Fifth Week of Recovery

Last week I said I had some goals for this week. They were "catch up on my thank you notes, call Stanford to discuss my return to work plan, work up to three walks per day, and to continue to recover as best I can. I'm also trying very hard to avoid the H1N1 flu bug and hopefully I can get a shot from my clinic as soon as they have the virus injections on hand."

I made some progress on my thank you notes. Still have a long list to work through, which I will continue this week.

I did call Stanford and the Hartford to discuss my return to work plan and to try to confirm Hartford's understanding of my leave time and disability salary continuation. I understand that Stanford submits everyone who has the sort of surgery I had for twelve weeks of time to recover, but the Hartford somehow had me shown for only six. Looks like we have some work to do and Stanford is working with the Hartford to get me an extension. I will not be ready to return to work one week from tomorrow (Monday, Nov 2). I have been recovering well and there are no major obstacles in the way other than building my endurance back up, which is coming along well. I will be getting this resolved this coming week and make sure all the "paperwork" is in order so I can continue to get better.

I did work up to three 20-minute walks this week and then I shifted to one 30-minute walk for a couple of days when the weather cooperated and then today I made it to two 30-minute walks. As long as the weather cooperates, I expect to stay at this level for a while.

I am continuing to recover pretty well. No real setback days this week. Sleeping is getting a bit better, but is still not as sound as I'd like. Hopefully increased activity this week will help that. My anti-coagulation check went well this week. At 8 mg Warfarin per day, I reached an INR level of 2.1 (my goal is 1.5 - 2.5). One more weekly checkup at 8 mg and if we are in the right range we will stay there and they will bump me out to a check every two weeks instead of every week. I'm starting to spend more time reading again and other diversions that aren't on the television. Daytime TV is just bad, and watching news channels all day is really depressing me :-) My appetite continues to improve and my digestive system seems to be returning to normal. I still have a ways to go, but I'm snacking more during the day, so it looks like things are definitely getting better.

So far I've managed to avoid the H1N1 virus and I am trying very hard to continue avoiding it. No virus shot for me, so I'll just stay away from people as much as I can.

My youngest daughter and her son, my oldest grandson, came to visit us yesterday. Jacob simply wore me out, though we all had a lot of fun playing pirates and swords and reading books and decorating a halloween gingerbread house and just generally doing "papa", Grandma, and Jacob stuff. Even though it wore me out, I wouldn't have had the day go any other way -- what great therapy it was!

So for this week, I need to continue to work on thank you notes, my return to work plan with Stanford and the Hartford, my walking, my reading, and my continued recovery by raising my activity level and endurance. Surprisingly the days are passing by quickly and my daily to do lists are getting longer and more difficult.

Looking forward to another week of good progress,

Jon

Fourth Week of Recovery

Not much new to report this week, except more good progress and no significant setbacks.

I'm up to two 20 minute walks per day now, weather permitting (and sometimes this week NOT!). Saturday and Sunday allowed me to get two good walks in each day. My goal this week is to reach three 20 minute walks per day at least once or twice.

I continue to work with my local anti-coagulation clinic to titrate my warfarin levels. My INR (the ratio of my clotting time to an average person's) is supposed to be in the range of 1.5 - 2.5. Last week I dropped to 1.8 and this week it dropped further to 1.6 in spite of an uplift in dosage. The pharmacist says this is normal as activity levels go up and as I've stopped taking pain medicine. This week we up it to 8 mg per day and we will check it again on Wednesday. Based on the pharmacist's calculation, moving up to 8 mg per day should boost my INR by about 1 point, but my activity level continues to climb so I expect to be somewhere over 2.0 at my next check. Diet is also a potential contributor.

Speaking of diet, my appetite does seem to be coming back. I've also started taking Activia and other yogurts with bifidus regularus to see if I can re-prime my digestive system to start working better and to reduce constipation. So far I think it is working and that part of my recovery seems to be improving well. My food intake is up a bit, but my weight is still down a bit more. I'm now registering below 195 pounds some days.

I'm still not sleeping extremely soundly, but I am getting adequate sleep for my activity level it seems. I've got several books to get through, and some puzzle books, and some DVDs to watch, so I've got plenty to distract me. This week I should start putting a dent in the pile. I've also got a raft of thank yous to write and I've been very poor about getting this done.

Today, our good friends on the lake, Dave Karsky and his son Kevin, came by to pull our dock out of the lake. We managed to get enough pulling power with my SUV and once we got everything arranged and tow straps in place, we had it out of the water in about 10 minutes. It took 30-45 minutes of preparation, but it is very nice to have this fall chore out of the way. I think we can handle any kind of weather mother nature throws at us now!

