Pretty Good Day

We had a pretty good day today. My abdominal pain seems to be back under control with more careful control of the timing between pain meds doses. I'm taking 1/2 doses every 4-5 hours and that seems to have put everything under better control. I'm also doing better with fluids and exercise. I got a 15 minute walk outdoors in this afternoon -- what a fantastic day! Hope to take another stroll before sunset.

Saw my local doctor this morning and got all set up with the anti-coagulation clinic to monitor my blood thinner dosage.

Found out it was our neighbors, Wally and Carole Ostlie who put the banner up on our garage door -- very nice to come home to!

Today we received a big batch of Chicken Teriyaki from the Good Earth from my work group, and a big "bouquet" of fruit from Kelly and Molly. Very nice!

Received and answered several nice e-mails.

All in all, a pretty good day I'd say!

Jon

Home, Sweet, Home!

We just arrived safe and sound in our home! We stopped on the way home from the airport to have dinner with Mom and Dad at the Log Cabin. Flight was uneventful and smooth and ahead of schedule.

Discomfort levels have been rising the last two days, not sure why. Have a doctors appt. with my family practice doc tomorrow morning, so we will talk about it and check it out then. Could be that the pain medicine effects are wearing off, or maybe the healing process is reaching a "normal" point. Discomfort is not with the incision or heart related, but rather abdominal and feels like tight muscles. Maybe I need to use some ice and/or heat to keep things loose (and maybe that last touchdown on Sunday cost me more than I realized :-)

Libby and Emma are very happy to see us. Dakota comes home tomorrow from his "extra" care place.

We had a great, big banner on our garage door when we arrived home welcoming us back. We understand Kelly and Molly may have been behind this one, but we need to confirm. There was also a collection of fruit and other food products in the kitchen and refrigerator as well as some nice flowers. We aren't sure who to thank for these, but we will find out.

Also, Wally and Carol Ostlie left us a nice plant to help brighten the place up.

It is truly a blessing to once again be at home!

Thanks everyone for getting us this far down the road -- you are all the very best friends and family we could have ever hoped to have!

Jon

Good To Go!

Deb and I just got back from the medical center and Dr. Miller and his team have given us the green light to go home. We have everything set for tomorrow and should be back on the ground in Minnesota around 6:00 PM tomorrow evening! Neither of us can wait. California is beautiful and everyone here has been just fantastic, but we need to get home. Mom and Dad are picking us up at the airport.

I have an appointment with my family doctor right away Wednesday morning to transfer care responsibility to him for the remainder of my recuperation. Return to work date was set today at 8 weeks from the date of surgery. This puts me back Nov 16 on a part time basis as tolerated. I'm looking forward to getting back, but I'm also looking forward to recuperating at home and letting my sternum heal up good and solid.

Dr. Miller told me to take it easy, and he knows that will be tough for me, because he said when they tried to cross-match my blood they found out my closest match was mule :-) Apparently someone has been talking out of school about me!

One big hurdle left to jump and them we settle into, hopefully, a bunch of small ones in friendly confines of home.

Thanks everyone -- can't wait to catch up with all of you in person at some point in time!

Jon

Vikings Win!

OK, so I know I probably shouldn't have watched the game, and I admit it looked pretty much like a scripted Vikings debacle plenty of the game, but even when the Vikes gave the ball back late in the game I couldn't give up on them. Brett Favre was still in the game and Bernard Berrian had even started catching something once in a while. Of course, when that final touchdown happened I might have gotten a little excited, in spite of doctors orders not too :-) After that lunch and a little nap and then breathing exercises. Deb "practice packed" the suitcases just to make sure we could get everything home on Tuesday and it looks like we are good to go. Now we can relax a bit, keep up on the Colts game and look forward to Monday!

Way to go Vikes!

Jon

Good Morning...

I'm delinquent in keeping up my end of the bargain on this blog. I may have a reason to be a bit tired, but that isn't really an excuse. I'm feeling very well today, even better than yesterday which I think has been my best day so far since the surgery. My vitals are rock solid, I've lost 12 pounds since I left the hospital loaded with water, and I'm sleeping pretty well. My appetite is definitely off, which explains the weight loss, but I'm getting 3 squares a day thanks to Deb's efforts. Hasn't she just been great through all this. I know I owe her a huge debt of gratitude for putting up with my crap as I recover, sometimes crabbily. She did a fantastic job with the blog while I was out of circulation and I will encourage her to keep posting her side of the story as we continue to move forward on this detour through life.

The one problem I still have, that is a known side effect of this surgery, is that my vision is extremely muddied right now. I don't know what the cause is, maybe heart-lung machine, maybe anesthesia, who knows (I'll look it up online later). No matter, I can't wait for this effect to fade so I can get back to reading at my normal glacial pace.

We are waiting to catch the Vikings-49ers game this morning and looking forward to a wonderful and relaxing Sunday in CA. Tomorrow we go see the surgeon for my wound check and to get our "walking papers" back to MN. I am really looking forward to getting back home and settling into the rest of this recovery. Not sure what setbacks may be facing us, but so far so very good! Tomorrow I should find out when my tentative "return to work" date is and we will work toward that. Conventional wisdom says 6-8 weeks minimum from date of surgery for the sternum bone to heal. That would put us somewhere in the Nov 2 - 16 timeframe for at least a part time return to work.

We are looking forward to catching up with Mom and Dad and thanking them profusely for their fantastic support of both of us during the first week of this journey. We are also looking forward to a visit from my daughters and their families. We have really missed them and we want to see our wonderful grandsons, even if it is just a short visit!

Have a great day everyone. I know I will never be able to thank you all enough for the good thoughts, prayers, and energy you've all sent our way and the help it has given us in getting through this!

Thanks,

Jon

Not for the Faint of Heart (Round 2)...

Here is that better picture we promised, hot off the pixels :-)

Jon

Not for the Faint of Heart...

Here is a cell phone quality, slightly blurred phone of my scar before I left the hospital. I think you will get the idea. We will get a better one today and send it out later.

Getting better and strong in CA outside the hospital walls!

Jon