I was going for my Dad's 70th birthday party, a year a 1/2 ago he was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer. He battles it, yes it has slowed him down, lost his hair but is generally fine. Last Wednesday though he went to the hospital with shortness of breath. It turns out it was almost a heart attack (2 arteries are 80% closed) so they put in 2 stents that day. From what everyone said, he should be out the next day.
Those sound like the recovery times quoted generally for angioplasty and stents - whether more than one at the same time delays recovery isn't clear.
Well, almost a week later he is still hospitalized he is having trouble breathing when he walks. His heart goes erratic. Does anyone know if trouble breathing after is normal? I talked to him two days ago, and he sounded fine, then yesterday, lying in bed he sounded like he had just run a marathon and was breathing hard. If anyone has has a relative that has had stents or a heart attack, how was the recovery?
Your Dad will heal and mend differently to almost everyone else ... not least because for 18 months his body has been dealing with cancer. Without knowing what the treatment for that has been he may well have lower resistance to deal with new things and probably will need longer recovery times. Is the weather hot and muggy - because that won't help either?
Whilst cancer treatments are fantastic very often, they do not come without side effects - a colleague of mine had Chemo following breast cancer surgery and the drugs in her chemo regime have affected her short term memory and her moods.
The best people to tell you the facts are your Dad and his medical staff and the important thing to remember while you travel to be with your parents is your Dad
did not have a heart attack - for which the recovery would likely have been much more protracted. While you are thinking about your parents and getting yourself to them I am sure we will all be keeping you in our thoughts and hearts and wishing you all well.
Take care and safe journey
Cathy