We had several visits from friends and coworkers this week and another of our neighbors delivered lasagna dinner to us on Thursday evening. On a down note, we had our last dinner out at the Log Cabin restaurant with Mom and Dad. They leave on Tuesday morning to drive back to their winter home on Marco Island in Florida. We will miss having them so close by -- they have been a great source of comfort and help to both Deb and I during this journey. We wish them a safe and uneventful trip home. We plan to visit them in January or February and we look forward to their return in the spring! I passed my cane on to my Mom who is having some knee problems that she will have looked at in Florida. I'm doing well enough that I no longer need a cane to get around.

My goals this week are to catch up on my thank you notes, call Stanford to discuss my return to work plan, work up to three walks per day, and to continue to recover as best I can. I'm also trying very hard to avoid the H1N1 flu bug and hopefully I can get a shot from my clinic as soon as they have the virus injections on hand.

The cats are getting very used to having me around all the time and I think I'm becoming one of their favorite napping spots during the afternoons :-)

The recovery continues,

Jon

The people I met in California

As you all know, I haven’t updated the blog since we left California. Sorry about that. I’ve been consumed with taking care of Jon and returning to work. I have been meaning to blog about the people I met during our time in California, so here goes.

I spent no time thinking about what I would be doing, where I would be waiting and what I would encounter while Jon was in the OR. My first impression walking in the ICU waiting room was surreal. As I mentioned earlier, there were 3 groups of people sleeping when I arrived. In retrospect I find it interesting that when a group of strangers are under emotional stress they form a bond with others who are in the same stressful state. I met 6 different groups of people during those first few days in the ICU waiting room. If any of them mentioned their names, I don’t remember. However, I do remember their stories and who and what brought them to the ICU.

The first person I met was waiting for her aunt who had hip replacement surgery. She had been in the ICU waiting room for several days because her aunt’s hip wouldn’t stop bleeding after surgery. Her aunt who was elderly had 16 units of blood transfused into her system since entering the ICU. The woman was very worried about her aunt and she told me she considered her aunt to be more of a mother. She had lost her mother early in life and her aunt raised her. The woman was blond and about my age. She lived in Napa Valley and had just retired from their family printing business. Their business was designing and printing wine bottle labels for Napa Valley vineyards. I guess I never thought about wine bottle labeling as a business, I just like to drink the wine behind the label. I thought what very cool and interesting business to be in and wished I had asked more questions.

The woman’s aunt was moved to a regular room the day after Jon’s surgery. I saw her once more in the cafeteria. She said that her aunt was doing very well and would be leaving the hospital in a few days. The woman was happy and as we spoke she had a bright smile on her face. As the women’s stress was diminishing I could see that she was quite an attractive women, she kind of glowed from the inside.

I'll post again about the others I met soon (I promise).

deb

Third Week of Recovery

On Friday, Oct 9, I completed my third week of recovery since surgery. I had an up and down week and struggled with some abdominal discomfort that appears to have been constipation related to the pain meds and other medications I'm currently on.

I went to the doctor on Thursday and checked in on a bunch of questions I had about various things related to my recovery. I received advice about managing my constipation better. I found out that as soon as the H1N1 virus shot is available I need to get in to get it. I found out that I should be trying to stop taking my pain meds if I could tolerate it. Turns out I have been able to tolerate it pretty well and I haven't taken any since I went to bed on Saturday evening! Some minor discomfort in the area of the breast bone and incision and some back spasms, but essentially no pain to speak of. I wanted to check on my dosage of beta blockers for blood pressure because it seems my blood pressure is often pretty low. I found out that we really want to keep my blood pressure as low as I can stand, so I'm staying with the current dosage for now.

I've been working hard on walking and my breathing exercises. The weather has been pretty crappy for walking, but today I walked around the "block" that our house is on and it took my 20 minutes (in the snow and all :-). That is the longest continuous walk I've taken so far. I was moving right along and had no issues with balance or fatigue. I'm just about to give up the cane and get back on just my own two feet!

My appetite is still pretty weak and my stomach is pretty messed up with all the drugs I've been on as well as just recovering from surgery I imagine. My weight is down about 15 lbs now and seems to have stabilized. I haven't weighed this much in many, many years. I wouldn't recommend this as a diet plan, but I can tell you that the unintended consequence is that it is one.

The cats are very happy that I am home all day and they love coming by and "snuggling" with me as I watch TV or snooze during the day. Daytime TV is pretty bad and I'm not yet reading real strong, so the days can be pretty long some times. I've got one book I'm working through and others on tap, so I have no shortage of reading material to get through.

Deb has been working early days and taking an hour of vacation each day so she can get home in time to spend the afternoon with me and make me some lunch. It is nice to have her around when I'm feeling crappy and when I'm feeling good. She has been a real trooper -- doing all the household chores, hers and mine. She's pretty worn out most of the time! She even hosted a couple of get togethers this weekend of friends, relatives, and well wishers. I don't know how she does it all!

I'm not sure how much recovery I have left. By the current date that the FMLA folks have I have three weeks left, but I need to check in with the folks in California to see what they have to say and to figure out how we are going to make the determination of when I can go back. It seems like things are progressing extremely well, in spite of my minor setbacks, but what do I know -- I'm just the patient not the doctor! I'll check in with them this week.

