Nelva Kahler

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The story as I know it.....It appears that Nelva had a mild heart attack on Dec 20th.  She checked with her Dr the next day, but he was not alarmed by the test results he had.  By the 27th she was feeling poorly enough to go to Urgent care, after Testing they wanted her to go directly to Methodist.  She went home - where she contacted Kathy (thank you Kathy) who drove her to the Emergency room.  They felt angioplasty was required - but they couldn't get to her until Saturday - so she went home.  Kevin had her at Methodist by 5 am on the 30th, but emergencies got ahead of her and it was about 11:30 before they could take her back.  By 1pm they were back with a no go on the angioplasty.  Three spots totally closed off and a fourth almost closed off.  Not really leaving her any other option other than surgery.  Laying in bed connected to wires and cords is not a good time!  Her heart beat has been running in the high 30's (a normal rate is 88), and early Sunday morning she had 7 seconds with no heartbeat which got them all just a bit excited!!  Still we couldn't get her fit into anyones operating schedule.  Yesterday, I told her she was going to start the New Year as a New Woman- she was not amused by me.  Finally today the 1st she went into Surgery around 7:30 and came out around 2:30.  They did all 4 bypasses and put in a temporary pacemaker.   Dr Harrison  had told us in advance that all her other organs looked good and he expected it to go well and it did.  We were allowed to see her briefly around 4 even though she was still asleep.  


What comes next????  Well, first Kevin and I are frantically looking for a kennel that will take her 3 beloved dogs.  Their care is her chief concern and we believe she will rest easier knowing they are well cared for.  (Big thanks to Kathy and Christina for helping us get through this couple of days) They have estimated her Hospital stay at a week and then they are talking about a Rehab facility for a couple weeks. she has not bought into this at the moment. I keep trying to suggest that she would get better faster with this type of care - we will see when the time comes.  We spent some time today with a volunteer that had this type of surgery and he says she will change her mind when she realizes how much pain she is in and  how limited her movements are.  The Volunteer also said to limit people and phone calls because they are just to exhausting.  So hopefully updating this site will allow you all to follow her progress and any messages you leave for her I will print and take into her.  Remember this is my side of the story - her side might be different when she gets her hands on a keyboard!