Post Op Low BP, fever,etc after valve replac/bypass

[McMudda]

Hello

I am a pre nursing student whose Mom just underwent heart surgery. Her aortic valve was replaced with a pig valve and her tricuspid was reconstructed or revamped without replacing it. The tricuspid valve is still leaking but is much better than it was. The Dr said she was much better off with a small leak than trying to replace it (which isnt done too often). She also had a bypass of the left anterior descending artery. They took a vein from her chest to use for the bypass instead of a leg vein and this will save her from leg discomfort. The Dr said her heart was huge.

The surgery was performed on the 10th. (tonight is the 13th)She is still in the ICU. They took her off ventilator the day after..only to replace it that evening. She has developed a fever of 101. Her BP is dropping ...it is now 100/ 50. Her urine output was poor..so they put her on lasix--so now has improved. Today she is still on ventilator.

Could anyone give me some insight into what I am looking at here? Are these things expected setbacks that many patients have? Should this blood pressure reading set off red flags for me?

I am very worried and hate being so far away from her during this ordeal.

I would really appreciate any input you might have

Thanks

Patty

[Pete495]

How old is your mother?

It sounds as if your mother is in heart failure and renal failure, but that is purely speculation. If your blood pressure comes up, you may see the urine out put pick up also.

questions to ask your treatment team or surgeons:

is my mother in renal failure?

Have blood cultures been drawn to determine if there is a source of infection?

What drips are supporting her blood pressure?

What is the source of her CHF? Is it the infection?

Not sure how old your mother is, or what her PMH is, so I cannot make a prognostic picture really, but hope this helps a little.

[Katmae RN]

Hope your mother will be OK..how old is she?her heart is large the doc said ,which makes it less effective in pumping,thus the chf. what is her pulse running? does she smoke? Maybe they want her pressure lower to prevent her heart from working so hard. Good luck with her recovery and hope she will be fine.