Family Earthquake

Firstly I would like to thank the ITU staff at Bath RUH for the amazing life saving work they are doing! My Grampy collapsed on Saturday morning, my amazing Nana managed to revive him and call for help, after he suffered an aneurysm of his abdominal aorta. This was completely unexpected and a huge shock to the whole family. He was rushed to Bath RUH where within 5 minutes of arrival he was taken into theater for one of the biggest operations the human body can take. They informed the family to be prepared for the worst as it was critical. Statistics say that most people who suffer this kind of aneurysm die before they make it to hospital, and 9/10 people die during the operation. 

Grampy lost 3 liters of blood, but was transfused and the aorta fixed during the 3 hour operation, then transferred to the ITU where the staff kept a very close eye. 3 hours after the first operation they discovered something was wrong and took him back into theater for an exploratory surgery where they discovered that some of his organs had been damaged due to the flooding of blood into his abdomen, and they had to perform a colostomy. 

He is now at the ITU and is currently stable; although the staff have told us that his condition is still critical with a 50/50 chance of survival, but today he has responded to some of the nurses when they have spoken to him which obviously a really great sign. All we can do is hope and pray and I have cast a candle burning ritual for him too. We really want to try to comfort and support Nana as much as possible until he wakes up. 

My Dad and Uncle were informed that this can be genetic and therefore something they may need to watch for a bit later in life. You can get screened for it after the age of 65, something I am sure my Dad and Uncle will take on board, especially now that they have learnt since my Grampy's brother and father both passed away due to the same incident. 

Although this is an incredibly sad and anxious time for all of us I am hopeful that my Grampy will pull through, he's been so strong and brave and such a fighter to get through it all, that I really hope it can't defeat him now!