Another Update of Tom Groll

Hi Everyone:


First of all I want to thank everyone for all the kind thoughts and prayers. Tom went into surgery early Friday morning and by 3pm he was out of surgery. The maze procedure took the most time and then the coronary triple bypass. This morning he got the breathing tube out and was very happy about that, and then the healing began. He has been up in the chair, walking the hallway three times today and eating soft foods and requesting pain meds, as often as they will give them to him. He commented that he didn't know how older people deal with the surgery and gave them a lot of credit. The surgeon was in to see him tonight and commented to Tom how well he is doing and we don't know yet if the pacemaker surgery is still on for Monday or a day or two later. They will evaluate and decide when the time is right. I'm pretty sure that as they reduce the pain meds, he won't be having quite as much fun.


Dar and Bob have been here with me since Friday morning and Dar is going to spend the rest of the week and I'm so happy to have her here with me. We've been staying in a hotel closer to La Jolla and the Scripps Hospital, but tomorrow we will start making the 60 mile drive back and forth to be here every day.
I'll keep you posted, but so far the surgery is going well.
Thank you again for keeping Tom and me in your thoughts.
Love, Denise

Tom Groll's Update

Tom had his surgery today and Dar called this afternoon around 5 and left a message saying that Tom came thru the surgery just fine and that he was doing well. He will be in the hospital for probably 10 days, but all is well for now. Thank you for your prayers, but don't stop now. m

Happy Birthday Uncle John "83" Today!!!

Prayers Requested!

I just talked to Judy and she went to the doctor this morning....and they are sending her for a MRI next Wednesday as she has been having trouble with her hearing and they are concerned that it may be a tumor. Please keep Judy in your prayers. m

Tom Groll having Surgery

HI Everyone: I wanted to give you an update on Tom. Some of you may
already know this and some may be hearing it for the first time, but I
wanted you to know what's up.

Tom has been diagnosed with several heart problems, atrial
fibrillation, heart blockage and sick sinus syndrome, which causes his
heart to stop periodically. Over a 24 hour monitoring, the heart
paused for 182 times, for up to 3.6 secs, so he will be getting a pace
maker to deal with that. He had an angiogram yesterday and they found
out about the blockage, all three main arteries are blocked, 2 of them
80% and the other 75%, with 100% blockage to the artery that supplies
blood to the back of the heart, so that posed another problem. The
atrial fibrillation has been going on for an undetermined amount of
time, but it creates a greater risk for stroke.

So now the plan for surgery is to do a coronary artery triple bypass on
Friday, exact time unknown. At the same time, they're going to perform
a relatively new procedure called "maze" something or another, where
they make tiny slits in the atria to try to get the heart out of the
atrial fibrillation mode. The surgeon told Tom that the success rate
on that process is over 90%, so that will be a good thing if it works.
Then on Monday, he will have another surgery to install the pacemaker,
to take care of the pauses. He's at the Scripps Green Hospital in La
Jolla, and the place has a very good reputation-and most importantly,
Tom has confidence in the surgeons.

Many of you know just how hard Tom pushes himself, so it was a good
thing that we paid the visit to the cardiologist.
So, before I head off to bed, I'd like to ask everyone to keep him in
your thoughts and prayers for a successful surgery and recovery.
Thank you bunches and love to all. Denise

I'm sure we will all keep both of you in our prayers! Love ya, m

Update on Uncle John

Hi Mary
Hope all's with you. Did you enjoy your trip? Sounds like Karen and Rudy enjoyed their stay and visits. (I think they had a great time....at least we had a great time with them.)
An update on John 's eye. The first surgery was to smooth the retina, and than he got the Staff infection. The infection caused the retina to become detached and something behind the eye to press into the eye. Therefore pain and discomfort. The retina had to be reattached and John had a 3 hour surgery to correct that last Tuesday. Then he had to lay or sit looking down for 6 days. The head frame didn't fit our bed so he slept in a massage chair or with his head propped in has hands. Very uncomfortable. Whatever is pressing on the back of the eye will take about 6 mo to right itself. The worst if it was that he was emptying the dishwasher when he got the pain so guess who now has to do dishes! He is not a happy camper at this point. We saw the doctors today and all seems well. He still will have only side vision - and not a lot of that. Things have to look up!
On the bright side good weather is on the way, although we had some snow today. John is planning a garden in our small backyard. That will keep him busy.
Take care - Uncle John and Aunt Florence

Thanks for the update, we will continue to keep John in our prayers. Also wish him a happy birthday for me....he'll be 83 next week....I can't believe it. m

Uncle John could use some prayers.

Hi Mary
We missed seeing you at Millie's funeral. Was good, as usual,to visit with all.
I thought I would just drop a note and tell you about John's eye. He had surgery on the retina as he has had a couple times before with good results. Well, this time a staff infection was introduced into the eye through the instruments used. As soon as he lost his vision - next day - we went back to the Dr who injected a couple medications. It turned out to be a bad staff, but one that responded to treatment. Unfortunately, the toxins from the infection caused the blood vessels to be damaged and he has little vision in that eye. At first, the Dr said to wait a couple months to see if there would be vision but last week did tests and there is little that can be done. Naturally he is quite upset. He drove today for the first time and will have to learn to drive with one eye. He's being fitted with new glasses that won't break so he can't damage the other eye. Between putting drops into the eye and driving to Madison for treatment every other day, we've had a busy couple weeks. The hospital and doctors are very apologetic but the damage is done. He needed Millie's prayers, I guess.
Other than that, we are doing well. Curling is done so we can stay home. Rusty's wheelchair curling team came out 4th in The World's Championships in Vancouver - he is coach of the team.

Take care Florence and John