(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
In Recovery [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-08-23
Well, I got through the heart surgery.
I woke up in recovery intubated, which I’ve never been before. I had been warned, but it’s still a kind of F---d up process. I was basically awake at 6pm, but there was nothing to do so I went back to sleep. My nurse interpreted this is my still being affected by the anesthesia. Since I couldn’t talk I could tell him I was awake, and this guy would be a total failure at charades. It wasn’t until mIdnight that he finally realized I was fully conscious.
There was a legitimate concern about how well I could breathe on my own after having my chest cracked open, they did a breathing test on me but I failed 2 out of 3. What I didh’t realize was that while I was taking the test they were using the intubation to restrict my breathing so I couldn’t inhale. Then they made we wait another hour before trying again. During that time I figured out that they were measuring how hard I could struggle against the resistance, so I aced the test on the retry. They finally extubated me at 1:30 am.
The fact that my insurance made me come to this hospital, instead of Harbor UCLA, where they could’t perform the stent procedure because there were complications already had me angry and frustrated. Being intubated for about 6-hours unnecessarily did not help my mood.
Generally, I’m not an angry person — so that will pass.
I’m alive. I’m going to be healthy. This is what matters.
They got me out of bed and sitting in a chair already as part of the rehab. I’m gonna have to walk some laps around the room at 11am. Then some more later. They have tubes draining the fluid from my chest and an external pacemaker. They also have me on Norco and occasionally Morphine. So I’m a little loopy.
I’ll check in with updates as they are relevant.
Thanks for all your support.
[8:20am]
They just gave me a breathing treatment and an electric back massage that almost made up for the extended intubation. Almost.
I haven’t been able to reach my wife Robin yet, but I know some of the nurses called her last night when the surgery was completed, so she knows I’m alright.
[9:15 am]
They had me walk a few laps around the word, my breathing and conditioning are good. I usually walk a couple mile a day at home.
And I reached Robin on Facebook, she may be brought here by my old friend Rocco (yes, the guy who works as a set painter who was lecturing me on Facebook last night. He’s fine to come as long as he doens’t — like — talk. About anything.]
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/23/2189052/-In-Recovery
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
