The catheterization went fine. She Who Must Be Obeyed was unconscious for the entire procedure and that was okay by her! The most painful part of the whole thing was they had trouble setting an IV and tried several times in several vein areas; she's sore and bruised all over her arms and hands! Yikes!
The findings are that the heart's artery pressures/cyclical changes are good indicating the valves are also good. Coronary arteries are clean and clear. The mitral valve is the single culprit — one doctor not giving any clues; the other doctor that spoke with us kind of let slip that the valve simply wasn't working (was "wide open") and that replacement, not repair, is near certain. I believe I was told the left ventricle is enlarged –not good– and caused by the valve failure and congestion and that they'll be monitoring that post-op hoping to see improvement. We'll see what the surgical team comes up with. Hypertension was ruled out as the root cause — one doc simply saying She doesn't have hypertension. Real reason for the bad valve isn't known but that it was likely in slow decline and just hit a tipping point triggering this crisis. She's supposed to get another sonogram today. It's now considered a bit optimistic to expect surgery will be tomorrow and it certainly hasn't been scheduled as yet. I may or may not get more information this afternoon during or after surgical rounds.
The Eee-PC was warmly welcomed, but… I set it up, even used it in the waiting room today. There's Wi-Fi on the patient floors in the satellite waiting rooms but apparently NOT in her room just a short distance away. I'm terribly disappointed — she was giddy about the netbook until we couldn't get online in her room! If they let her get out of bed tonight (recovering from catheterization for six hours) I'll be happy to get an email from her. Hopefully her surgical recovery room will have wireless access since she'll be there for several days. In the mean time, it's something new and she can keep her mind occupied playing with it.
I hope she gets WiFi access soon. In the computer age it's so difficult to be without our connection to cyber space. We're hoping the surgery goes well and She recovers very quickly!
It's strange she doesn't have Wi-Fi available there and she would really benefit from having Internet access… more than having the TV in her room! Oddly (and happily) the hospital has been wired to provide excellent cell phone access nearly everywhere inside the huge building. I'd thought it might interfere with some of their medical equipment but they actively provide the cellular boost. Not the Wi-Fi, though. 😦