This post is for the benefit of Leo's posterity. I thought, since many of you are bloggers, this might be a good place to post it. For everyone else, you're welcome to skip reading it....
Following Leo's surgery last Monday, he just couldn't wake up. For over seven hours he was maintained on a respirator. He didn't even hit the recovery room, but ended up in ICU. Now he talks about being awake, hearing everything that was going on (following the surgery, fortunately, not during it), but being unable to move a muscle or speak or breathe or lift a finger or even keep his eyes open. It was understandably frightening for him. The nurses and doctors kept assuring him he was going to be okay, it was just taking longer than usual for the effects of the anesthesia to wear off, but being trapped inside an unresponsive body must have been a horrifying experience.
Apparently he has what is called pseudocholinesterase deficiency. And the important part is that this very rare disorder involving the slow response for a person's blood plasma enzymes to break down certain muscle relaxing medicines is inherited. Those of you who are his descendants, please be aware that you could be affected by this yourselves, as well as your children. Learn about it and discuss it with your physician before you have surgery.
2 comments:
Thanks! I was going to start bugging someone about this when things were back to normal. It's one of those "good to know" things...
Try acetylcholinesterase deficiency.
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