OOC

[tlawler]

My friends, I have been out of commission for the better part of a week now. I went in to the hospital last Friday, the 21st for a seemingly routine double bypass open heart surgery that became a triple, then a quadruple bypass with a mitral valve replacement. They didn’t have a clear picture until they did an esophageal echocardiogram. The damage was extensive and they didn’t know until they saw it. Weird thing was that I was completely asymptomatic, and it was picked up on a stress test follow up when they noticed a weird arrhythmia and started checking it out further. Up until that point, I had been working 50-60 hour weeks as a chiller mechanic, a very physically demanding job.

Anyway, my first night after surgery, I crashed hard, going into cardiac arrest, chest compressions, shocking, the whole nine yards. Woke up intubated three days later, remembering nothing. Now I seem to be out of the woods and making good progress. The good thing that came out of it was that my Navy Lt.jg son., his nurse practitioner fiancé, my traveling rad tech daughter, my other daughter from Tallahassee and my LEO daughter from Arcadia and her friend were all able to come down and be by my side along with my loving wife through all of this. Having concerned medical professionals in the family is huge!

I also want to give a shoutout to all the caring ICU nurses and professionals for the job they do. They are the true heroes and are angels!

 

[lihpster]

So sorry to hear of your troubles, but happy to hear you are on the mend! Hoping your healing is quick, painless, and complete.
Family is a blessing in even the best of times, much less in this situation. Lean on them and get better!

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Glad you made it through the overhaul..........That ol V8 should run like new when ya heal up.

 

[pharmer]

Glad to hear you are past the worst of it. I expect to see you in Lakeland 3rd weekend of January. Happy holidays. Joe

 

[tlawler]

Glad to hear you are past the worst of it. I expect to see you in Lakeland 3rd weekend of January. Happy holidays. Joe

I’ll see you there, Joe…and happy holidays to you as well.

 

[tlawler]

Oh, and when I crashed, they had to do an emergency surgery to install a pacemaker. So, quadruple bypass, mitral valve replacement, and pacemaker. I really got the works! By the time I get out of here, probably Monday, it’ll be 11 days in ICU! Can’t imagine that bill! Thank God for good insurance!

 

[Onomea]

tlawler, my goodness, man! Wow!

Go big or go home, huh!

Very glad that you have come out of this in good shape. Must have been tough on the family.

An event like this does have a way of straightening out one’s priorities right sharp, huh?!

Welcome back, and God bless!

 

[LVSteve]

Is the pacemaker going to be a permanent fixture or is it just to see you through recovery?

 

[tlawler]

An event like this does have a way of straightening out one’s priorities right sharp,

Amen to that, Brother!

 

[johngalt]

Wow, glad you are on the mend! I don’t like those kinds of surprises.

 

[ChoochGambino]

Dang! All the best, man!

 

[tlawler]

Is the pacemaker going to be a permanent fixture or is it just to see you through recovery?

It’s permanent. I still have this weird arrhythmia that no one can explain. I heard from several doctors in the past few days words like “in my twenty years of doing this, I’ve never seen anything like this”

 

[tlawler]

So sorry to hear of your troubles, but happy to hear you are on the mend! Hoping your healing is quick, painless, and complete.
Family is a blessing in even the best of times, much less in this situation. Lean on them and get better!

Thanks for your kind words. Family is huge and I’m blessed with a big one.

 

[tlawler]

Glad you made it through the overhaul..........That ol V8 should run like new when ya heal up.

It might take awhile, but I should be running on all eight by mid December.

 

[tlawler]

Dang! All the best, man!

Thank you Chooch! I hope to be able to put some of those .454’s down range by mid January.

 

[LVSteve]

It’s permanent. I still have this weird arrhythmia that no one can explain. I heard from several doctors in the past few days words like “in my twenty years of doing this, I’ve never seen anything like this”

I put a like on your post as at least it is good to know that:

A) They detected the issue.

B) There seems to be an available fix.

Best of luck.

 

[IAM Rand]

And that is why I workout 3 times a week. Also trying to drink cacao. Supposedly it helps soften the arteries. Glad you are doing better. Keep going as if you have been given a new lease on life, kinda sounds like you did get one.

 

[Bobby Fett]

God bless you and speed your recovery!

 

[tlawler]

Wow, glad you are on the mend! I don’t like those kinds of surprises.

Thank you, neither do i

 

[Greyman50]

Hang in there and enjoy family and the holidays.

 

[tlawler]

God bless you and speed your recovery!

Thank you, kind sir!

 

[tlawler]

Hang in there and enjoy family and the holidays.

Thank you, I certainly will. This family holiday has taken on a special significance for us.

 

[ladder13]

Best wishes to you Tom, quite the event.

 

[tlawler]

Best wishes to you Tom, quite the event.

It certainly was! Thank you for for your thoughts and prayers.

 

[yanici2]

Glad to hear you're better. You got a rebuilt engine now that should go another 100K+

 

[lkabug]

Seems as if you been through the mill.
We're all happy you are through the rough part, the days ahead are looking better.
Prayers for a full recovery.

 

[16thVACav]

Wow, what a week! Glad to hear you are doing better.

 

[Sevens]

Hope you are doing as well as it sounds from your great attitude in these posts!

Easy for me to say perhaps, since I have fortunately not had any heart related issues, but it often occurs to me when someone finds almost entirely out of the blue that they -DO- have heart issues, it is an absolute blessing.

You start the day feeling fine or normal or close to either and then you are shocked to find such news but what a gift— a whole plan to FIX everything you did not realize wasn’t right.

The OTHER path is one that ends abruptly. This path is the blessed one!

 

[llowry61]

Glad you are on the mend. It is amazing what they can do with technology if they are aware of the problem. Glad your medical team was thorough and kept digging in to find the problem. I play golf with a couple of cardiologists and heart disease can be the silent killer due to no symptoms or the first symptom being cardiac arrest.

 

[Doug M.]

For much of my medical journey related to ESRD resulting in my transplant in July, I have written AARs based on what I can recall (not always perfect due to heavy drug loads from surgery and after). I did one on the transplant itself and the aftercare and made sure I sent it to the CEO of the hospital where the program is located, and to one of the intake nurses (screening and other actions are done by different people; the post transplant care is separate, etc.) I want to make sure that it is noted that people took good care of me.

When I checked out of the hospital after the transplant, I made sure to go to the nurses' station and say good stuff about the care to the Supervisor and all the nurses present. A few weeks ago, I sent an email about the good care in my dialysis clinic to the CEO of that company.

I have had very good care under somewhat crummy circumstances. My mantra has been "I don't have enjoy it; I have to appreciate it." The level of suck varied with various procedures. The level of care did not. I think you were well treated by people who were presented with increasingly bad circumstances and who had the knowledge and initiative to make them as "un-bad" as possible.