A routine heart appointment turned into an eight-and-a-half-hour emergency operation for a California mother after doctors discovered a tear in her body’s largest artery.
Leslie Caoili, 41, had been a competitive strength athlete before she went for the heart checkup on May 1. Doctors discovered what her family described as a Type A aortic dissection, a life-threatening tear involving the aorta.
Her husband, Amery Lee Caoili, told ABC 10News that doctors believed his wife might have had only hours to live without surgery.
The operation saved her life. The complications that followed cost Leslie her hands and legs.
A Different Fight
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Leslie competed in strength events around San Diego before the medical emergency, according to 10News.
On May 1, she and her husband went in for what he described as a routine heart checkup. Doctors found the aortic tear and took Leslie into emergency surgery.
Her husband later described the stakes in considerably simpler terms.
“Most aortic dissections usually happen pretty quickly, and they don’t survive,” he told 10News. “So the surgery was necessary in order to save her life.”
He said doctors believed Leslie may have had only hours remaining.
The emergency operation lasted approximately eight and a half hours.
A fundraiser organized by Amery Caoili identifies Leslie’s condition as a Type A aortic dissection and says the operation involved cardiopulmonary bypass and extensive reconstruction of her aorta.
Surviving it was the beginning of Leslie’s recovery, not the end.
Circulation Lost
Updates posted by her husband during the following weeks documented a difficult hospital course that included ECMO life support, a ventilator, and dialysis.
By May 18, Amery reported that doctors were concerned about circulation loss affecting Leslie’s hands and feet. He wrote that her case was considered unusual because the circulation problems involved multiple areas and that doctors believed amputations might become necessary.
The damage continued.
“We didn’t really know how her body was gonna respond to the initial surgery, but she ended up losing blood flow to her hands and her feet,” Amery told 10News.
By the end of that first month, he said, Leslie’s hands and feet had become blackened and shriveled.
Doctors ultimately amputated her hands around the middle of her forearms. Both of her legs were also amputated.
“Every day has been a battle for her,” her husband said. “Every day has been a fight.”
The family’s updates also recorded progress.
By early June, Leslie was no longer receiving dialysis around the clock and was spending her days off the ventilator. Later updates described her breathing independently and recovering enough kidney function to go without dialysis.
Coming Home
After months in the hospital, Leslie is now approaching another milestone: going home.
That has created a much more practical problem.
The house where Leslie lived before May is not ready for the needs she will have when she returns, and her husband is seeking skilled volunteers to help modify it.
The family is looking for carpenters, electricians, HVAC technicians, roofers, flooring installers, painters, and others who can help make the home safe and accessible.
For a woman who spent her time before May competing in strength events, the immediate goal is considerably more ordinary.
“She just wants to come home to her family and her kids and her dog and me and wants to get back to living life as normal as we can make it for her,” Amery told 10News.
Leslie and Amery have two daughters.
Her husband has remained with her throughout the months-long hospitalization while documenting her recovery and raising money for the expenses the family now faces.
The fundraiser has since collected more than $100,000 toward a $140,000 goal.
The money is intended to help with Leslie’s medical and recovery expenses, rehabilitation and long-term care, household expenses, and preparations for her return home.