Ran a mile

I ran a mile on the treadmill tonight. I've got my work cut out, but man that felt good!

Cautiously Very Optimistic

It's wonderful knowing that people are thinking of me whenever I hear the words "so, how are you feeling"? But it's also a sign that I haven't blogged recently!

In short, I've been feeling great, and am just starting to explore what exercise feels like. Tonight I mowed half of our back yard (push mower, not self-propelled) for about 25 minutes total. A few weeks ago I mowed the same area and had to pause about once per minute, and stop to sit about every 10 minutes. I feel so much better than that now, the relief is wonderful. I even find myself running up the stairs at home and work, which is much more like me :-)

Oh, and yes I am healing from the catheters inserted into each of my upper thighs. The right one was about the diameter of a drinking straw, which is painful to think about but has resulted in only a bit of bruising. Fortunately the soreness in my legs largely doesn't affect me, just changing slightly how I might sit or lay down. I suspect that'll be gone in a week or two.

As we get into November I'll have a better sense of where I'm at. I'll start back on the treadmill, which has been the best way to measure myself, and see how I do. It would be awesome if I can pick up where I left off last winter! I'll also have a checkup in about 2 weeks, including an echocardiogram, so we'll see if the equipment agrees with how I'm feeling.

So, call it cautiously very optimistic!

Organizing photos as part of recovery

During last year's recovery I figured out how to best organize and share our photos. Great fun for me. So I figured it's only appropriate that today, while I'm off for Columbus Day and resting from Friday's procedure, I should sort through the last few months of photos and share them. Take a look at my Flickr account -- there's about a page and half worth of photos that are new!

The next 4 weeks

Funny, I just woke up and was laying here wondering what's on tap for
the day. And then I remembered, oh yeah, I just returned from the
hospital. Something tells me that's a good sign :-)

Got up, checked the kids, grabbed my MP3 player, and came back to bed.
No soreness in my legs to speak of, despite having a catheter in each
- one was the diameter of a drinking straw, I'm told! My shoulders are
a tiny bit sore, like when I go to long without exercise. But this is
from having them above my head for most of the procedure, necessary so
the imaging machines could keep an eye on things from the side since
the sternum otherwise blocks their view.

So, for the next week I'll be taking it easy, walking a lot,
especially on idyllic autumn days like today is shaping up to be. I
can drive, work, and eat regular foods, just nothing that will put too
much stress on my legs which they tell me heal from the inside out.

For the balance of the month I can exercise, just nothing too vigorous
and nothing that could impact my chest. So, frisbee, tennis, running,
and paved trail biking are in. I'll hold off on mountain & road
biking, go karting, and weight lifting until November.

Assuming my 3 week checkup goes well, I'll finally be able to really
get back in shape. I must say I'm psyched for that!

Goodness

People are often surprised that I tend to sleep _better_ when I'm away
from home. It's not that I don't like my own bed, it's just the sense
of being surrounded by unfinished chores. When we're away, especially
on vacation, there's no gutters to fix, screens to replace, computers
to manage, etc. I still get a good 7 hours, mind you, but after that
I'm up and at it.

But I must say I surprised myself when I slept great in my hospital
room last night! I was up at 2 and 5 for the nurse, but otherwise was
blissfully asleep from 11pm until 8:30 this morning. Awesome!

To add to the goodness, I just got my discharge approval, my IV
removed, and the EKG monitor off. I'm a free man! Time to get cleaned
up and wait for my ride.

Sleep for all

Poor guy sharing a room with me is in some real pain (stomach I
think). He's been groaning since he arrived about an hour ago. I tried
getting his mind off it by talking to him about his work or whatever,
but no dice.

Ann Marie went home just before 9, and I just know she's gonna zonk
out tonight. A stressful day, by its nature not by any occurrence, and
up early took its toll. Allison too got little sleep ... she was so
concerned about me, as I would be about her!

As for me, I feel pretty darned good. No pain meds needed. Sure, the
IV in my hand is a bit uncomfortable, and the "inflatable bandages" on
my legs are squeezing my skin a bit, but mostly I'm just tired. My
awesome nurse, Barb, got me some ear plugs, though, some I'm going to
sleep great!

Resting now, walking soon

Hello all ... Chris here. Just finished a nice visit with my Mom and
stepdad. I hope I'm able to drive 5 hours roundtrip when I'm 80! I
guess no matter how old you are you always want check up on your kids!

The procedure went well, though Dr Ringel quickly determined that the
balloon alone would not do the trick. This means we went to "step 2",
a stainless steel stent 17.5 mm in diameter and about 35 mm long. That
is slightly smaller in diameter than normal, but offer plenty of
bloodflow to the lungs. This also means I effectively have no
pulmonary valve, which still blows my mind! Again, being able to do
this depends on healthy lungs, so good thing the only I ever smoked
were my tires!

I'm resting fine, just looking forward to walking. They have me laying
down so I don't injure my legs where the 2 catheters were inserted. No
pain to speak of, which I'm liking!

Ann Marie is back. Must visit with her now! More later.

Chris is awake but resting

Chris is awake but resting in recovery, going 2 his room soon.

Just got an update -

Just got an update - they put in a stent and all went well. i expect 2 talk 2 the dr. and c chris soon.

Chris went into the cath

Chris went into the cath lab at 8ish. The nurse just called - they r getting ready 2 dilate. She'll update again in a while.

Heading In

I have my bag packed, my MP3 player, and books to read for both Ann Marie and I. There hasn't been much preparation needed, just two units of blood set aside over the past week. Otherwise we've been as busy as ever. With Ray's family's help we nearly finished weeding and mulching on Sunday. Eddie had a great cross country event Wednesday, passing four runners on the final stretch, with only one shoe! The girls started gymnastics this week. Elsie came to town to help out. And I even washed and waxed my Honda last night -- entirely unnecessary, but for me, relaxing.

We're heading to Hopkins in about 15 minutes. I should be up and walking this afternoon, though perhaps a bit groggy, as if I had one of those long days. I should come home sometime tomorrow.

Thanks to all for the good wishes these past few days - sorry I couldn't get back to each of you!