I thought I was awesome. Then I wasn’t. Then I thought I was again. Then I wasn’t. I guess what matters most is that the hospital team was awesome. They opened me up, rearranged the plumbing in my heart, and closed me back up. In between the stress test and the follow-up visit with the cardiologist, while I still though I was cool, we took the following day off and drove up into the high country, took a couple walks around mountain lakes, and I got attacked by an elk. I didn’t actually get trampled, but not for lack of motivation on the elk’s part. The surgical team took one day to put in all the wires, drains, tubes, and lines they wanted. The rest of the week was a gradual process of getting them all pulled back out of me. Some of that was pretty creepy. The last came out today and here we are, sitting in a hotel room, totally free of the hospital, moving along at a careful pace for now, and looking forward to an uninterrupted night’s sleep. We’ve been looking at the long straight incision in my chest, thinking maybe I need a superhero name, but it would have to begin with an “I”. The more I think about it though, I think maybe we should read the first letter as a lower case “l” and go with “Captain lucky”!
Tuesday
This is from Judy and Matt standing in for Steve. Sorry we missed Monday nights update as things were a little hectic as you can imagine. Today was a great day!! Day 1 of recovery – He started the day still in the CICU with seven IV’s bottles hooked up to him all at once. All kinds of tubes and hoses coming out of him from all directions. By the end of the day he is now on a different floor (which is not an intensive care unit), no IV’s but still a few tubes and hoses coming out of him. He has met or exceeded all the expectations set for him by his doctors and nurses. Today he met with the PT, OT and respiratory therapists. He sat up in his chair, drank water and got off of his narcotic pain medications (they were making him nauseous). Took two walks, ate a solid dinner and laughed and joked much of the day. He is still in a great deal of pain and discomfort as the recovery is going to be long and slow but all in all he is in great spirits. We all couldn’t be more happy with where he is at today considering where he started yesterday. The recovery journey has just begun and over the next few days he will continue to recover and build strength here at the UC Medical Center of the Rockies. We are anticipating that he will be released Friday or Saturday. We all appreciate the overwhelming amount of well-wishes, positive thoughts and prayers that everyone has sent. It has really meant a lot to Steve as we have relayed all the messages to him and it has really touched him to know how much all of you truly care about him. We will continue to keep you all posted.
Parallels
For motorhome maintenance, we keep a list. There are a lot of complicated systems and there are always things that needs taking care of; some things more important than others. The most important stuff goes to the top of the list and gets attention the soonest. It occurs to me that it’s a lot like that with our bodies now too. These are complicated systems. It’s not like we ever get every issue crossed off the list at once. There is always the next thing to take care of. We’ll take care of the most important one tomorrow. Shutting down the motorhome for storage, we turn off master switches for the batteries and the rig goes completely quiet. When it’s time to restore the motorhome to service, we switch the batteries back on, and find we have to reset all the clocks; they’ve all defaulted to zero. When I go in for surgery tomorrow, they’re going to shut me down completely. I’ll go on a heart lung machine and they’ll stop my heart for hours to work on it. So I wonder: When they turn me back on, will they have to reset any clocks? Becky is here. Son Matt is here from Phoenix. Judy is always here, wherever here happens to be on any particular day. Many more are with us in spirit. We go into tomorrow surrounded by friends, family, love, and support. Judy even plans to whisper sweet nothings in my ear just before they take me away, to make sure I have something pleasant to dream about while I’m out. I’ll report back. (Not about the sweet nothings and sweet dreams, but about everything else.)
It seems a strange thing
That I need so much surgery, then they tell us to go home and have a nice weekend, but take it easy, watch for warning signs, and don’t hesitate to dial 911. That’s relaxing! Oh well. They left me awake for the cath procedure. I felt the wire or whatever it is they put in through my wrist go right up through my arm. I talked to the doctor while he was poking around in my heart. He described the arteries as a “mess”, and told me right then there wasn’t enough he could do with stents to restore adequate flow. Later, he told me the reason I am still doing as well as I am is that my heart has grown collateral arteries to make up for the natural ones that aren’t working as well as they should. That got me to thinking that if I can do that well on the treadmill without proper function in my heart; and the surgeon is going to put in five new arteries to bypass all the old ones that aren’t working adequately anymore; the combination of the collateral arteries I’ve already grown, plus the five new ones he’s going to stitch on to me, I should practically end up with super powers! I’ll report back on how that works out. Today we got the bus zipped up and moved to a storage lot. We had to do it today because they’re not open on Sundays and I’ll be busy on Monday. It’ll be six weeks after the surgery before the doctor will release me to drive again, so we need a residential solution in the meantime that doesn’t involve moving the RV. We’ve worked through some options, but haven’t settled on anything yet. No need for an immediate solution; we’ll both stay in the hospital until I get released. Judy might cover trip reports for me for a couple days, so we won’t be totally out of touch. Feel free to email or call her. Judy@TaylorRoth.com. 303-666-6018.
Re: I want a chocolate malt
We will be thinking about both of you. Sounds like they discovered it and a plan is in place to get you back up and doing your regular things. Glad you are near Becky! Will await update.
And a pizza. OMG, I think they might have made me pregnant! We did the cath lab thing. They went in though the wrist and not the groin, which is good. Once they got inside though, they saw more than they wanted to see. I’m not a good candidate for stents. I’ve got blockages in major arteries that have already been stented, and blockages farther downstream that they can’t reach to stent. (They’re saying this to the guy who just ripped up the treadmill test!) I was in and out of the cath lab in 45 minutes. They sent us home. Plan B. We go back again on Monday to a slightly different department, and they crack me open for quintuple bypass surgery. They’re going to totally bypass all three major arteries plus two smaller ones with veins from my legs. It will be an all-day operation. Recovery will take longer than we previously expected. We’re not leaving here next Thursday as planned. I won’t be able to drive the bus again for six weeks while my sternum heals. There aren’t any decent motorhome parks around and there is a two-week limit at state parks. Even if we could find a spot for the motorhome at a state park, I won’t be in shape two weeks after surgery to move the bus again. No worries. We’re making plans to put the bus in storage and move into an extended stay hotel. We have Becky and family here to help us through. Life is still a delight.