Prayer is still needed due to an after surgery complication.
I'm finally home. My dad drove me to Tulsa this morning and I caught a plane to Dallas this afternoon. After yet another hour and half in the car, we finally arrived home around 6:30 p.m. this evening. I want to thank everyone for all your prayers for our mom during her surgery.
But although my mom's surgery went well, we discovered a complication yesterday (Tuesday), the day after the surgery.
The nurses got my mom sat up in a chair next to her bed, and before long, my mom's left arm swelled up, turned blue (and I mean dark blue), and became extremely painful. We alerted the doctor, and he had my mom get back into bed; and nearly immediately upon lying down, the swelling, blueness, and pain resolved completely.
A couple hours later, after an ultrasound of my mom's major arteries in her neck, chest, and arm, the doctor told us what he believed was the problem.
Apparently during the surgery, when they were placing my mom's central line in her subclavian vein,
they accidentally stuck her artery instead. This wasn't necessarily a major complication, so they dealt with the bleeding and the start of her surgery was delayed about 90 minutes. The surgery went on as planned with no further complications.
Fast forward to Tuesday, about 24 hours after the end of her surgery. Apparently she developed a "pseudo-aneurysm" in her artery, where it had been punctured by the central line. The doctor is thinking that this bulging at the puncture site is somehow compressing her vein/nerve when she sits upright, causing the circulation to her arm to be cut off.
The doctor is taking a 'wait and see' stance in the hopes that this will resolve naturally on its own and not require further surgery. So PLEASE pray that this pseudo-aneurysm resolves completely as soon as possible.
The nurses put my mom's arm in a sling to see if that relieved some of the position-related swelling and blueness, and although it apparently helped only a little bit, she was able to walk around her room today; this was the first time she'd been out of bed and walked since early last Wednesday morning (one week ago).
Thank you all for your prayers on my mother's behalf. But please keep on praying!
I know God is in control of the entire situation, but he still asks us to pray, pray, pray!
Thanks for the update. I will continue to be praying for all of you.
Continuing to pray here. Hope this new complication clears itself soon.
Sorry you had to leave before your Mom got out of the hospital and that there were further complications. We hope all will resolve itself. We are always thinking of you.