I checked into the hospital at 9:00 am on Friday for the heart surgery. At 10:00 am, I was retrieved, completed paperwork, put in a flimsy gown (are any of them substantial?), hooked up to an IV, and hurried up to wait some more. I hadn't had any food or drink since the night before and had to be given sugar water through the IV. Finally, at 1:30 or 2:00 pm, I was wheeled into the operating room. I scooted to the table and apparently needed to do an abdominal workout before it was to begin - I sat up for some 'pads' to be stuck to my back, and laid down so that an X-ray machine could see if they were placed properly. Nope, had to sit up and lay back down three times before it was all done.

I declared that I was ready for the good drugs and I don't remember a dang thing until I woke up in a cardiac recovery room after 3 1/2 hours of surgery via catheters run through 1 artery and 2 veins (one through the artery near my right clavicle and the other two through a vein in each leg) to cauterize the problematic nerve bundles. I thought that the catheters, and thus the entry points, would be small, like getting an IV needle put in. Boy was I wrong!

The sites were covered with enough gauze and tape that it made walking harder and looked like I needed another cup in my bra. My first look at the sites were this (Sunday) morning and I passed out from the shock of it. We debated going to the hospital since I convulsed slightly when I fainted and decided against it since I probably just needed food. After breakfast and resting quite a bit more, I was good to go. Since I drive a manual transmission, I will be driving Bob's nice automatic Toyota Highlander once I am released to do so (Tuesday).

Although the big packages of bandages are gone, the soreness remains. Most difficult are transitioning from standing to sitting or laying down. I look pretty funny like I have a corn cob shoved somewhere :blush: to ease the pain.