It's been a rough couple of days. I took my 93 year old mom into downtown Portland for the Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) Wednesday. The procedure was delayed 2 hours because of the previous patient having issues. The surgeon does 3-4 per day, Tuesday-Thursday. I checked with some medical device sales reps and they gave him thumbs up for his work, not his personality.
An hour and half after the procedure started the anesthesiologist comes out and gives us a thumbs up as he walks by. We sat there waiting for the surgeon to speak with us, but he never showed his arrogant face. In fact he never spoke with my mom. He sent in his PA Thursday morning to check on her. I spoke with the charge nurse on her floor and she said he never speaks with family or the patient after a procedure. He just goes on to the next procedure . What an arrogant P***k.
My mom was up and walking 4 hours after the procedure. I picked her up mid afternoon Thursday. The whole procedure was no big deal to her. The cardiac staff, in the catheter lab, had labeled her a "
SuperAger". I had to look that up and my brother is going to get a t-shirt made for her to wear at the gym. I'm really going to have to bust my butt to out live her now.
"A superager, also known as a super-ager, is a person who is at least eighty years of age and retains the memory skills and capacity of someone at least thirty years younger. This population falls well outside the "normal" memory skill range for people their age."
Details of the fun:
Arrived at 8:30am for an 11am procedure. 1pm they finally roll her in for an hour procedure.
We sat waiting like idiots in the Cat Lab waiting room for the surgeon. Finally around 3pm the charge nurse came out and told us where my mom was. I checked in with her and then we left around 4. The parking garage gate wouldn't acknowledge my validated parking ticket, so I had scan my CC for $20. Then I was able to relive the joy of driving 16 miles in rush hour traffic after a long stressful day. On the way home my car was acting erratic and after I dropped my sister off that good ole flashing "check engine light" started up about 1/4 mile from my house. I made it home and had a well deserved drink. I had AAA take my vehicle to my mechanic Thursday am and he said it would be a couple of days before he could look at it. Good, honest, shop is usually booked up a week in advance.
I'm taking a break for a while.