During a few nice days in February, I got a bout of spring fever and decided to pull out and wash all my bathing suits to get them ready for the upcoming season! Now, February I do realize, is a bit early for swimsuits, but ya gotta understand that I do still feel kinda jipped out of a summer last year. With my mid-May heart surgery, that healing vertical six-inch incision kept me from swimming and soaking up the sun…
During the weeks at cardiac rehab, the continuing unanswered question of the “heart scarring” still lingered in my mind, continuously haunting me… The plan was to have a local cardiologist who was experienced in reading heart MRI’s to read both the MRI in October that was done pre-surgery, and compare it with the “scarred” MRI done during my second hospital stay, post-surgery. Time had passed, the days turning into weeks, weeks turning into a month. It seemed like eternity while…
Once I awoke from surgery and knew I had, in fact survived, I had it all planned out. My Recovery Agenda. I would continue to ‘blog’ the whole open heart surgery thing that I had started, making jokes along the way of all the little details, but once the magic “Six-to-Eight Weeks Recovery Period” came around, (I would choose the “six weeks”) all would ultimately transform back to normal. Or actually, BETTER than normal. I remember how my cardiologist in…
It was a late fall evening, a Friday a few years ago, and my son and I had just arrived at a local raceway a couple of hours away from our home. We were there to attend a very intense weekend driving program I had signed him up for. My husband had actually worked for the racetrack years ago and that’s how we found out about the driving program. It was a dual program for both the beginner driver and…
I’ve been asked by friends on several different occasions to accompany them to events when they needed a last-minute escort. One time it was wedding. Wedding=food+cake. “Sure, I’ll go.” Another time, many moons ago, it was a blind date. Blind date=food+entertainment (for me anyway). “Sure, I’ll go.” If my bosom buddies happen to find themselves in a pickle needing a last-minute companion, if I’m asked, I’ll most likely go. The following was a particularly unusual circumstance… A friend called me…
Discharge Day When I asked my husband how he felt on my day of discharge, this was his response: “A little scared, unresolved, and confused as well. Actually, pretty close to when we brought home our first baby…” Well thanks…. Good thing I didn’t pick up on that at the time. He camouflaged it very well, thank God! “Let’s get the paperwork started to get you outta here!” Nurse Sherry said in her chipper voice. What I…
“The waiting is the hardest part Every day you see one more card You take it on faith, you take it to the heart The waiting is the hardest part…” ~Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers From the album, Hard Promises 1981 Let’s hope it’s the hardest part! So far, it has been the most grueling! The waiting will kill ya, won’t it? It can drive you in-T-total-sane! I attempted to take on this whole heart surgery thing as if…
I wrote a story when I was about eight years old that, unknowingly to me, my mom had saved for decades. She had given it to my husband shortly before she passed away. I didn’t find out about this until she had been gone a couple of years and my husband actually came across where he had hidden it. I had totally forgotten about the story until he presented it to me, and then it all came rushing back! It…
The time for excuses was over. I had exceeded every last reasoning I could possibly think of to delay the fact that this surgery had to happen. My husband constantly began reminding me of this. It was time to make the call. After a few idiotic temper tantrums, I came to realize that I needed to pick up the phone and schedule the surgery. I had it all planned out: Late March, early April. Even though there was…
Have you ever had that morning where the alarm clock rang, you woke up and before your feet hit the floor you knew exactly what the day had in-store? You knew because, after all, you had planned it out-mentally- right down to the hour of the setting sun. And then, when that day was over, and the sun finally did set, that twenty-four-hour period that you so meticulously planned out, took somewhat of a detour… That’s what happened on Friday,…