Surgery +20

I walked to the post office and back today!  It's about two miles, some up hill but nothing really strenuous.  It felt good to be out in the cool fall air. It felt good not to have any shortness of breath, tightness in the chest or muscle fatigue.  I am much more capable 20 days after surgery than I was before surgery.  I am so pleased with the outcome thus far.

The doctor has limited my workouts while in the recovery mode.  I can't lift anything over 10 pounds; I am to keep my pulse rate under 115 bpm.  He doesn't want me driving.  I have had a home health nurse checking on me for the past two weeks.  Every day at first to just one final day this week.  I have also had a physical therapist come a few times with his last visit scheduled for day after tomorrow.  Then I "get" to go to the Cardiac Rehab Center where they will increase my workouts in a controlled setting while monitoring everything.  That should be interesting.

Notes on my surgery and hospital stay while I can still remember some of the details.  I checked into the hospital on Tuesday, October 3rd around noon.  They ran a bunch of tests and hooked up a bunch of tubes, otherwise it was fairly quiet.  John Spevak brought John Black to see his doctor in the same complex so they stopped by for a visit in the afternoon.  Jillyn and Kenny, Joel & family, Darin and Clay came around 7:00 pm and my sons and son-in-law gave me a blessing.  It was a really great experience to have them all there, worthy and willing to participate.  Darin anointed me with consecrated oil and then Clay sealed the anointing and gave the accompanying blessing.  It was very special.  Elma Lynne also asked for a blessing and Kenny and Joel were voice for her.

Wednesday morning they got going around seven.  I don't remember much of what happened for the next six or so hours.  I have some vague recollections of coming out of the anesthesia but they are sketchy.  They told me that when they pulled the breathing tube out my heart stopped.  I guess that got them excited.  Fortunately they had some wires inserted and attached to an external pacemaker so they just turned it on and my heart responded.

I don't remember much pain, though coughing was (and is) excruciating!  They gave me Noxall (Loritab) when I asked for it which was mostly when I wanted to sleep.  Food wasn't very appealing particularly when I got constipated, which was most of the time.  Medication for that eventually created the opposite effect and I still didn't feel much like eating.

The staff had me up walking the day after surgery and within a couple of days I was doing laps around the halls.  They had me take stairs on Sunday.

We watched Utah State thrash BYU in football Saturday night, then watched as much of General Conference as possible.  I think I slept through more than I watched.

Elma Lynne stayed in the hospital room with me for a few nights, then went to Jillyn's for a few.  Jillyn visited often.  Clay stayed through Thursday, Darin came after work when he could.  Joel brought his family a couple of times.  Joyce and Dorian came Saturday, Steve and Angela came on Sunday.

They released me on Monday and we made the trip home, arriving around 6:00 pm.  It is good to have that experience behind me.  Now to get on with the healing.