h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The tinman from wizard of Oz - that's what Dai's son says he's going to be, with a robot heart.

He was admitted yesterday, and subjected to a whole barrage of tests (expect lots of "Int the NHS marvellous?" in this journal)

Trying to prise his beloved gadgets from him was the hardest part - I managed to bring the tablet home with me last night, but he was still posting photos taken from his iPhone this morning on Facebook, even as the morphine was taking hold.

The operation is this morning - replacement valve required. Plus the surgeon says the tests also revealed a hole in the heart, so that will be repaired while they're in there. It's a pretty invasive surgery, the op lasts between 4-6 hours, and he'll be kept sedated for a good while after that, and kept in intensive care overnight.

I'm not superstitious or religious, but I find it quite fitting that this is the Chinese year of the dragon - the dragon is sort of Dai's daemon, he has a tattoo of one on his arm, and I had a dragon brooch in my wedding bouquet to represent him.

Certainly the first day of the rest of his life.

My uncle had a new valve put in his heart many years ago and he lived a long and happy life afterwards.

Good luck to him and God Bless Science.

He should treat it as a cast-iron excuse to take things easy for the rest of his life

Best of luck!

Thinking of you both. The Dragon is a strong beast

Good luck!

I'm keeping both of you in my thoughts today.

Thinking of you both.

Best wishes for you all.

Keeping fingers crossed for you all.

I'll be thinking of you both today. Good vibrations.

All the best. From the little I know from a friend who had the op, heart valve replacement ops are fairly routine these days and have a *very* high success rate, so as hard as it might be, try to not worry

Phew! Bit of an anxious wait there. He was being wheeled into theatre at 8 am, for an op said to take 4-6 hours. I phoned at 2, and he was still in theatre, but I was assured I'd be called as soon as he was out. 4 o'clock and 5 o'clock came and went, and I was starting to get calls from other worried relatives...

Tried getting through to ICU, but the number was constantly engaged. Finally the doctor rang me, and explained that the operation had gone well, just took longer than anticipated. But he's now making a good recovery in ICU, will probably be woken up and have breathing tube removed later on this evening.

Whew. I know that was a long wait. Encouraging news.

Great news!

Hurrah! Glad it went well.

My mum had a valve replaced ages ago. Not fun but you're on the downhill slope now hopefully!

Thanks guys - it's really comforting to have all your good wishes.

I've totally underestimated how this would affect me - renowned for my coping skills and capability, calm in any crisis, I was quite blind-sided by how weird and light-headed I felt when visiting him in intensive care tonight.

I'm glad it all went well. Have a rest now.

Great news that it went well.



sprout