Matters of the Heart

Home again from the hospital... I think my car could drive to downtown Atlanta on its own now. Good news to report though... the patient, who we will call "Harvey" for this post, is doing AMAZINGLY well. He has had a couple of setbacks ; low blood pressure, and has been on a diabetic diet for his sugar levels (he has never had this problem before.) But all in all, he has made a great recovery thus far. My kids and I went to stay with him tonight, and he took a nice stroll with my son down the ever busy halls of a cardiac unit. I don't know how he gets any rest. If it isn't a nurse, it is a respiratory therapist, or an insulin shot, or pain meds, blood pressure medicine and a quick check on his vitals, urine or ten other things they are watching and monitoring on an obviously ten minute rotation. Not that I am complaining, but I bet HE wants to ! The heart surgeon that operated on him came by to check on him... was there for about 5 minutes...an extremely nice guy who probably made $200 from his little chat with us. Once again, I am just trying to be funny ( although that little pop in surely wasn't for free... what IS in a hospital)? My middle son and I were down in the cafeteria taking a break and getting a bite to eat, when Zach pointed out a sign on one of the cooler doors. It was a refrigerator with those TINY little creamers for your coffee... they probably have 1/2 ounce of creamer in them, and they had a sign that said "creamers 5 cents". So you buy a $2 cup of coffee, and you have to pay five more cents if you don't take it black? Are we being punished for not taking it black, or are the Arabs in charge of creamers now too? I try to take the good with the bad though... and just remind myself that they saved my brother in law's life, and while he is in residence there, I will just take my coffee black! He has dealt with the pain better than I thought he would ( he IS a man after all). After the first day of being TOTALLY whacked out on Morphine...LOT'S OF STORIES TO TELL ABOUT THAT DAY!... he has managed surprisingly well, and I am very proud of his total commitment to a successful recovery and rehabilitation. On his second day of recovery, he asked my sister if they had remembered to tip the guy who had brought him his dinner tray. Morphine seems to be somewhat of a "truth" serum... the things that came out of his mouth were absolutely incredible, out of character; and now that he is on the fast track to health....HILARIOUS! My sister and I have decided to keep a log of all his "drug" induced comedy, and maybe send him on the road with it as soon as he is able. You don't even have to know him to find it incredibly funny. We often found the nurses out in the hall giggling over a comment that he had made, or one of his by now famous "Eye Rolling" episodes. They like to get you up and moving as soon as they can, which I am sure is terribly painful. On the second day (after we apologized to the "waiter" and told Harvey we gave him a 25% tip) "Nurse Ratchet" came into the room to roust him out of bed for a little walk to the scale...two feet away from him. In his "Purple Haze", he rolled his eyes in total disgust; and said, quite unbelieving she had even dared asked him to not only sit up, but actually GET out of the bed and stand...."NOW" ??? She smiled and said "yes, now." He has progressed from his haze to a point that even I can't believe. When I was a kid, people that had open heart surgery stayed in the hospital for at least TWO weeks, followed by a year long recovery time. He has been amazing and almost a better patient than he is a brother in law!! TOTALLY JUST KIDDING!! He has been sweet; appreciated every one of our visits, and told us countless times how much he loves us and how much our coming by means to him. We just all pray that this improvement continues, and in 3 months, he will back to his old self, and my sister will receive her "Gold Star" ...for outstanding and understanding "wife"of the year. Till next time... COTTON