Once again dad cheated death when his doctors performed a lifesaving quadruple bypass operation. With heart attack deaths supposedly on the rise we were fortunate my dad who was in his seventies at the time of his surgery lived many more years.
What makes my dad special is Bade Achhe Lagte Hain Today Episode that he entered the lives of my younger sister and I like a shinning comet when we were still in grade school. When he married our divorced mom my sister and I immediately embraced and adored him. We could not have been blessed with a finer father when he choose us to be his family.
During the summer before he had his surgery, Bade Achhe Lagte Hain Today Episode dad had been showing signs of tiredness. Experiencing shortness of breath, one doctor had told him, “Mr. Reeves, you don’t have reason to worry. I judge your shortness of breath is caused from asthma, not your heart. ”
Having no prior history of breathing or lung problems this did not set right with my mother, who protested, “If his doctor thinks he has asthma shouldn’t he have performed an evaluation and prescribed a therapy treatment and reassured your dad’s complaints? ”
Mom was right and believed she and dad had left his doctor’s office without anything being accomplished, perceiving dad got the run around and though she wanted answers to his recent shortness of breath, at the time she let the issue slide. All too often patients feel incapable to counter their doctor’s opinion and this will continue to be until more doctors begin treating their patients with better respect.
In hindsight, we should have persuaded dad to go for a second opinion after he was nonchalantly shrugged off and sent home. Eleven years previously dad had his first heart attack. This is when he chose to accept early retirement. Since his first heart attack, dad would experience an occasional angina attack when he felt over tired. The risk of another heart attack existed, as it always does with coronary disease.
It was an unusually nice autumn day in Oregon, mother and dad had been visiting my sister. They were on the porch saying their good byes when, without warning, dad gasped and collapsed, unconscious. Paramedics were called and he was rushed to the nearest hospital.
Tests were assigned, including an angiogram. Dad had suffered congestive heart failure. His lungs were filled with fluid. He needed an emergency lifesaving quadruple bypass operation. He was moved to another hospital across town, one that is a leader in heart surgery.
When dad came out of surgery and was taken into recovery, the assessment seemed to be good. Yet, as the hours passed, he didn’t come to as soon as he should have. By the time dad’s medical team had foreseen him up and sitting in a chair, dad remained under light anesthetic. Each time they began to bring him out, he would fervently start to struggle and fight. This happened repeatedly. Mom spoke-up, saying that she thought, with the ventilator he felt like he was experiencing his heart attack once more.
She was reassured by the attending nurse, that each patient is different. Dad could be under for quite a while and still have a safe recovery. Though he had quite a bit of drainage from his chest following surgery, his vitals were fine Dad was kept under with a light anesthetic for 26 hours. His family believes that his struggle was born out of fear and desperation of a drowning man. Fear of drowning in his own fluids, just as he was as his heart attack came on.
Dad lived other nine-years after he underwent his quadruple bypass operation and his old familiar sense of humor was still very much intact. At the time we were concerned that his personality would take on changes, as you often hear accounts of this from the family of heart attack victims’. Yet, while still in the hospital in serious condition, dad was in good spirits and kidding with the staff.
A big tease, dad’s eyes hold the promise of a smile even in serious times. He was definitely enjoying this second chance at life both God and medical science has given him. Nevertheless, before surgery, dad was a time bomb waiting to go off. When you or a loved one goes to your doctor, you want to think you are being well-taken care of. Could the passing off of my dad’s physical complaints happen to you or someone you love? Yes, it could. Similar occurrences of patients reveal my dad’s experience isn’t isolated.
Mom challenged his doctor at one of dad’s post surgery checkups, “Because you didn’t listen to my husband’s concerns before his heart attack, he has had to suffer more than he might otherwise have had to. I almost lost him. Bill’s heart attack might have been preventable if only you had taken his concerns seriously. “.