Virginia McDorman

Surgery Update Page

Friday May 8th, 2009

My mom is resting well and slowly regaining her strength. She is walking around the house by herself now and having a lot of fun watching the soap opera channel. But she is requiring a lot of rest so please excuse her being out of touch for the next few weeks. She is very thankful for everyone's love and support and looks forward to speaking with you all again very soon.

Love,

The McDorman Family

Monday May 4th, 2009

My mom has been home since Friday and doing well.

 

Thursday April 30th, 2009

My mom is doing great and is expected to come home tomorrow afternoon! She is no longer taking her heart medication and her rhythm has returned to normal. Her strength is slowly returning and yesterday she walked several times up and down the hall without losing her breath.

We all feel very blessed she is making such a strong and rapid recovery. Thank you for keeping her in your prayers.

 

Tuesday April 28th, 2009

My mom was moved from ICU to a private room yesterday. Her heart rhythm, pulse and vitals have been normal for over 48 hours and she doing great! We are meeting with Dr. Lewis in the morning to learn when they expect she can go home. Hopefully before the end of the week. 
For some reason when she was served her first real breakfast following the operation, the bacon made her queasy and she pushed it to the side. That evening while we were talking about what to have for dinner my mom experienced the greatest epiphany of her life. Now that she is 1/500th swine, eating pork is now an act of cannibalism. She has decided not eat and of her new extended family therefore pork is permanently off the menu. This is an issue of her procedure the doctors did not warn us about.

My mom also now has a room full of balloons, flowers and cards. She wishes to thank everyone who is thinking and praying about her. I think she is truly overwhelmed by the support she has received and she is looking forward to seeing everyone again soon.

From myself, my mom and the rest of the McDorman family, thank you for stopping by to check on her. We are all very appreciative for everyone’s support during this time.  We will keep updates on this page until she has fully recovered.

Thank you again for stopping by,


Slate McDorman

 

Saturday April 25th, 2009

She is still doing very well but is still in the intensive care unit due to an irregular heart murmur. They say this murmur isn’t unusual but they have to keep her in ICU until it disappears. Her color is returning and she only needed one dose of pain medicine today. With the help of the nurse she walked up and down the hall this afternoon. The nurse told her she is very far ahead of where most patients are at this stage in their recovery.

My mom asked me to thank everyone for your love, prayers, calls and emails. The love from this expercience has been overwhelming.


About the Surgery
Friday April 25th, 2009

Virginia McDorman, my mother, had a successful open heart operation this Wednesday, April 22nd. They performed an aortic valve replacement, in which her defective valve was substituted with a pig valve. The procedure took just under 3 hours and her doctors said everything went “text book.” However, she still is suffering severe embarrassment of now having pig as part of her anatomy. Please try to be sensitive to her condition and refrain from all swine and “oink oink” humor.

 

Mom, Sim, Katherine

Katherine, Mom and Sim signing in at 5am.


As of this update she is still in the intensive care unit (ICU) but doing fantastic. Her blood pressure spiked Friday morning, which they say is normal, and this earned her another day in ICU.  She will hopefully be moved to a regular room soon.

 

Friday morning she woke up without a headache --the first time in a very long time. Most of the past 20 years she has needed medicine to help control her blood pressure.  Her heart was having an increasingly hard time pumping blood to her brain and the headaches were a result. Waking up without one has been a blessing. The doctors don’t think she will ever need to take her heart medication again, a routine she has followed for decades.

 

I Bed Beore Surgery

Almost ready for surgery.



Once she moves from ICU she will be in the hospital for a few more days and then will be coming home. My mom, family and I thank everyone for your thoughts and prayers.  As of right now she doesn’t have a phone, but we will be updating this web site every couple of days with new information.

God bless.


Slate McDorman