Sunday, December 03, 2006

Me? *I'M* Ready for His Surgery. Walter?...

He's still ready to go home.

But he made his decision to stay, and it's all set up. If everything comes together as planned, he gets his bypass Monday morning.

He told me yesterday he hadn't changed his mind about coming home for the surgery. When he saw how upset I got, thinking about him trying to get home, he decided to stay in Indiana not for his sake - but for mine.

I am grateful.

He was feeling much better yesterday. They're still giving him all sorts of meds, but he's off the morphine because his chest pain is gone. The nurses keep checking his incision site where they put in the heart catheter. This was done through the femoral artery, in the groin, and of course you want that to heal up right.

So he appreciated Livey's offer of nekkid lady pix. But considering the amount of time those nurses are spending checking out his guy parts? He asked me to tell Livey it's probably not a good idea just now.

heh!

If he wants a good boobie story he can check this out:
http://www.chromedcurses.com2006/12/02/ninnies/#comments

He said they're starving him. Then he found out he could order as much food as he wanted, as long as he didn't exceed his salt or fat restrictions. I hope this means he finally got enough lunch.

They woke him at six am yesterday for xrays and more blood tests, and then gave him a big ol' shot of something in the belly. That, he didn't like.

Plus he's all aggravated that he feels fine now but he's stuck in a hospital room. Yeah. That can wear on ya.

After lunch he went to sleep. He woke up to find his express mail had arrived, hooray! The first thing he did was plug in his cell phone and call me.

Can you tell he's feeling better? I sure can.

Such a strange and serendipitous coming together of events we've had. Desert Cat and Company schemed and plotted and created the Scooter Brigade at the exact same time that Walter unexpectedly got routed home for Thanksgiving. Walter used up his last energy on scooter shopping with me and getting the hitch and platform installed in the Saturn so I can take the scooter around doing errands.

I couldn't have gotten my mobility back without the Scooter Brigade and Walter, both.

Without the scooter, I would be seriously hampered now. There's a great deal to do to get this place ready for a person recovering from open heart surgery.

More than one of you has suggested he waited to have his heart attack until the scooter was all set up.

When I told Walter this he laughed.

Notice, though, he did not deny it.

After that? He could easily have had a fatal first heart attack. Instead, the heart attack is so mild it causes little damage to his heart.

And where he has that heart attack really does look like the middle of nowhere.

Yet as it happens, some 20 miles away is a top-notch facility for...cardiac emergencies and surgery. Yup.

It's so very good that people come from hundreds of miles in all directions to get their heart surgery done there.

So. How's all that for a smooth and pretty unfolding of events?

deaconess Gateway Hospital. Right off the bat, Cindi guessed it. kdad the MD went and surfed up info on the facility and the cardiologists treating Walter. kdad does not impress easily. He sounded pretty impressed with the place to me.

The docs have excellent backgrounds and no negatives he could find, no complaints, nothing. The facility is part of a larger hospital complex, takes care of serious emergency situations including cardiac care, and was only built a year or two ago.

The rooms are all private rooms, large and comfortable. That flat-screen TV! Walter is quite happy with his room.

Surely that helps, huh?

He has a big binder full of Useful Info he's supposed to read. It tells about the whole process, before and during and after the surgery. They'll put him on a heart-lung machine. He thinks he'll be released as soon as Friday.

This amazes me.

While talking to him yesterday afternoon, he was holding a pillow. It's specially made by a volunteer group that does nice things to take care of the cardiac patients. After his surgery he's supposed to hug this heart pillow to ease the pain of the incision.

Why does hearing that break my heart?

5 comments:

Northwoods Woman said...

Because you want to be the one he's hugging. And he will! That's the good thing!
Now don't go getting yourself so worked up you end up in the hospital!
You two are driving me crazy with worry you know that!?! LOL Love ya!

Jean said...

Well, it sounds like his situation is in good hands, and you are set pretty well at home... as long as you don't overdo getting ready for his homecoming!
Poor lady, I cannot imagine how badly you want to be there with him.

Keep taking care of yourself... Walter has an entire medical team!

You two are in my thoughts, of course.

k said...

He's doing well. I'm okay too. I think.

I've been banned from the hospital by his cardiologist, even if I could get up there somehow. Which really is a good idea. One germ in his heart and he's a goner.

Everyone's very busy with holiday things and here you are, checking in anyway. You guys are great.

Desert Cat said...

Checking in and checking on. I'm just happy to see that it looks like everything is in good hands.

k said...

Livey, I read your comment again and girl, you got it. Now why didn't I figure that out?