triple bypass surgery

[daisey1997]

About 6 weeks ago my brother-in-law (age 67) had a triple bypass done. His only symptoms had been shortness of breath and excessive tiredness.It was discovered he had 85% blockages in at least three of his arteries.He did well thru the surgery and was alert within hours of waking from surgery. His only problems seemed to be confusion about the time of day and slurred speech, one episode of hallucinating while still in hospital.The first day the nurses got him out of bed to walk he fell and urinated on himself.  After being released to go home with his wife his mental and physical condition seem to worsen. He wouldn't eat, did not want to bathe and and was unable to walk without falling. My sister also noted that he was hallucinating more and talking about bugs that he saw on the bed and floor. He would pick at things in the air as well. Medically his blood pressure was very low  80/60 and heart rate was anywhere from 55 to 110. when the heart doctor was called he said that some people take longer to recover from  anesthesia. The heart surgeon seen him after 4 weeks and he was taking in a wheelchair to the doctors office and has to use one at all times in the home after he had fallen trying to go to the bathroom with his wife assisting him. His speech is still often slurred and he still cannot stand in the shower by himself and has to be helped on and off the toliet. He had his first visit with a cardiologist this week and they took him off of his blood pressure medicine, and there are no improvements as of yet. My brother-in-law  and was a retired naval commander and had retired recently from a civilian job with the goverment. He was very normal, smart, self-sufficient man before his surgery. He loved to fish and garden. So my question is "Can anesthesia take this long to recover from?"  Has anyone else had any similiar experiences? I just can't help feeling that something else went very wrong.

[daisey1997]

thank you I will pass this on to my sister, you very well could be right, he recently developed a cough an addition to all of the other symptoms. Thanks again.

[ed34]

A person can look normal but be very low in oxygen and when you are low enough in oxygen you can have hallucinations. Did they do a blood gas test? Most blood tests are taken from veins and will simply count the number of red blood cells present. The sensors used on the finger only measure oxygen saturation in the red cells, not how many cells there are. A blood gas test will involve taking a sample of blood from an artery, then analysed to reveal just how efficient the lungs are working. It will show the levels of carbon dioxide against oxygen. Personally I think if a blood gas hasn't been performed, then one should be done as a state of emergency. It could be that his brain is not receiving enough oxygen. If this is the reason then obviously his lungs have probably become infected and require anti biotics. Depending on the oxygen level, it may require a respirator.