I am home from the hospital! I had a heart attack on 31 October, so I spent my Halloween early evening in the ER in Davis before getting moved to Sacramento for observation and treatment. By the sixth they had confirmed evidence of a significant heart attack and determined that I had an almost complete blockage of one of the arteries that feeds the heart muscle. One scan later and they'd confirmed that a stent was not possible, but that they must graft on a new piece of vascular tissue to feed the heart itself. For this to happen, the surgeon must open the chest, stop my heart and graft on a piece of artery harvested from elsewhere (in my case the mammary artery ). Scheduled for the surgery, I was prepped by shaving pretty much all my chest, belly and leg hair. Thus denuded, cold and starved I was led to the tender mercies of the anaesthetist, who gave me a couple of pills to relax me, finally filling me with an awesome concoction that put me to sleep. This was very effective, to the point that the only reason I knew I'd had surgery was looking don and seeing a very deep and long scar over my sternum.
Let me tell you folks, this is a terrible thing to have happen to the human frame. Sternum spilt in two, chest pulled apart and things sewn onto one's heart. One of my nurses later described it as an insult to my body. All the strength I'd previously had, all the control over running my body, lifting my arms and even just moving in bed, were suddenly operations I needed to plan out. I had to learn to sleep propped up, and develop cunning ways of sitting up or getting out of bed. Walking unaided was now out of the qustion; for four days it was all I could do to old-man-shuffle down the hall with a walker. By yesterday however, I was gaining independence and could safely make trips to the bathroom by myself. i managed a strip-wash with a little assistance, could move from bed to chair to eat my meals and was strong enough to walk several hundred feet to gaze out of a window or even get to a little outdoor garden in the hospital.
But it's brutal. Even though I was discharged from hospital yesterday, walking is still painful, and lifting and carrying things will be difficult for weeks yet. But i am tough and stubborn and was relatively fit heading into his process. I'm going to be okay as long as I can get rest and not exert myself. A few weeks of enforced home rest and I should be well on the way to mendedness.
The doctors and nurses have been great at holding me together and keeping me alive and healing. The regime of "take vital signs" at 0400, question me about bowel movements and nag me to eat (my appetite is drastically diminished!) is occasionally wearing, but well, they're doing their job of getting m whole, I can hardly complain.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank family and friends, notably Tessie (for who this must have been is own ordeal!) and the honourable Jet-Poop who kept in touch throughout my stay. Several of my friends were close enough to be able to visit, talk with me, bring gifts and lift my spirits. A special callout to my housemate (Bill) who's not only visited but is a great support both physically and emotionally. It's clear from the huge pile of packages at home that there are many books awaiting me, and that will be a blessing in the forthcoming days of enforced rest.
Update 16 November 2024: I can get around the house, up and down stairs and walk quite a distance with a walker; I need to take care to not overdo it and hurt myself through being overenthusiastic. I've also unpacked all my gifts and will be taking care to thank everyone personally later. Thankfully most of the gifts were accompanied by donor name, for which thank you. Hopefully I tracked everything accurately. I'm also wearing a Zoll Life Vest, which monitors my heart's rhythm and will restart it if anything unusual is detected.
Iron Noder 2024 #5
xclip -o | wc -w
689