Richard Munson  Thank you deena, i actually just posted a picture today. We must be on the same wavelength. I still recall the day on november 11th 56 years ago when i said “ i do”. One of my better decisions. 

Richard Munson  Getting myself prepared for cataract surgery in early december. The word on the street is that looking in the mirror post surgery i will be shocked at how old i look.  

Deena Elani  Hi Richard, well, I hear that all colors will seem more vibrant; all the lights in your home will not be on at all times at the highest intensities; and that you will no longer need glasses! Can't wait until I qualify. Congratulations on 56 years plus years that your dated before marrying; you got it right. not an easy feat. Blessed you are.

Deena Elani  You met Nancy when you were 20 yrs old and she around 18ish.  So young to be able to get it right.  

Richard Munson  Yes, spotted her in the college library and somehow managed an introduction. She was studying, not sure what i was doing in there. Lost maybe? She was engaged to a fellow back home but they agreed to date others while away at school. Whoops. His bad. Ha, ha. By the way, it was no contest. He was a little shrimpy guy. Lets see, who am i going to pick. This 6-5, drop dead handsome, leading scorer on the basketball team or this ugly little nerd back home. A simple choice.

Ana Brusso  Deena, my HVS godchild, you are always so kind and say the right things. You and Richard had me going there. Lol Hope you are doing well. God bless you 

Deena Elani  Hi my HVS god mom, learned from the best-- you and Richard.
(PS Hope your knee pain gets better. Will include your healing of heart and knees in my prayers .

Richard Munson  Oh give me a home, for the turkeys to roam where the skies are not cloudy all day. They act very bold, until they are told, that thanksgiving is only a month away. Gobble gobble.

Patsy Stewart  Oh, Deena!! I just asked Andrew this morning exactly what am I?! I can eat fish, turkey and chicken and everything else is plant based. He baked me a turkey breast over the weekend along with mashed potatoes and gravy. No butter/no milk but still ….Yum!! 
Richard, those turkeys wouldn’t be safe around here! 😋

Richard Munson  Ruth, i apologize for making a feeble attempt at a parody of home on the range. That might be a usa song. I forgot you live across the pond. 

Richard Munson  Well, first, its nice to get your note klara. The fact that you are writing is a good sign. I had to look up intercostal. I thought it meant from massachusetts to california. Did you look that up in a medical dictionary? I know your husband is a doctor and i loved your family get together pictures. Very touching. It warmed the cockles of my heart with the repaired valve. Is cockles a medical term? Now that you are a new woman, i hope you don’t disappear from the site as many do. Xmas is fast approaching and i am going to add you to my adams angels tree decoration which you may not know about yet. Stay tuned. Yes, i was 78 but i like to think i was a young 78. I was a baby before the surgery but i have always been a fighter so i battled through the aches and pains you are currently experiencing. I had my ups and downs along the way. Not to belabor the point but losing my best friend cassie over the winter was a much tougher hurdle to overcome. Rather than wring my hands and whoa is me to death i took control of it and shadow has helped me recover. You do what you have to do in this world. Stay well, it gets better from here.

Klara Čičić  I had to google cockles, awww. 
Lol about intercostal remark. That was one of the first things you learn in medicine, cause anatomy was the very first class in college. That's where I first saw my husband. In anatomy lab looking over a corps. Very romantic. I am a GP (PCP) resident...it's odd saying that cause I don't quite feel like one. 4 years of having kids and now this huge heart problem put my job and education aside for years... It's a bit frustrating. I guess with time everything will fall into place. And when that time comes, I know I will be less present here, it's inevitable, all of my time will be devoted to learning and repeating forgotten facts...and getting ready for my final exam. Challenging times ahead. But now I am here, happy to find out what Adams angels tree will look like, focused on healing and relaxing through laughter! 

Richard Munson  I think in anatomy class your husband was focused more on your anatomy not the corpse. Of corpse i could be wrong about that. 

