This afternoon, I met up with Dr. Nguyen a bit serendipitously- we both happened to be walking over the skybridge between Memorial Hermann's main building and the HVI at the same time, and joined up there. It'd been a few weeks since we'd talked in person, which made catching up more interesting than usual. Extending past my conversations with Tom, there was an unusual air of excitement at Memorial Hermann today; it's an unforgettable place that has had a huge impact on the past year of my life, and just a month away from it had fuzzed my memory. The hallways of 2850, the panoramic view of Rice/downtown Houston, the OR and the smell of the cautery (not a positive memory)....all of it had a newness to it that I haven't felt in a while. It's so, so good to be back.
After a bit of small talk and brainstorming in Dr. Nguyen's office, we went quiet and did some work. Shortly after, we went to a post-op patient checkup down the hall. He was a MIVR (minimally-invasive valve replacement) recipient, likely in his late 60s/early 70s. With most of the incisions sealed and healing, Dr. Nguyen discussed comfort options for the patient more than anything- remedying small issues, making sure the former patient could get back on his feet (not literally, though, because he was already walking). The man had been prescribed plavix, a standard blood thinner, along with Tylenol 3/codeine phosphate, potassium pills, and a few other medications. He reported being somewhat uncomfortable as a result of the codeine, but was recovering well aside from that. Dr. Nguyen was still waiting for some lab tests to return, but offered to cease most of the treatments if the labs reported a clean bill of cardiovascular health. It’s always nice to see quick patient recoveries.
At around 2:00pm, I joined Dr. Nguyen on the 7th floor of the HVI for a double CABG. We arrived fairly far into prep, as the saphenous vein harvest and sternotomy were thoroughly underway. CABG procedure is something I’ve covered time and time again, so if anyone needs a refresher, here’s a good reference post:
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8533419574158229049#editor/target=post;postID=7620191396548475921;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=9;src=link
Continuing on, the saph vein harvest went a bit poorly, which was really no fault of the surgeons. The vein was fragile and almost breaking apart, making it difficult to get a significant length for the graft. They salvaged as much as possible, and it began to go a bit better as they spotted some possible alternatives. Dr. Nguyen set to work on the interior mammary harvest, using the cautery to carve away at bits of tissue lining the artery. I wasn’t able to see any of the surgery past this point, and unfortunately had to head out. If you're new to the blog, I'll be posting more complete surgeries in the future, and hopefully diversifying a bit; CABGs are fun to see, but I might branch off to shadow some other surgeons- getting back into the swing of things with a few new twists, I suppose. More to come soon!
P.S., we’ve got some Heartwell Project updates just around the corner.