I had great intentions of coming to the Medtronic Mounds View campus on Friday for a short visit to the last day of the S&T conference and to say hi to my colleagues, but I thought better of it. I decided it was best to forgo that visit and just stay away from all the people and potential sources of illness I might pick up. I need to keep my recovery on track so I can get back to work full time as soon as possible.

Thanks to everyone for everything. I'm running behind on my thank you cards, but I have started working on them. Hopefully I'll catch up this week.

Continuing to recover at home.

Jon

A Recovery Weekend

I had a nice first weekend of recovery at home. Still feeling very good and everything seems to be working properly and recovery seems to be still ahead of schedule.

On Friday, we had three visitors. Jeff Rouleau stopped by to say hi and he brought us a nice plant with a fall theme. Jeff replaced me as chair of the Science & Technology conference at Medtronic this year due to my unexpected absence. Jeff thought he was going to be co-chair this year and learn the process of leading and programming the conference. Surprise, he finds himself completing the work I started so many months ago, and still looking ahead to chairing next year's conference! Jeff tells me that things are coming together very well with a few loose ends to tie up. We discussed the chances of me attending the conference for a short visit. Assuming I'm feeling well enough on Friday of this week, I will try to do just that. While I'm at Mounds View, I'll stop by to say hi to some other folks as well. Don't expect to be able to visit for too long, but it will be nice to see some folks I haven't seen in a while!

Also on Friday, Mohamed Kone and his wife stopped by to say hi. Mohamed brought us one of the Bellatore pizza's we really like. We had a very nice visit with both of them. Later on Friday, our good friends from the lake, Dave and Barb Karsky stopped by to reconnect with us. We have missed seeing them since we've been gone and it was good to share a drink and conversation with them (even if I can't drink myself :-)

On Saturday, my manager from Medtronic, Lori, stopped by to say hi and to drop off a card signed by my co-workers and some money my work group collected for us to use on my recovery. Lori filled me in one where my work team was headed and how things were going and I let her know how well things were going for me. We talked about my surgery and our time in California. Both of us want me to get back just as soon as I'm really ready to do so!

Also on Saturday, my sister Kelly and her partner Molly stopped by to catch up with us. Mom and Dad stopped by to visit at the same time. We had a nice visit and it gave us a chance to thank Kelly and Molly for the wonderful basket of fruit they sent us. Saturday ended on a good, and tiring note.

And, if that wasn't enough, Deb and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary on Saturday! We decided to shift our "celebration" of the day to some time after I'm back to work and really up and around again.

Sunday has been a day just for Deb and I, as Deb prepares to start back to work full-time tomorrow. She has been busy making apple butter, taking care of chores around the house, and just generally wearing herself out. She's catching a quick nap right now and we will order dinner out later. I'm watching football and the Twins and generally taking it easy. I've taken two walks today already and plan to take one more before dark. My strength is coming back and other than my low blood pressure because of the dose of beta-blockers they have me on, I'm feeling very good for someone just over two weeks out of open heart surgery!

And the recovery goes on!

Jon

A Visit With the Family

My daughters, their families, and their grandparents came to visit us this afternoon. Deb and I really enjoyed their visit. Our grandsons were in fine form today.

Jacob (3 1/2 yrs) brought a collection of his "guys" to play with and then proceeded to get out a lot of his toys we have here for him. He had to make sure "papa" showed everyone his scar, just in case anyone didn't know he'd had surgery. He thought it was a pretty good looking scar :-) He was an active boy and gave us lots of chuckles during the afternoon as his imagination worked for all of us to see! Grandma and Jacob played lots of games and Jacob kept grandma on her toes all afternoon.

Henry (3 months) was a cutie pie, as always. He became the pass around pack for most of the afternoon. At one point between feedings he fell asleep in grandpa's arms while I rocked him in the chair. I'm convinced the way he was laying that he could hear grandpa's new "ticker" and found it soothing and relaxing. He slept for a good 1/2 hour or so -- it was a special time for grandpa.

Grandma baked chocolate chip cookies for everyone and set up milks all around for us -- yum, yum!

GG (great grandma) and great grandpa just marvel at Jacob and Henry and just have a lot of fun with them when they are around. Jacob entertains and Henry charms.

It was good for Deb and I to see Nikki, Jessi, and Luke again, on this side of our adventure. We are all relieved to be back together under nearly normal conditions again. No more big adventures anytime soon, we hope!

Deb and I are both tired from our visit, but we wouldn't have it any other way. It did our hearts good to be back in the company of family again!

We received a cute card and gift from the Medtronic CRDM Core Product Development VP and his staff. We also received dinner last night and tonight from my System Engineering group at Medtronic. So many blessings we have -- it is beyond humbling and very therapeutic!

Jon