Welcome Everyone

First and foremost, I would like to thank everyone, on the behalf of our entire family, for all of the care, concern, warm wishes and love that you have shown us over the past few days. Although word has travelled fast and many of you have been in contact with us for updates, I have decided to start this blog as a means of mass communication regarding my father's condition from here on out. Because he is who he is, and because he has touched the hearts of so many in his lifetime, I'm sure you all can imagine the flood of calls that have continued to come in over the last day or so, and though all the calls are greatly appreciated and received with a great deal of gratitude and love on our end, maintaining communication through this blog will certainly be much easier for everyone involved.

I suppose I'll start just by giving a brief overview of what has happened over the past 24 hours, for the benefit of anyone who has not already heard all the details. Around 8:30 am yesterday morning, my father began having chest and lower back pain and, suspecting a possible heart attack, proceeded to call his doctor, who told him to go to the emergency room immediately. Once there, they began to run tests and quickly discovered that he had a rare condition called aorta dissection, or aorta split. Rather than to try to explain what that is, I have copied a brief explanation here.
"The aorta is the major artery that carries blood from the heart to the rest of the body. Aortic dissection occurs when the inner layer of the aorta’s artery wall splits open (dissects). This is more likely to occur where pressure on the artery wall from blood flow is high. One such place is the ascending aorta (the first segment of the aorta), where the aorta originates from the heart’s left ventricle (pumping chamber). This is the part of the aorta closest to the heart (thus the name proximal aorta).
When the aortic wall splits, the pulses of blood get inside the artery wall and under the inner layer. This makes the aorta split further. This tear usually continues distally (away from the heart) down the descending aorta and into its major branches. Less often the tear may run proximally (back toward the heart)."

Just for a visual, the aorta is shaped like an upsidedown horseshoe, with the heart on the lower left end. As you continue up around top curve (the ascending aorta), there are the two major vessels that carry the blood up to the brain (smaller vessels that carry the blood through the arms also branch off of these). Coming down the other side of the horseshoe is the descending aorta, which eventually branches out to carry blood to other major organs like the kidneys, liver, spleen, etc.

In my father's case, the split ran from just above his heart (through the ascending aorta) up along two major vessels at the top and all the way down the descending aorta toward his other organs. Upon diagnosis, the doctors at Brockton Hospital phoned immediately for the Medflight to take my father into Beth Israel where two cardiovascular teams were already waiting. Once there, his condition was assessed and he was taken in for surgery to replace the ascending aorta entirely with a synthetic aorta. They also discovered at that time that the valve between the heart and aorta was damaged and replaced it with a tissue valve (or pig valve) that will eventually need to be replaced 15-20 years down the line. He did have the option of a mechanical valve, but this would have required him to be on powerful blood thinners for the rest of his life, so my mother and aunt decided together that the tissue valve would be best.

The surgery began around 2:45 in the afternoon and lasted late into the evening. He made it through the operation without too much complication, aside from some internal bleeding that is common with any heart surgery, and this was taken care of and carefully monitored throughout the rest of the night. He was, however, at a major risk for stroke during the surgery. Replacing the aorta involved attaching the synthetic aorta to the two major vessels to the brain and left arm. Because of the proximity of the tear to those two main vessels, the surgeons had to stop the bypass to the brain in order to replace the aorta, which actually stopped the bloodflow to the brain for a period of time. We wouldn't know whether a stroke or other brain damage had occurred until morning.

Much to our relief, we received a call around 11am this morning letting us know that they had roused him up and that he was responsive, his vitals were strong and he was able to move his arms and legs upon command. Thus far, there is no evident paralysis that would have been indicative of a stroke. He woke up out of the anesthesia fighting the doctors (which is also normal for younger men after surgery) so they did have to put him back under for safety's sake, but, all things considered, he has pulled through thus far with very little complication. He remains on a breathing tube and sedated and they will try to rouse him again this afternoon. The doctors will continue to run tests on other organs that may have been affected by the tear in the descending aorta, which will most likely also require further surgery to repair. Last night's surgery, however, was the most crucial, and I cannot even begin to express our relief and gratitude to the many doctors, nurses, and medflight team who worked so quickly to save his life.

The next few days will be crucial, of course, and I will keep everyone posted on here. I do not personally have everyone's phone numbers or e-mails, so if you are able, please pass along this url to anyone else who may need or want to remain informed. Thank you all again for your love and support. You are forever in our hearts.

Marissa, and the Forman/Guild family