better and better

Stanley understands now why they gave him a teddy bear to clutch to his chest when he got out of the OR. Other than being in a lot of pain, both from getting his chest ripped open and from the holes punched all over his arms, his throat hurts from the breathing tube and the tube sticking out of the side of his neck bugs him. But he is doing really well! No arrhythmias today, and he got his first dose of rat poison (warfarin, and rat poison is his term for it because that’s what it’s also used for) to keep the blood from clotting. Plus some Zocor and a bunch of other stuff and something for the pain.

I was really worried about neurological damage, but none! His wicked wit is definitely intact. Now that he’s getting more oxygen to his brain, maybe he’ll finally be able to beat me at Jeopardy! (I know, hubris ... ) He’s in room 734, which has a great view of Long Island Sound and is on the opposite site from the helipad so it doesn’t keep waking him up like it did when he was in the ICU.

When Dr. Robinson talked to me after the surgery, he told me that Stanley’s valve was much worse than he expected, that he was shocked at how bad it was and amazed that Stanley was still walking around with it that bad. I still don’t know if that’s something I really wanted to know—it took my breathe away when he told me that. I’m still working it through—and I can’t even figure out yet why it bothers me so much beyond knowing that it means I’m lucky not to have lost Stanley before we even knew there was a problem.

Thank you to everyone for your calls and emails and visits. It means so much to us to know how much people care—emphasizes to us how much we are NOT alone.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/20/05 at 06:36 AM
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