Richard Munson  I have so much to tell you. My mitral valve repair with maze was done at mass general almost 2 years ago in january. My god, time flies. It was minimally invasive and done by dr. Melnichuk. ( spelling). My cardiologist was also at mgh named dr. Dal bianco. Both mitral valve gurus so to speak. I give them high grades. My surgery was right in the middle of covid so no visitors period. I was 78 at the time. He also had to repair some chords. I was there 5 days. They treated me great. So far i am doing very well , my 2 year echo is in december. Before you say it, yes, you will be petrified as we all are or were. Will i wake up? I have said it on this site many times that until they stuck in the needle i was ready to bolt. I live near cape cod. Ask away, i am happy to help. 

Richard Munson  Nice town, lynnfield, my daughter almost moved there, chose beverly instead. Been there many times on business related trips. 

Donna Casaletto  Glad to hear you’re doing well and had a great experience at MGH!  Love the Cape and Beverly is beautiful too! I’m sure you heard on the news of the seal that keeps swimming back to Beverly lol! I have heard wonderful things about both your doctors!! I have severe mitral regurgitation and Dr Langer is 95% sure it will be a repair but I do have to prepare for a replacement surgery. I can’t even imagine how scary it must have been for you to have surgery during Covid! I’m sure I’ll have many questions as I get closer to my surgery date! Thanks again ☺️‼️

Richard Munson  Good luck. Ask away with any questions. January will be here quickly. In some ways no visitors was a blessing in disguise. It gave me the time to focus on getting better. The nurses became my surrogate family and i cannot say enough about the cardiac staff at mgh. You may notice my picture profile of my first day home with my faithful cassie on the bed. She stayed there for 4 straight hours. .

Richard Munson  Being from usa i don’t know what 1.80 m is as i am 6-5  1/2 but ask about a bed extender. They go under the mattress. Germans are very mechanical so it should be a no brainer. I am so happy you are doing well. I feel like i know you. Weird. 

Brady Busch  I tried to adjust my bed,but was having trouble,so a custodian was in the room and asked him to help.He tried and the bed starting getting smaller and crunching me.A nurse came in and stopped it.It may have been later in the day,when another nurse was sitting at the computer in the room and the bed starting jerking a bit.She was surprised and I thought it was her doing it.Lol.

Klara Čičić  Oh well, miracles happen when you ask. Bed can be extended ofcourse. Germans being mechanical is true. Alles in Ordnung, they are unbelievebly organized.

Timothy Andre  Oh the joys of being tall (6’4”/1.93) My ICU bed was good. My step down unit bed, another story. It wasn’t until day 4 that my new shift nurse asked why I didn’t extend the bed. Well, I didn’t know that was possible. We had a laugh together and I was happy after he showed me how to do it. It’s the little things in life 

Richard Munson  Ha, no that would be glue. There is a body shop in my town that has done some work on my car and i suggest you visit them. Sternum repair. I hear liberty mutual might cover it. 

Richard Munson  First time i spotted her i knew she was for me. Getting the introduction was the hard part. Of course when we finally met, she was hooked. Lol. 

Richard Munson  Thank you ruth. I day does not go by that i don’t think of her as being one of the best friends that i could ever imagine on this earth. She gave so much more than she asked for. Yes, we have had some great dogs over the years but she had something special. The jury is still out on shadow but he is becoming joined at my hip for the moment. Will he remain that way is the question. He will mature around 9-10 months old and we will see. Sled dogs have an aloof nature. Cassie did not. 

Richard Munson  Ana, we should sing a duet. Getting to know you, getting to know all about you. Lol. Hope you are on the mend and off the bubble as they say. 

Richard Munson  I probably would be hand carrying meals to her and fanning her with ostrich feathers but i am a softy.

Richard Munson  A couple of the bolt holes did not line up properly but then i saw “ made in china” and it all made sense.

