bob steadily improves little by little. They are able to close up his chest, and his incision begins to heal.

On Tuesday, he has been weaned off most of his meds and we are just waiting for him to wake up.

Tuesday, Mar. 12: The neurologists perform a CT scan, then an MRI. They see that Santa Bob suffered a stroke in his left cerebellum. They do not know when the stroke occured, but suspect it was when he was in the OR bleeding. They insert a catheter to drain off extra fluid (CSF), as his brain is swelling and they are worried about more damage. Another surgery is proposed, a "decompression" which involves removing part of Santa Bob's skull in order to give the brain room to swell. The family decides the benefits are not worth the risk and decline the surgery (it would have added months or even years to his recovery, including feeding tubes, a tracheostomy, and general anesthesia.)

Santa Bob's Glasgow score is 4 (rating 3-15); Dr. M can't really give a good prognosis until Santa Bob wakes up, however. The swelling seems to be concentrated in the occipital lobe and away from the speech centers of the brain.

Faithful friend Mike stops by to say hello, and Vivian's daughter C also visits to give her mother support and love.

Wed., Mar. 13: Santa Bob is still hanging in there. Sue visits to catch him up on politics.

Thursday, Mar. 14: Blog starts, so check back for news and updates! Dr. T's intern reports that Santa Bob's heart looks great and he is not on any pain meds or sedation.