Letter From Mick Green's Son - Mon 16th Feb
Letter From Mick Green's Son
16 February 2004
**Update**
Dear all
Have just seen dad and he looks very well. He will be discharged from hospital this Sunday (on his 60th birthday).
We are then going to stay at Mollies (the address is in the last email). On March 1st, he has to come back to the hospital to have his defibrillator checked out again and then they will be able to give us a definite date when we can fly back.
Regards,
Lloyd
**Original Mail**
I have been asked to display this e-mail from Mick Green's son with news on his progress after his recent heart attack.
Dear All,
I thought I would update you on the latest regarding Mick Green's recovery. I'm Mick's son Lloyd by the way and I flew out to New Zealand about a week ago to be with him as he recovers.
Below is an account of what actually happened and his recovery.
On the night of the 2nd gig in Auckland, Dad had a cardiac arrest (apparently this is different to a heart attack) during the song 'Cruel'. He passed out and fell backwards knocking a music stand over but amazingly did not hurt himself in the fall. Five roadies came on and dragged him off stage; at the same time 2 doctors jumped up from the audience to go to his aid. One was a middle-aged man who works as a neuro surgeon at Auckland City Hospital and the other was a young lady in her 30s who works is a cancer specialist at another hospital in Auckland. The lady performed CPR whilst the guy gave mouth-to-mouth. When I told dad this he joked , 'Why couldnt it have been the other way round!'. His heart had stopped and he had no pulse; he was technically dead. The doctors knew they had to get air to his lungs and kick start his heart otherwise it would be too late, seconds counted. Even if they had revived him, he could have been left brain damaged. These 2 doctors are very special people and saved my dad's life, 'thanks' doesnt seem a big enough word. I got to meet the neuro surgeon in person and my mum has contacted the lady GP. Both are extremely humble and did not want thanking for what they had done. I am going to try and get in touch with the mayor of Auckland to have them awarded though. Dad also said that when he gets out, we should take them for a meal. He is very overcome when he thinks about those two and the fact that he wouldnt have been here if it had not been for them.
After about 5-10 minutes, the ambulance arrived and took him to Auckland City Hospital in the Coronory Care Unit. The idea was to fit dad with a defibrillator which would give him a shock/bolt should his heart stop again, in effect perform the role of the 2 GPs that night. Whilst he was in hospital they decided to do an angiagram which is basically a look at the heart. They discovered that the 4 main arteries to the heart were badly blocked and therefore recommended that he have a quadruple bypass as well as the defibrillator fitted. Dad was obviously very frightened by this as he had never considered having major open heart surgery before. I flew out to be with him a couple of days before the bypass operation.
He had the quadruple bypass surgery on Monday 9th February at midday. The operation lasted for 6 hours which seemed like a lifetime of waiting. After the operation he was taken to intensive care which is when I got to see him in the early evening. The nurses had prepared me for what it was like but nothing can prepare you for seeing a loved one in IC with tubes,wires, machines, monitors surrounding them and looking so lifeless. It was a horrible experience. He remained in Intensive Care until Friday 13th when he was moved to a 'step down' ward. He was then moved to a 'normal' ward on Saturday 14th. I didnt get a chance to see him on Sunday as I have been feeling poorly (Cough, Cold) and dont want to give him my germs but I spoke to him. He was feeling much better and had had all the tubes, wires and breathing equipment removed and was walking about. We are now waiting to here when he will have his 2nd operation to have the defibrillator fitted. We expect that to be Tues/Wed of this week. He will then need at least another week in hospital to recover from this and then probably at least 3 weeks after he has been discharged to be well enough for the flight home. All things being well, we would expect to fly back to the UK around Mid March. (Bernard, I think the 27th March will not be feasible) . The main thing is that he is slowly improving each day; it was not his time to go yet. He has much to look forward to this year, including my wedding in August.
He is very touched by all the emails he has received and appreciates all the support he has had from all over the world. He also looks forward to gigging again and for the Bryan Ferry tour he is expected to be back on the tour in June to do the English dates. Regarding work outside of Bryan Ferry, I will have to check with the doctors if he is able to gig before June.
Please update your website news sections accordingly and pass on the thanks of the Green family for everyone.
Will keep you posted
Regards
Lloyd