Update on Tony

I’ll keep this brief-ish, but thought I should let people know how Tony is. On Monday he had clots removed from last year’s Fem-Fem  Cross Bypass, and an artificial artery inserted from groin to knee as the surgeon felt his lower leg veins were good enough to warrant it. Surgery and recovery was about 7 hours, so it was a long day of waiting. When I was finally allowed to see him in the High Dependency Unit he looked terrible and said he felt dreadful. The staff were concerned because his foot was still cold and no one could find a pulse even with the doplar.

Tuesday morning’s scans showed a series of blockages in the new artery, despite IV Heparin.  Prior to surgery we had talked about risks, including amputation so this was scary stuff. The operated late Tuesday morning, so it was another long day of ‘hurry up and wait’. They completely replaced last year’s Fem-Fem Cross Bypass with a new one, and replaced the new artery with a different one – this time groin to mid-calf and done by cutting the leg rather than working internally. So a lot of stitches and fresh pipework.

Within a couple of hours his foot was warm and pink. He looks really well; for me he already looks better than he has in months. Incredible. The next 24 hours are still important, as he remains a high risk for a heart attack or more clots, BUT is doing great and moved from HDU to the vascular ward at lunchtime. We are so fortunate. Fortunate to live somewhere where things get  fixed, fortunate I can stay in my friend’s house, fortunate my sister came down from Auckland and stayed with me through the scary bits, fortunate Wendy will animal-sit for us, fortunate to have online people who support me – just fortunate.