Hi Everybody:
It's 4:30pm on Thursday, July 13, 2006.
A week ago, I was in Cardiac Intensive Care still unconscious and intubated from my open heart surgery (CABG: Coronary Artery Bypass Graft – times two).
Right now I am sitting in the loft of our friend's home, typing this message to you all. Even though it's happening to me, I'm pretty amazed how far I've come in a scant 168 hours.
Here's a brief update:
- I'm really glad I'm out of the hospital. Even though they'll ply you with whatever drugs you'd like (morphine, T3's, Ativan), it was beginning to drive me nuts. There were no private/semi-private rooms available, so I was in a room with 3 other heart patients (I especially liked the guy with fluid in his lungs that woke up in a panic attack every 7 minutes). The food sucks.
- The nurses are always asking about pain. Always on a scale of 1-10, 1 being a mild headache and 10 being just before you pass out or die.
- I'm very sore. When I cough, it feels as though I'm being hit with a sledgehammer in the chest (7). Laughing is also pretty painful (6). You never realize how much you laugh during the day until it stops being funny. I really don't want to sneeze (apparently, about 11).
- I can get the pain down to about a 2 with a couple of Tylenol, lying down, not moving, and very tired.
- I'm not sleeping. The hospital, the anesthesia, the food, the schedule and the inactivity have all added up. My body has no idea what's going on, and so I've only slept about 10 hours total in the last 3 days. My GP doesn't want me to take anything for it, but simply increase my activity and avoid any naps during the day; this should pass in a couple of weeks.
- Food tastes horrible. I don't know why they didn't put this little gem in the "Going Home After Your Surgery" book. Everything tastes like kerosene-soaked-cardboard. Yum. Apparently this is a very common affect of being on anesthetic for a long period of time.
- I look like Frankenstein. Pretty hard to look in the mirror with the fresh incisions. Now I know why they invented clothes.
- I'm restless. Not tired, just restless. I find I can't concentrate on a single task very long. Reading is very hard, listing to audiobooks is difficult, and even watching TV is frustrating.
Mostly though, I'm thankful. Thankful for all of you who were thinking of me (and Laura, and Kath, and Dave). Your phone calls and emails to Laura were a reminder to both of us just how wonderful our life really is …. I think Laura said she had over 100 people on the distribution list – many of those were requests to be added. She also got to "meet" pieces of my world she'd never met (mostly Agilent or HP folks).
Our friends have really stood out. You expect families to come together, as ours did, but our "family" appears to be much larger than we may have thought. The Diack's, in particular, have shown us incredible support – we're living at Mike & Brenda's, John and Mo are looking after the dog, and I'm embezzling money from Janice, Ed and Stu.
I have to say I was a little embarrassed at the number of people who visited me at both hospitals (June in Eagleridge, July at Royal Columbian). I often had nurses "reminding" me that they limit visitors for a reason – and 6 or 7 at a time was a little much. Regardless, I appreciated it.
So … I'm going try to be online for a bit every day from here on in. I'd like to keep the conversation going with any or all of you. You'll have to be patient if I'm having a bad/slow day … it may take me a while to reply.
Again, from the bottom of my Revision 2.0 heart, I love you all (platonic love, not romantic love – pervert).
Love,
Doug
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