Teebone
Active Member
This is Toni...and here is the long and short of it
Uncle Vinny has just undergone major surgery yesterday
Feb 5th.
As many of you know, he has had trouble walking for
some time now.
He had an extremely long bout with gout and I finally
was able to get him to see the doc.
Doc sent him to a foot doc to correct another issue.
Doc said he would not do this correction until he
was sure his circulation was checked.
On to 2nd Doc who did a dopple and found that
his left leg had only 5% circulation and his right
leg had only 40% circulation.
So...angioplasty was scheduled for Jan 24th.
Unsuccessful. The arteries in his left leg were
solid and procedure was halted.
The only surgery to correct this was
Aorto BiFemoral Graft ByPass Surgery
(please google it so you can see it)
On to the cardiologist to be sure his heart
could take this surgery then went for
the Lexiscan Sestamibi (Stress Test) with
the dye since he could not do the tread mill
Then on to the pre-op tests: lab work, EKG, chest-xray
Ok...good to go for Surgery on Feb 5th. (This now
is one day after we had to send Miss Gypsy to be
with God...so it was very very difficult)
Surgery was originally for 3 hours, then 5 hours,
but ended up being a 7 hour surgery. We arrived
at 5am and didn't get to see him until 10pm.
I finally told the hospital that I was not leaving
until I could see him...put my ball-cap on...marched
down the hall...and stormed into the Trama ICU.
The tubes were coming out of everywhere, but he
saw me and his son (who came down from NY).
They had to cut his stomach higher then they
thought and had to piece together additional
pieces of the Dacron Graft material to be able
to go down his both legs (each thigh was cut open as well)
Hence the extended time to 7 hours.
Two docs worked on him with a PA (physician assistant)
since each leg needed a doc.
He did well....but was put on a ventilator since his
breathing was at about 30% and the machine needed
to make up the addition 70%. He was on the ventilator
overnight...and...fortunately it was removed this morning
(the concern was for pneumonia...even though I had him
get a pneumonia shot back in 2010 which is within the
5 year period....glad I pushed his doc back in Connecticut
for him to get this protection).
Today...they removed one of the iv's in his hand so
he is on the road to recovery.
He is still in the Surgical Trama ICU...but with a bit
of luck he will be moved either tomorrow or next day.
I told the docs that they were receiving him with a
broken heart from just having this episode with Miss Gypsy
I will not give him his phone until he is moved out of this
Trama ICU...so...he will not be reachable until then.
I, to say the least, am exhausted. After having Miss Gypsy's
face in my hands while my heart was bleeding and her veins
were so old they had to make 5 attempts to get the catheder
in... then this surgery...I must say that God has given me
the strength and the road to follow to be able to push on.
So...the long and short of it...Uncle Vinny should be out of
the hospital in about a week. It will be a 6-8 week recovery
period, but...he looks forward to being at Knotts.
Pat Mack (camachinist) will help make the flight and room
arrangements since he's a master at that and knows that
my mind is in focus to care for Uncle Vinny once he gets home
My email address is: mailordermedia2000@yahoo.com and I
will answer whenever I can catch my breath.
You also, of course, can check in here.
Oh...he is at WakeMed...3000 Bern Ave in Raleigh, NC
Sorry to be so long with this post...but thought the
more info I provide now, the less questions later.
He will be able to walk again, certainly more than
limited 50 feet without that constant pain.
So fellas...remember there is always, always a
bright star behind those dark clouds !!!!
Toni
Uncle Vinny has just undergone major surgery yesterday
Feb 5th.
As many of you know, he has had trouble walking for
some time now.
He had an extremely long bout with gout and I finally
was able to get him to see the doc.
Doc sent him to a foot doc to correct another issue.
Doc said he would not do this correction until he
was sure his circulation was checked.
On to 2nd Doc who did a dopple and found that
his left leg had only 5% circulation and his right
leg had only 40% circulation.
So...angioplasty was scheduled for Jan 24th.
Unsuccessful. The arteries in his left leg were
solid and procedure was halted.
The only surgery to correct this was
Aorto BiFemoral Graft ByPass Surgery
(please google it so you can see it)
On to the cardiologist to be sure his heart
could take this surgery then went for
the Lexiscan Sestamibi (Stress Test) with
the dye since he could not do the tread mill
Then on to the pre-op tests: lab work, EKG, chest-xray
Ok...good to go for Surgery on Feb 5th. (This now
is one day after we had to send Miss Gypsy to be
with God...so it was very very difficult)
Surgery was originally for 3 hours, then 5 hours,
but ended up being a 7 hour surgery. We arrived
at 5am and didn't get to see him until 10pm.
I finally told the hospital that I was not leaving
until I could see him...put my ball-cap on...marched
down the hall...and stormed into the Trama ICU.
The tubes were coming out of everywhere, but he
saw me and his son (who came down from NY).
They had to cut his stomach higher then they
thought and had to piece together additional
pieces of the Dacron Graft material to be able
to go down his both legs (each thigh was cut open as well)
Hence the extended time to 7 hours.
Two docs worked on him with a PA (physician assistant)
since each leg needed a doc.
He did well....but was put on a ventilator since his
breathing was at about 30% and the machine needed
to make up the addition 70%. He was on the ventilator
overnight...and...fortunately it was removed this morning
(the concern was for pneumonia...even though I had him
get a pneumonia shot back in 2010 which is within the
5 year period....glad I pushed his doc back in Connecticut
for him to get this protection).
Today...they removed one of the iv's in his hand so
he is on the road to recovery.
He is still in the Surgical Trama ICU...but with a bit
of luck he will be moved either tomorrow or next day.
I told the docs that they were receiving him with a
broken heart from just having this episode with Miss Gypsy
I will not give him his phone until he is moved out of this
Trama ICU...so...he will not be reachable until then.
I, to say the least, am exhausted. After having Miss Gypsy's
face in my hands while my heart was bleeding and her veins
were so old they had to make 5 attempts to get the catheder
in... then this surgery...I must say that God has given me
the strength and the road to follow to be able to push on.
So...the long and short of it...Uncle Vinny should be out of
the hospital in about a week. It will be a 6-8 week recovery
period, but...he looks forward to being at Knotts.
Pat Mack (camachinist) will help make the flight and room
arrangements since he's a master at that and knows that
my mind is in focus to care for Uncle Vinny once he gets home
My email address is: mailordermedia2000@yahoo.com and I
will answer whenever I can catch my breath.
You also, of course, can check in here.
Oh...he is at WakeMed...3000 Bern Ave in Raleigh, NC
Sorry to be so long with this post...but thought the
more info I provide now, the less questions later.
He will be able to walk again, certainly more than
limited 50 feet without that constant pain.
So fellas...remember there is always, always a
bright star behind those dark clouds !!!!
Toni
