Staying the Course -- 07/09/2019

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Superbob

Steely Resolve!
Supporting Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2005
Messages
8,481
Location
Coastal Carolina
Is it Tuesday already? Funny how Mondays get away from me. Guess it's being the Monday after a big holiday in the USA provides me an excuse.

Anyway, welcome all! Love the varied topics our merry gang delves into. The posts about model choo-choos were very interesting, and the pix, too. Regret though that I have nothing to add on that subject.

Humid to the max -- and storms at any time from the tropical mix we're getting -- at least to some degree from that tropical system stirring up in the gulf. This one doesn't figure to produce floods around here, but could bring some down in Louisiana and Texas and maybe elsewhere along the Gulf.

Here in The Waiting Room, thought I would surf around on my patient's chart to read about scheduled procedures. I seem to want to use this contraption to scare the beejabbers out of myself whenever I can. Just for "fun," thought I could copy and paste here -- though not anywhere my family can read -- but found it would not allow me to copy and save it. Probably for good reasons. So I won't quote it verbatim here. It will be s 3-part procedure (with many little moving parts within those three).

First, replacement of my piggy aortic valve from nearly 15 years ago, while on heart-lung of course, with something other than a homograft or stentless graf. (I have a stentless now, but think I can understand why that's not the way to go with all the nipping and tucking and rewrapping necessary this time). Second, fixing the ascending aortic graft, with suspension of the valve (or not). Third, a bunch of words I cannot come close to deciphering, and maybe I shouldn't even quote them here, given the block on copying and saving. Has something to do with very sensitive work with arch vessels. You know me; I'll be googling like crazy.

Okay that's it for me. Hey, got an ego boost. Ran into one of my exercise classmates at CVS and she raved about how good I looked. She may have thought I'd had the surgery,and was looking good in that context. I told her my surgery will be in September and I hope to return to class after rehab, Anyway I will take the encounter as a sign that I don't look too flabby in the Waiting Room. (Still keeping up the walking and exercise-biking. As much walking as we can do in the stifling humidity anyway)....

Okay, I have rambled. Looking forward to hearing what you hearty Coursers have going on! ....

Cheers,

Superbob
🦸‍♂️
 
Hi SB - very humid and warm here in England. Every day it seems it’s going to be ‘flying ant’ day but it doesn’t happen. We have simply loads of ants nesting right up close to our house and I have to keep closing the windows just in case they do their flight.

I did like this what you wrote: "I seem to want to use this contraption to scare the beejabbers out of myself whenever I can.”

I know exactly how you feel ! I shall remember that expression "scare the beejabbers out of myself” next time I do it !

Luckily your surgeon will know exactly how to do all the nipping and tucking and rewrapping and all the very sensitive work perfectly ! On a UK TV programme in which they showed a full length aortic valve surgery operation live, a cardiac surgeon who is a colleague of the one doing the actual surgery, explained that they practice techniques on models over and over and over again so that they learn to do the work perfectly and quickly and...calmly.
 
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Sorry about the ants! My daughter is in Cambridge for the summer and that’s one difference that blew her mind: “Mom, the windows don’t have screens!” Unthinkable in MN. The mosquitoes would carry us off at night.
 
My daughter is in Cambridge for the summer and that’s one difference that blew her mind: “Mom, the windows don’t have screens!” Unthinkable in MN.

You hardly seen any houses with flyscreens in England, but we have made screens from flyscreen material, which I was able to buy mail order, which we attach to our windows with velcro. We also have a flyscreen kind of curtain on the conservatory doors. We get loads of mozzies here as we live very close to two reservoirs - I have to use Deet to just pop out into the garden as they always go for me ! But I didn’t fancy the flying ants crawling all over the flyscreens so shut everything up !
 
I can answer that question, Superbob, while I sit here in Bob’s hospital room! But first I want to chime in regarding ants. Our central air conditioning unit suddenly quit working three weeks ago. The repairman came out and discovered that a massive number of ants had gotten in the unit and blown a relay which caused it to short circuit! He said he had seen it happen before, and thought that all the wet weather we’ve had contributed to their seeking shelter in our unit. Crazy! So Bob’s ablation produced mixed results. They froze and burned for almost seven hours, and they still were unable to get him back into stable sinus rhythm. He had both afib and a flutter and much more extensive scarring than they anticipated. It looks like he may have to have “his appendage clipped” to quote the doctor, farther on down the road. In the meantime, the massive amounts of IV’s needed during surgery have caused fluid overload while trauma to the heart has resulted in pericarditis. The good news is that the cardiologist and electrophysiologist now have a better grasp of what needs to be done going forward.
 
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Meanwhile, I found this from Emory -- some reasonably clear explanations.....
......And yeah I am now in the process of picking up words my surgeon mentioned and googling them and scaring the BEEjabbers out of myself. Thinking (as I did 15 years ago) how is all this even possible? o_O
Crickey SB - bet you wish you hadn't found that site now. What about that Frozen Elephant Trunk !
 
Had cataract surgery on my left eye on Tuesday. Good result and so far no complications. Next eye being done this coming Tuesday. Been told to only participate in light duties so no vigorous exercise and resistance training being done this week and next.

With each eye having vastly different strengths finding it hard to read at the moment. Should be back to more normality when next eye is done then can get some reading glasses.
 
Sorry about the ants! My daughter is in Cambridge for the summer and that’s one difference that blew her mind: “Mom, the windows don’t have screens!” Unthinkable in MN. The mosquitoes would carry us off at night.
Dornole, the mosquitoes were horrendous in northern WI while we were there. I guess MN has them just as bad.
 
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