John's Photos

John Noriega  Thanks Karen...I am feeling good! The day that picture was taken I also celebrated my 35th year of sobriety! Life is good!

  Hey John, that's fantastic. Congratulations. You are a true inspiration to anyone who feels a life change isn't possible. You have proven that it is. The human spirit is amazing. Thank you for sharing this.

Doris Davis  My zipper got covered by a keloid. It's most unsightly. The treatment from the dermatologist was too painful to continue, so I'm stuck with it.

John Noriega  Linda it was posted on the blog in Mid-June...teespring.com was the site. There were 75 ordered I believe! Not sure if you can still get one. They make to order - these came in black or blue. You can log in and see if they'll make more. They were $15 each...there was a minimum order of 35, I think.

Eleanor R  Thank you for letting us know you're well. Looks great, now for home and a steady recovery! Love to you and your family. Eleanor

Adam Pick  John, If I can get a picture of you smiling with your scar, I'd love to welcome you to our new Smiling Scar Selfie Team! Joe and Laura just joined! 😊

John Noriega  Thanks Kenny. Love riding it! I'll probably take a nice ride in the next week or so before I have to put her away.

Adam Pick  John, Tomorrow will be a great day. And, in just a few months this will all be a memory. I'm hoping that every rainbow you see -- from here on -- is a friendly reminder of this process. Just as rainbows can appear miraculous... So, are the wonders of modern medicine. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Adam

Joan Napier  Sweet picture. It's great that you spent this special time together with your grandkids the night before surgery. That's exactly what I want to do on "surgery eve"!

Adam Pick  First Ruth... Now you John? :) You guys are making me feel really, really, really great about this project. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Looking forward to your first post-op update later today! My thoughts are with you! Adam

Eleanor R  You did it! I knew you could. Now comes your contribution, to walk, breathe, use the spirometer a lot, rest and walk again. You look great, continue on. Eleanor

John Noriega  Porcine! No Coumadin! Had one BP med changed (brand & dosage) and 1 eliminated! So far all is well with BP. As a matter of fact, sitting at my endocrinologists office checking things out.
Onward & Upward!

Tammy Pilcher  That drawing and picture couldn't be any similar. Hope you feel better tomorrow, John! Onward and upward!

  John. this brings something up for me. My kids are 21, 21, and 17. I want to tell them (and my sister), not to come visit me in the ICU. I don't want to scare or alarm them with my apearance. Did you have anyone come see you in there? You look fine in the picture, btw,! :-)

Virginia (Ginger) French  If it might help, my daughter is extremely grossed out by even getting blood drawn. (She is 34, so older than your crew.) But she chose to come to the city where my surgery was the day before the surgery and was there in the ICU that first evening. She did just fine.

And the drawing that John has displayed here might be a good introduction into a discussion of what they are thinking and what their feelings are about coming into the ICU. They may actually be relieved to see you in the flesh, no matter how many tubes.

Having my daughter present was a gift I would never have asked of her, but it was a great comfort to me to see her. I am very glad I let her make the decision.

John Noriega  My wife and 2 daughters (39 & 34) came into ICU post-op & took picture - I didn't know they were there, of course! My 14 year old granddaughter came to visit the following afternoon. The drawing helped everyone to understand how I'd look to them!

Terrie Syvertsen  John-Loved the picture! Who captured you so well?!
You are truly blessed with your loving Family! Love reading how you are progressing. Heal on!

Eleanor R  Like Ginger and others, I prepared my adult daughter who had zero experience with surgeries and ICUs. We talked about what she would see, and how drugged I probably would be, and perhaps with the ventilator still doing its job. She then researched everything about the surgery, and was there in the ICU and actually managed to stay constantly there with me since I was having pain from one of the drainage tubes touching a nerve, and the pain management in the ICU was a problem. I was so relieved to have her there, and she couldn't wait to come in. John, the drawing is excellent, could be in any article about OHS. You have a talented bunch with you. For me, the meds I cam home with kept me a little subdued. Since I couldn't move my arms much, and felt so "blah" I called it my robot stage and kept hoping I would snap out of it. Finally losing one of the meds, which was keeping my heart rate and blood pressure low, allowed me to get back to feeling more like myself. Cardiac rehab did the rest, as it gets endorphins moving around our body and we just feel better. I hope you feel better soon tool Eleanor

John Noriega  My youngest daughter took the picture. She also took one to tease me with, but hasn't sent it to me because she knows she'll be punished. LOL!

Adam Pick  Yep! It's official... We have another new member of the Smiling Scar Selfie Team. Looking greeeeaaaaaaat John!!! #SmilingScarSelfie #JohnRocks

John Noriega  I saw one of my doctors this past Monday and he took a picture of my scar to show a patient who is really afraid of having an AVR & can't believe that cow/pig valves are used. So, I told him the the picture the picture and have his patient call me. We can all be messengers! O&U!

Ruth Valenzuela  Your incision looks like it's healed well. I'm happy things are going good for you and it's remarkable that you don't need the pain meds!

John Noriega  I have a high threshold of pain, so I only used pain meds after I have 1-2 good sneezes. That really hurts!

Linda Crawford  A friend sent me a picture of an adult size Big Wheel -- looked like fun 😃. My son sure loved his when he was little.