Rose Madura  Wonder6to hear from you Richard and Deena, thanks for che king in on him. It's so good to have our Richard back!

Deena Elani  Top of the mornin' to you, Richard!  Good to hear from you. I forgot about you still working; you really do thrive on being busy, even if exhausted.  Do give yourself a break for some total down time.  
As for Shadow, thanks for the heads-up!  My husband is set against a pet, but I am still on the fence.  I get that it takes time and money, but I love animals.  Will have to see. I never had a puppy, so your lessons learned are really helpful.  I definitely would get a trainer, check!  (My biggest issue is the end-of-life issue takes so much out- of-me.  I still miss my parrot so).

Robert Young  Richard the two little hellions(good name for um) are growing fast . When they raise hell the house takes a beating but they are worth it . We take them for walks and then in their play yard for ball fetch etc but really we do most of the fetching .They are almost 6 months …. Time has flown by.  I am glad to hear your using your boat and getting Shadow use to it. He will adapt for sure

Deena Elani  Hear ya, Richard.  I actually read in the medical journals that the heart lung machine can impact the optic nerve.  I am not a doctor, so whatever the case, at this point it is not reversible.  But for others, note that it might happen....

Richard Munson  The old heart/ lung machine. Made my vision fuzzy but made me more handsome so there is always a silver lining.

  Oh Richard, thank you for making me laugh. My vision seemed to have gotten worse since my surgery. Have gone to several so call specialists of the eye and got different opinions. We decided to go to UCLA Stein Institute last month and saw an amazing eye specialist who is taking all the necessary tests and precautions before she does my cataract surgeries in late August. I’m with you all that the machine does affect your vision. For me the cornea got thicker, how did that happen? Who knows. 

Timothy Williams  I had OHS 13 weeks ago.  Was on pump for 2 hours.  Since, I have had moments of blury spots in left eye and black spots in right eye moving around.  Doesn't last long.  Not all the time.   Mostly at home when sitting.  Surgeon's office blew it off and said talk to an optometrist.  I feel dumb trying to chase the black spot like its a bee/bug in the room!  I don't recall this ever happening prior to surgery.  Also, need for corrective lenses to read increasing.  For sure, this would not have changed my mind about surgery, but seems to be consequence.    

Rose Madura  My eyesight was dramatically changed.  I was on Amiodadrone for 3 months in high doses and was told by an optometrist that he sees a lot of people who had the same problem from Amiodadrone.  I never thought about heart lung machine but now wonder.  My prescription for my nearsightedness was extremely changed.  Like Timothy,  I sometimes see those black spots and think it is a bug too!  My farsightedness is also worse and he has me on the largest increase for my bifocals that can be.  I also have beginning of cataracts in both eyes.  I'm starting to wonder now if there is a connection or as Rita mentioned,  a coincidence. Or is it simply age?  

Deena Elani  I absolutely did not have floaters (black spots) before the surgery.  Stuff (protein?) detaches from eye. Floaters don't go away, but the eye/brain gets so used to them  that you stop recognizing them. - until new ones are made.  Wild, huh.

Eyes definitely deteriorate with age, but mine significantly declined right after the surgery  - as I now need glasses.

  Of course I’m grateful for the surgery and my surgeon, but vision did get worse and also my balance. All these things are manageable with the right treatment and not sorry I had the surgery. 

Richard Munson  Unfortunate but to do ohs the heart lung machine is a must. Unless you opt to stay awake for it. Ouch.

Rita Savelis  It is all manageable. Just annoying. And one can never know what caused what. There are repercussions/side effects/late effects with every medical treatment. The reason I had heart valve stenosis (in 3 valves) is because I had chemo and chest radiation as a teenager. So one problem (cancer) was solved, and then 40 years later I had a big late effect (triple valve surgery) directly caused by earlier treatment . It's just how all this works. Take care.

Richard Munson  We have no smelly socks. Our feet are pristine. I an giving him a probiotic powder with his food also. On it a week.