29 days Out

[OldGeezerWNC]

Good Morning All. Just a quick check in. I go to Surgeon tomorrow for the 30 day eval. It's been a crazy 29 days. I've only been out of the hospital 17 days now. I still have the wound pump hooked up to my right leg from where they harvested the vein they used in the single bypass they did at the same time the did my A-Valve replacement.
I had my son take a picture this morning and for those of you who remember we placed it side by side with my Superman cape shot.
There's only 29 days between the two pictures but as you can see I've lost a little over 40 pounds during that time. In the pix on the left you can see my walker with the fuzzy dice and the wound pump. I'm still kinda weak so the walker helps. We still have snow on the ground so I do my laps around the kitchen bar. Doc says he's keeping me on the 40/80 temp program. I can only go outside when the temp is above 40 and even then I have to wear a scarf over my mouth to pre-warm the air going in. And this summer he doesn't want me outside when the temp is above 80. All in all I feel so much better with the new valve. I'll take this any day over what the other end was going to be. Newbies, take the words of this old geezer, it gets better. Man so much better. Thanks friends. Rick

 

[Johan]

Looking good Rick! Pity about the legwound taking so long to heal. Minus the 40 lbs (WOW!!) and you can fit into that tightfitting suit superman wears, to go with the cape! .

I lost 5 kg's (10 odd lbs) but picked it all back up again. Telling myself it's all muscle from the cardio rehad weight lifting!

Wishing you a perfectly normal checkup with the surgeon tomorrow...

 

[Bina]

At one month post op I was still under the truck....You are looking great.

 

[nngbwh]

You're looking good for 1 month. I was completely wipe out. Just hang in there and take it easy..

 

[Lynlw]

You look (and sound) great! so Did it turn out the leg would problem wasn't related to the cath, but the harvest, or are both spots bad? I hope the next 29 days improvemnt is even more dramatic.

 

[Mentu]

Rick, I appreciate the update and I'm glad to see you are making progress and that you look so good. The past few weeks, our weather has been quite cold so I've been considering renting a treadmill until spring. I was really fortunate to have had wonderful autumn weather in which to walk after my AVR but that doesn't help now. When you are rid of the drain assembly, I hope you can get to a rehab program.

Larry

 

[OldGeezerWNC]

Thanks, if you look at the photo on the right you can see the tube going up the leg into my shorts on my right leg. It did turn out to be a combo of the harvest and the cath site. Maybe two more weeks on the pump. The original tunnel was 9mm long and Anita, my home visitation nurse said it's down to 5mm. you can see that the right leg is still twice the size of my left. Looking forward to re-hab, really I am. Rick

 

[MaryG]

Rick, Glad to see you looking so good. Hope you can get that leg down to size and get off that pump soon. It sounds like your recovery is going along great.

 

[mainframe]

Congrats on doing so well 30 days out. I was still in CCU 30 days after my surgery. I had a balloon pump in my leg/groin area plus 2 drainage tubes that ended up needing to be packed 2 times a day so the wound would heal from the inside. It finally did and I'm sure yours will too.

 

[Mileena46]

Looking Good! Wish I had dropped 40 pounds!! Life isn't fair!

Mileena

 

[Freddie]

Good Job Rick - your doing something right, keep it up.

 

[Kathy McCain]

Rick,

Your'e doing just great! Looking good too! Keep up the fantastic work!

 

[neil]

looking good rick,

 

[OldGeezerWNC]

Okay Had 30 day check up, everything is normal heart wise, still on the wound pump, prob for 2-3 more weeks. Doc set up another check-up for Feb 5th. Maybe then I'll be released from the surgeon back to Cardiologist. Tired from the 120 round trip. Riding in wife's Grand Cherokee is no where as smooth as my Lincoln Mark VIII. But right now I can't fold up enough to get into the Lincoln. Here's a pix of me and my Mark. It was taken just 1 year ago, compare the hair to the pictures above. That's why it was time to change oil and do a valve job on me too.