Dad's Heart

We saw dad's heart doctor today. We discussed next steps to get on the road toward his surgery which will be in the next couple of months depending on a lot of things. Here is an outline for those of you following along at home:

1) Dad sees his lung doctor this Friday to get clearance for a heart catheterization (to be performed on 6/16) to determine if and where any blockages might be and to also get any info they will need for the actual valve replacement.
2) The heart doctor will get clearance from the hematologist - presumably they will halt his blood thinners, but not sure.
3) Dad has pre-op on 6/13
4) The catheterization should be outpatient on 6/16 - we have to be at Kennestone at 7am, but unless they encounter something that needs immediate attention, he will go home that day.
5) Dad will have a surgical consult with a cardiac surgeon to discuss the actual open heart surgery and get it scheduled.

There are still quite a few hurdles to jump to get to the actual big surgery...and in normal circumstances, I would think they were foregone conclusions, but with dad....I am not sure we will even make it past #1 since he is still smoking. His lung condition might not be good enough to begin the process.

We do have a small back up option. There is a procedure in clinical trials at a handful of places in the US and Emory is one of them. They go in through the groin and replace the valve without opening the chest. Dad would have to be accepted into the trial, but also, they would not be able to remove his existing tumor or take care of any other heart issues - just replace the valve.

We will see where we end up....but will be happy to move forward and get this potentially life-threatening issue resolved for dad.