Steve's Photos

Steven is home!

After a slow & lovely chauffeur ride home, Steven has settled into his Lazy Boy chair to binge TV! 

Now begins phase 2 of his recovery. Slowly, ever so slowly he has to regain his strength! In my opinion, he is off to a stronger start than 11 years ago. He is more mobile and having less pain. That is not to say he won't have hurdles as we move forward, but his foundation is more solid. 

Time to buckle up and get started....
tomorrow!

Unfortunately, it looks like Steven's stay will be extended until tomorrow. The doctors visited and saw that his bowels were full of air. They took another x-ray and saw that there was some blockage. He was given a variety of, what will hopefully be, remedies to this uncomfortable situation. 

Steven is rather disappointed about this development. He has been doing so well in his recovery and this setback kind of kicked his legs out from underneath him. He has forgotten that his recovery is not a straight line, but more of a zig zag. His competitive nature pushes him forward, but there is no winning in this scenario. You can't be "first" in recovering from open heart surgery. He has to slow down and increase his patience in preparation for the bumps in the road.

It is tricky because from the outside observer he looks great! If you were just looking at his face and the pictures we have taken over the last couple of days, you would never know that he had his chest cracked open 5 days ago. What those pictures do not show are his "zipper" or the sutures of where the chest tubes were or the pic line in his left arm or the scabbed over holes in his neck where another variety of tubes were inserted. He does not REALLY see these as well. Eventually, he will see these reminders as badges of his courage, as his willingness to endure pain in order to live his life to the fullest, with joy and happiness with few physical restrictions.  

We have a few signs hanging in his room. Once is drawn by one of Max's buddies, Tyler W., who is a gifted artist. His art is a reminder for Steven to stay strong. Thank you, Tyler! The other sign is one given to us by our dear friend, Dena. It is a reference to Ted Lasso's "Believe" in the face of challenges. We are huge Ted Lasso fans and this keeps Steven believing and puts a smile on his face! 

Another busy day!

He had his second walk of the day and it has memorialized below. I washed his hair with this cool shower cap thing again - memorialized above. The last big thing was the last chest tube was removed!! Woo hoo! This most likely means he will be released tomorrow! Let's just say that happy tears were shed by me!

Good morning! Happy Saturday!

Steve is a new man this morning! He had some significant "movement" last night and this morning which has provided an incredible amount of physical relief. As Steve says, "It was epic!" 

Steve's nurse took the bandages off and gave him a sponge bath. (Gentlemen - no virtual high fives for Steve. His nurse at the time was Warren!) He also brushed his teeth this morning. Like a said, a new man!

Steve's recovery is moving in the right direction. He had a walk this morning and will take another one shortly. His spirits are good! 

Fingers crossed that the day will continue on this trajectory. My morning started with my latte. I am taking it as a good sign!

Day 2 is upon us and so far it is looking to be a good day!

Steve is in his new bed! He has about 6 inches of extra room in this bed. (Insert size joke here!) He is way more comfortable! 

They had him out of his bed sitting in a chair from 7:00 - 9:00 AM. He hit a wall at 9:00 and was back in bed at that time. They want him up and walking in a bit. He will also be moved to the step-down unit later today. Steven said he will be carrying this longer bed on his back to the step-down unit.

The nurses have been incredible. We already knew this from past experiences, but I wanted to state is again. They are taking great care of him!

Woo hoo! Collective sigh of relief!

Steve is out of surgery and all went well! He has a new bovine valve and the aneurysm was repaired without any foreign material. This is great news since the material causes more scar tissue. This could be problematic for future surgeries. Now, that is something we don’t have to worry about!

He will be more alert in a couple hours. A new update then.

In the meantime, we are enjoying a celebratory drink and lunch (like we did the hard work)! Ha ha!