Yesterday my dad came out of surgery okay. There was a complication during surgery. The aneurysm is on one of the main arteries to the brain, so they had to keep it open during surgery so that it could supply blood to the brain. During the surgery however, it closed or slowed down substantially, they didn't know which. It was closed/slow for a short amount of time, and while they didn't think that would cause any problems, they wouldn't know for sure for 1-2 days. That type of activity can lead to a blood clot or to a stroke.
When we saw him in recovery, he was in good spirits - as good as one can have considering you have just had brain surgery and have 100 tubes sticking out of your body. For the surgery they put in a large catheter into his groin, and went through that artery into the brain. How they managed to do that, I have no idea, but it's pretty freaking amazing.
Well tonight while I was there, they planned on taking that out. Once they do that, he'll get some range of movement in his legs again. He may be able to get out of bed and walk around soon. He's looking forward to that, as would anyone that's been bedridden for any amount of time.
He's having a hard time with nausea now, as he hasn't eaten anything except for chicken broth in 4 days and they're giving him narcotics for the pain. He's seeing spots and flashes and is generally sick to his stomach. Imagine drinking 2 bottles of vodka on an empty stomach and I guess you'd have the idea, though I can't say for sure since I don't drink.
They had to do another surgery today. They put another catheter into his shoulder so that they can monitor his blood pressure directly. They're forcing fluids into his veins so as to raise his blood pressure. Since the aneurysm was leaking blood, a part of his brain was somewhat deprived of the normal blood flow. The increase in the blood pressure will help to offset that and will "revive" that part of the brain. That's how it was explained to me anyway.
He's got a long way to go still, 1-2 weeks in the ICU and then probably another 2 weeks in the "regular" hospital before he can come home, but so far, so good.
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