Back Home Again and Catching Up

Note: this is actually written by Todd!

We returned to Elk Grove yesterday afternoon. It's good to be home. It's now Sunday morning and I actually feel pretty good. I've done one 6 minute walk earlier today and will do more walking later in the day. I have a lot of blogging to catch up on, and will do so over the next few days. The remainder of this post was actually written last Friday evening, the day I was released from the hospital:

Hmmm. Just tried to paste-in and post and it didn't work. So I'll just retype it:

First Thoughts After Leaving the Hospital

Thanks. It's Friday evening around 10 p.m. on November 13th in Atherton. I was released from Stanford Hospital and Clinics this afternoon around 2:00. My purpose tonight is simply to record some of the thoughts and feelings which I may soon forget. Before turning to that, I want to thank all my friends, family, and especially my wife Meg for all your love and support. I've been touched by kind thoughts and words from more friends and colleagues than I can ever thank, or even knew that I had. Most of all, I need to thank Meg for making everything so easy. She did all the worrying and logistics so I didn't have to.

Many readers may find the following a little boring or even a little gross. One of the things that helped me prepare for surgery was reading the detailed blog of another patient of Dr. DCM who also had a Tirone David valve sparing aortic root replacement. Her blog and recollections helped me, so my goal below is to provide more information for future patients. So here goes on memories that are now about a week old.

Early in the Morning of November 6th. I did not sleep much on Thursday night, not overly worried but never drifted off into restful sleep. Got up at 4:00. Had one more shower with special soap and drove to the hospital with Meg, arriving a little after 5:00. I signed in and was soon given ID bracelets for both wrists. They brought me back around 5:30. I undressed, put on a gown, got weighed, and then waited in a curtain area on mobile bed. The nurses asked some questions, most importantly, my reason for surgery that morning. Meg was brought back to wait with me. Next, my chest was shaved. Then I meet with both the resident and the attending anesthesiologist. The resident started an IV in right hand and they explained that more IVs would be added later. We talked about my concerns about waking up while still intubated. They said the tube would be removed in the ICU soon after waking up, if not before. I don't remember when this conversation ended. My last recollections before surgery were being in this curtain room around 6:30 a.m. I do not remember being wheeled into surgery. (Meg later told me that I left this room around 7:00 and that some of the drugs applied to me at that time are associated with memory loss.)

Surgery Day. I have no memories of the day. Meg got lots of updates on my progress and she has already posted some of this information.


Waking Up Friday Evening. I remember waking up in the ICU and seeing Meg and then my father. (Meg tells me this was around 8:00 and that earlier that evening, she and my father had observed me while still sleeping around 5:00.) I did have a tube in my throat and was aware of pain in my chest and throat. Soon after waking up they said the tube should be coming out. They asked me to blow out and perhaps I did. In any event the tube was out within a few minutes of my waking up. I then remember hearing and seeing Meg and then my dad. I think I gave them a thumbs up. Meg spoke to me and held my hand. I do recall learning that my surgery had been very successful in terms of repairing the aneurysm and saving my valve with a tight seal. I don't remember speaking to Meg that night but perhaps I did. I mostly remember listening with minimal talking on my part.

Overnight and Morning in ICU. Mostly, I remember being on the edge of sleep with a very sore throat and feeling like there was a brick sitting on my chest. I was attended overnight by one nurse. I remember asking for water or ice for my throat. I was given ice but told to take it easy on water consumption because my stomach was still waking up and an not ready for water. Eventually I did throw up, but it was relatively easy and the ice for my throat was worth it in my view. At some point I became aware of daylight through the window on my right. Besides chest pain, most of my discomfort had to due with bloating in my abdomen which tended to blend in with the feeling of a brick on my chest. Without getting too graphic, the best way to relieve this pressure was through burping and farting.

I believe that Meg visited me that morning and afternoon about every 2 hours for a half hour. I remember conversing with her and confirming that my surgery had gone very well. (Meg tells me that she actually was with me from about 10:00 a.m. until I was released from ICU. I'm sure Meg is right, it just differs from my drug impaired recollection.) I also saw my father and stepmother in the ICU.

Dr. DCM came by around noon. He said everything went very well and that I would be transferred to a regular room later that day. Good News. We talked about my pain, and he said the gas and pressure would eventually work through and reduce. He also suggested a procedure for easing pressure by putting a tube down my nose into my stomach. Although this was not fun, it sounds worse than it is. Unfortunately, most of the pressure was actually below my stomach so the procedure did not help very much. Still I was very happy to be heading to a regular room.

Transfer to a Regular Room (You will not believe this anecdote

I can't remember exactly when the transfer happened but it was sometime around 2:30. The following sounds crazy but it happened. My transport bed and my two attendants got stuck in the D elevators. The elevator doors barely closed and then would not open, meanwhile the elevator did not move. We rang for security. Security called back and dispatched some help. I felt smart at this point for asking for oxygen during transport. I didn't really need it, but it lowered my anxiety level. My 4 minute transfer ended up taking closer to 12 minutes. I'll close my writing this evening (the actual post will be another day) by saying I got the aisle bed (not the window) in Room D338. Future posts will cover my in-room recovery.