Our thoughts and prayers are with Paul Erickson, father-in-law to Linda's daughter Shana. He underwent emergency heart surgery yesterday for a dissected aorta and is in recovery.Here's information from his family:
"Tuesday morning Paul was doing just fine. He had a morning meeting and then suddenly felt weak in his legs, had a pain in his chest, and couldn't find the words he was looking for. His colleagues called an ambulance and he was taken to Unity Hospital.
"After a CT Scan, they discovered that his aorta had been dissected. This is when a tear occurs in one of the layers of the aorta allowing blood to flow in between those layers. In effect, this causes one normal vein to be converted into two. The problem of course is that one of those tubes doesn't go anywhere and more seriously, this could cause the aorta to rupture. Luckily and thankfully, they were able to catch this before it ruptured.
"From Unity he was rushed to Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, MN. On Tuesday afternoon he went into open heart surgery around 3:30 pm and came out at around 8 pm.
"The surgeon reported that the surgery was successful. He thinks the most likely cause of the dissection was an aortic aneurysm. They had to remove and replace a large section of the aorta that connects to the heart along with the valve.
"The good news is that this was successful and Paul pulled through!
"He is currently in intensive care, remains sedated and is on a ventilator. His hemoglobin counts are good, temperature is good, and they are controlling his blood pressure."
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For more information and updates, here's the caring bridge link: You may also sign a guest book and relay your encouragement to the family.
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/paulderickson.
