Surgery done

Not quite what we expected.  WHen they got into his heart, they found restrictive pericarditis.  During the ablation procedure in 2006 they nicked his Left pulmonary vein causing the blood into his lungs and pericardium.  The blood there then calcified causing "a straight jacket over his heart."  They had to work at removing that and did a pericardiotomy.  Then did the septal myectomy which they said was not as bad since this pericardium issue was likely causing most of his problems.  They did the MAZE procedure but said that his atrium has a lot of scar tissue and was not the way they usually do the procedure so they are not sure how that will go. 

The pericard. was a bigger deal than anything else and because of that he is slightly more at risk for complications.  I asked the surgeon when I could start to feel better from what he said and he said after the next 24 hours.  He will likely be on vent/in ICU longer than thought.  I should be able to see him in an hour or so.  The surgeon thought that Rob is very lucky that he had this surgery now as this can be a fatal condition. I will update when I can