Back in the saddle again

Hey all! I know that you have all been itching to hear from Frankenstein herself, and I wouldn't want to disappoint. I have reached that point where I'm feeling well enough to do some things, but I'm quickly reminded that I can't, either with a twinge of pain, or a nasty look from my husband or other loved one here to help out. I've also reached the point where I have no excuse for why the thank you notes are still on my dresser apparently becoming a permanent fixture there. But, thankfully, I have yet to reach the point where I feel bad that I'm still wearing my PJ's all day, every day. To prove that I am getting better, I have compiled a list of general musings, observations, and grievances of the experience so far.


Three weeks post-op there are a handful of things that I know for sure...

First: Pajamas are a WONDERFUL thing, but what's better are pajamas that look like real clothes. Kind of like my own personal joke on society...it may look like I actually TRIED to look nice for you, but I actually just woke up from a nap. HA HA!

Second: Going to Walmart in pajamas, holding a stuffed dog, and sitting in a wheelchair will get you some weird looks if it is not completely obvious what your ailment is. I'm sure there are several people in Rockwall county that assumed I had more of a mental disability...

Third: Inevitably, the basket in the convenient "sit and shop" wheelchair will not actually be big enough to accomodate all the items on your shopping list, leaving the "pusher" with the responsibility of carrying the extra items.

And Finally: No surprise that the horribly overpriced, non-formulary, more than a dollar a pill vitamins you were prescribed will turn out to be the culprit for your nausea...making them the most expensive decoration in your kitchen.

Thanks so much to everyone that has kept me in their thoughts and prayers, and especially to those that were able to help out in one way or another. Ya'll are my heroes!

Sam is Home

Sam got home from the hospital today. Everything is going well, she's just really sore (understandably). They sent us home with a list of stuff she should and should not be doing, a list of medicine to take and a couple prescriptions. Considering they were just finishing up the surgery this time last week, it's amazing she's home already. It's nice to have her home again.

If you are local and want to help out at all, meals would be helpful (and cool). Seriously, could you see a fat guy like me turning down food?

Day three

Sam was doing pretty well today. She was resting a lot (thanks to morphine and zofran), but when she was awake she was a bit more like herself. There aren't any real problems now. She's still in the ICU, just to make sure everything gets healed up sufficiently. I think they plan on getting her up to walk tomorrow. I've seen some other people in the ICU do it, and it looks really difficult for them. I can't even imagine the pain she is going through. She is quite the trooper, and is doing her best to get better. I don't know how she does it. After seeing her I would never want to go through open heart surgery, but here she's done it twice now. She is amazing.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. Also thanks to those who have helped us out so far. It is appreciated.

Update

Sam is in the ICU now and is doing fairly well. She was in surgery for 6 hours Monday. Everything went pretty much as planned. Except for some post-op bleeding that she was having. The surgeon had to go back in Tuesday morning at 3:00 to patch something up and drain the fluid that was collecting around her heart. So yeah, she pretty much had two surgeries in 24 hours.

Right now she is recovering fairly well. She's in a lot of pain (understandably) and really doesn't like the respitory therapist. I'm hoping she'll be out of the ICU tomorrow, but that all depends on how well she is progressing. We'll see how that goes.

Thanks for all the prayers sent our way. It'll take her a while to recover completely, but I know she can do it. She's a tough chick.

Prayers

Please include us in your prayers. Sam is going in for open heart surgery tomorrow (March 9th) at 5:30 AM. She's getting something done that they'll need to do every 15 years or so because of her heart condition. We're hoping that everything will go smoothly and the recovery will go well. So, if you're the praying type, we would appreciate being included for the next week or so.

I'll update her progress as much as I can through the week.

Thank you.