Bares and friends,
Shirley and I are finally home in Davidson. As most of you seem to have heard through the Bubbly Bare grapevine, I “Barely” dodged the “Big One” two weekends ago. For the two of you that haven’t heard (Grape Vine working Good) I got severe chest pains on arriving at our daughter’s home in Fredericksburg, VA, on Thursday, Aug 27th, and went straight to the ER. After tests they decided that I probably had NOT suffered a heart attack but did think the pain was cardiac related and recommended I stay in the hospital and have a catheterization and possible stents the next morning. I had what most said was one of the best Catheterization specialists doing the procedure, but as soon as he saw the dye test he said, “Nope, open heart.” I said, “Shit!” He said “Yes, but you came to a good bathroom. We have one of the best heart guys around. He’s almost as good as I am!” I thought, “No loss of self-esteem here!” (On checking he really is one of the leading Cardiologists in the country!)
Our youngest grandchild, Becca, had her 3rd birthday party Saturday morning and then they all came to my room for a replay – minus the swimming pool. The nurses all gave me a rough time for the “Tiara” picture. Little do they know! The hard part was then waiting until Monday. Lots of things go through your mind at 2 am.
Anyway, after waiting all weekend I finally had surgery on Monday. The bad news was 100 % blockage in one artery and 60 – 90 % in three others. The good news was ZERO damage to the heart itself and the grafts went very well. Short story is three grafts using three arteries, one from under the sternum and one from each arm. The fourth blockage was of little or no consequence so it was not done.
I was not a happy camper Monday night and Tuesday morning, but it has been a speedy recovery from then on. (Picture below was made 5 days after surgery.) The biggest problem has been with getting my breathing back. We checked out of the hospital on Friday, after surgery on Monday, and stayed at our daughter’s home in Fredericksburg until this morning. The “munchkins” were very good about not jumping on Grampa and Shirley and Shannon were good nurses.
I thank all of you for your concerns, cards, prayers, flowers, and visits. I would like to express special thanks to Cliff & Patti for agreeing to take over as group leaders for the Costa Rica trip at the last minute. I know they were looking forward to a trip where they could just relax and have fun. Also special thanks to Tom & Joy Fox for tracking down our shipment of “goodies” for Costa Rica and redirecting the shipment. And all you special nurses that promised me such specialized care in your “Hottie” outfits, I thank you very much and I WILL hold you to your most generous promises, as well as other things!
My surgeon, who has a very dignified and suave demeanor, has proved to be every bit as good as advertised. He also showed a bit of humor that the nurses had not seen before. On Wednesday, before check out on Friday, I kept getting glances of faces looking into my room and then disappearing. I asked my nurse what was going on and she giggled, “They’re just looking to see who it is that got such crazy orders posted on his chart. Seems that since Shirley and I were giving him a hard time on when sex would be ok he had decided to get even and wrote on my chart: “Oral Sex – Three times daily!” I’m not sure if the orders were for Shirley or the nurses, but they should all be fired! None of them carried out their orders!
Anyway, I think all is going about as well as can be expected and we plan on making Halloween. I kept pushing for Costa Rica, but the surgeon and the Warden said no way! We have heard from our Bares there, however, and all seem to be having a great time.
Again, thanks for all your support. You guys are the best! We can be reached at 704-892-8508 or by Email if you need us. We do have a second Email address now: sjsharkey@verizon.net which works better when we are away from Davidson.
Jim
Check out picture
