My 63F aunt had open heart surgery on Jan 3rd to address multiple valve issues and afib. She had her mitral and pulmonary valve repaired, her aortic valve replaced with a tissue valve, a maze procedure, and single bypass. She has had afib for over 20 years after being diagnosed in the Philippines, but she couldn't get proper cardiac care until coming to the US.

She had a 20 day hospital stay due to a pleural and pericardial effusion. At one point we were told she had a kidney injury and was on a dopamine drip, but another nurse told me there was no injury and she just needed support for the kidney.

Since being discharged 2 weeks ago she has been readmitted and diagnosed with pneumonia, which she took a round of antibiotics for. She was then admitted to the ER last week because the home health nurse was concerned about her breathing, and her left lung was drained (my mom said 6 liters, which is hard to believe) and she was kept on oxygen. Before discharge we were told that she would need to remain on oxygen at home, but she was already discharged when we went to visit her on the 3rd day in the hospital and we couldn't speak to a nurse about her oxygen and there were no orders given to us.

She still struggles with breathing. She coughs a lot and takes shallow breaths. She cannot lie down. It is hard for her to walk more than 10 feet. She is a normal BMI, maybe a little underweight at this point, and has no other co-morbidities.

We're so scared she is going to die like my dad did. He got his 3rd pacemaker/defib installed a week before his 73rd birthday and his incision site never healed for 4 months--so many visits to PC doctors and his cardiologist but he continued to deteriorate until a heart attack took him less than 5 months after surgery.

I just want to know who we should bring her to. It seems like every week since her discharge there has been a life-threatening emergency and her cardiac surgeon seems unconcerned. She has an appointment with her cardiologist next week...but my dad died the day of his second cardiologist follow-up and I'm so scared she won't make it. She is not getting better and no one can tell us why.

I'll include a list of her medications below:

• Amiodarone 200 MG (once daily)
• Docusate-senna 50 mg-8.6 mg (once daily)
• Potassium chloride K-dur 10, extended release (once daily)
• Atorvastatin 40 mg (once daily)
• Furosemide 20 mg (once daily)
• Metoprolol 25 mg (twice daily)
• Rivaroxaban 20 mg (once daily)
• Aspirin 81 mg (once daily)

Adding: she was sent home with paperwork on Pleural Effusions (which we knew about) but also Carotid Artery Disease. As I said, we couldn't speak to a nurse or attending before her discharge after her ER admittance, and there is a language barrier, so we're not sure if the Carotid Artery Disease has been formally diagnosed.

Additional medications after last week's ER visit:

• amLODIPinr 5 mg (once daily)