Joined September 5, 2011
Joined September 5, 2011
DeWayne says, "I haven't posted in a while. Just over 5 months ..."
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Dr. Alfredo Trento is a heart valve expert having performed over 4,000 heart valve repair and replacement operations during his career.
This book has helped over 47,000 patients and caregivers from diagnosis to recovery.
As the husband, I am going to respond to your question. First of all, if you are people of f ... Read more
As the husband, I am going to respond to your question. First of all, if you are people of faith (which I assume you are after reading your entry), submit it all to God through prayer. Being a control freak, this was not easy for me. I have learned through the years that a large % of the stress we feel in times of great issue is due to the fact that we are trying to control things we have no control over. Therefore, concentrate on the things you can control such as how you are going to care for Mollie once she gets home. Where will she sleep, what will your schedule be, how you will prepare meals, what will you do to ensure she gets her medications at the right times, how will you control the flow of visitors, how will you ensure she is exercising at the right levels as her recovery progresses. Concentrating on these things helped me to not feel "helpless", and helped Tracy focus on the one thing that she needed to focus on which was her hour by hour, day by day, recovery. During the surgery (which was the longest 4 hours of my life) I suggest finding faith based things to do. Take periodic prayer breaks, have pre-selected bible verses to read and reflect upon, and have people to communicate with. I am not a crowd person so I did not have a crowd with me in the waiting room. I did however communicate with all of our Journal followers during the surgery (had my laptop and we had about 30 or so people that were monitoring the journal that day), and there were times when I received just the right words from folks through this journal, at just the right times. This journal is an amazing tool - use it, and have people that care about you and Mollie use it.
Tracy wants me to relay something for Mollie also. She feels that what helped her though the first few days in the hospital was focusing on the "milestones" and after each milestone has passed quickly focusing on the next one, knowing that with the passing of each milestone she was one step closer to getting back to normal. There are the ICU milestones (breathing tube, first time sitting up, first time walking, etc) then there are the recovery room milestones (breathing exercises, walking and more walking, chest tube removal, slowly loosing more and more IVs, etc).
With the passing of each milestone, you are both a step closer to returning to "normal". Be there for each other and lean on your faith.
Our prayers go out to you both and we look forward to monitoring your progress through your journal entries!
God bless!
Wally and Tracy