Monday; Melissa 6.1; now with a new pacemaker w/de-fib mode and Kung Fu grip.
Created: 2023-03-13
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2023-03-13 (Monday) - Melissa 6.1; now with de-fib mode
- Hospital called, they want to move the de-fib install to today
- I was OK with that, we drove in... and waited, and waited. As usual, they wouldn't let her drink anything ("for her safety").
- Since they forgot to got me to sign some things, they asked me to come back there. And Melissa and I chatted for a couple hours while waiting for them to bring her to the slice-and-dice room. (Cute tinfoil had they put on them).
- She said Melissa 2.0... I explained that was her first bypass, the second was 3.0... the titanium leg replacement was 4.0. I'm counting 5 conversions (heart restarts), 2 ablations, and a Watchman device as 5.0. And her first pacemaker was 6.0. This is just a modest 6.1 upgrade that comes with a new Pacemaker with De-Fibrillator.
- She was a little surprised at my versioning, and how many things we've gone through together. (Her the filet, me the supporting cast). And I wasn't even counting the stroke, or the dozen or so angiograms. But I pointed out it was 30 years since we got married and she got her last bypass, which was the last MAJOR-major issue, the others before this, were just tune-ups. So if we get another 30 years, that's not too bad.
- She tolerated the procedure well, has the new integrated de-fib functionality. She bled a little (she's on enough blood thinners to be a vampire delicacy). They put the new pacemaker in the same place as the old one (under the pectoral muscle), and it's a little thicker -- and she's getting a pressure bandage to control the bleeding (she hates those). So she's gonna be sore. If no problems overnight, she gets to be released tomorrow to Rehab.
- 2+ Hour Talk We still like to talk. And we had 2-3 hours waiting before she was going in. We talked about all sorts of things.
- Friends that have been there (many). Community. What she's been going through.
- Now that they're going to put her back on heart meds, whether that takes away her alcohol. (She's not a lush, but enjoys the margarita's with the girls or when we go out).
- Whether we think she can get her life back and how quickly (being realistic) -- which was more about just next milestones. She knows she's going to have to work hard to get stronger and get it back -- but that part doesn't seem to bother her at all. Just the how far can she get.
- I don't sugar coat it; we don't know and doctors don't know. But there are LOTS of reasons for hope, like her baseline is so high, her willpower, and her progress are all great indicators. She's been rocking it, and is not 80 years old and in poor health, and many with that prognosis and bigger strokes come back quite well. So will she run again? (Most probably). But if she can't? She should at least be able to do walking 1/2 marathons. Her/our biggest concern is how much of her sight comes back -- but I point out the last couple weeks was much more dire than that. So she's already come a long ways.
- We always go through what happened, why, who. This time she wanted to know more about the coma and time she was out. I shared a lot of highlights and lowlights of Kingwood, and first getting to Houston Meth. (And how far she's come). She's sorry for what we went through. And she has guilt about her failing body, but I tried to give her all the confidence in that. Nobody holds that agaist her. We're just glad she's still with us. And her willpower and personality are what's important.
- That seemed to help her a bit. But of course she's still scared and tired as well.
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Tags: 2023 Heart Attack Latest
