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Open Heart Surgery Recovery Knowledge Base
What can i do to speed up the recovery of open heart surgery? I had heart surgery once when i was 3yo and i had it again about a week and a half ago, and i am so tired of not being able to do anything athletic, is there anything i can do to significantly increase my time out?
After heart surgery recovery - What is the BEST way to treat the patient? My dad just had a quintuple bypass. He had it about 4 weeks ago. He is still in pain and very irritable. I want to be sure to try and not say the wrong things to him. I just want him to recover with as little stress as possible. Asking how he is - is getting really old. He is SICK and TIRED of getting all the phone calls and well wishes - He feels like total CRUD. *For those of you who have had open heart surgery* How should I handle him/ talk to him in this rough time?
Open heart surgery (mitral valve repair) - recovery? It's 2 monts now, I'm feeling better, doctors say everything goes wonderful. Baisicly I'm feeling well now. But I still have a hard heart-beat, a little bit of tahycardia (71-75 while asleep and 80-90 while awake) and sometimes when I walk up the street or climb stairs I experience shortness of breating. Is this comon? Will these simptoms pass? If anyone experienced anything like that, please share. Thanx
Roughly, how long is the recovery time for an infant, 2 months of age, after having open heart surgery? My daughter has a large, 5 mm VSD that will be closed very soon. They can't do this laproscopically, so they will have to open her up. I am hopeful that she will be able to be home for Christmas, so I was wondering what others experiences were in similar situations.
open heart surgery? recovery for open heart surgery
Can anyone tell me how they are doing 18 mos after open heart surgery? I had open heart surgery 18 mos ago and still have tightness around the incision and the chest plate feels heavy. I was wondering if others have experienced this and other effects. I can't seem to find out info on recovery past the year mark.
Information on exercise post Open Heart Surgery - what is possible? My father had a very difficult time deciding to go ahead with his triple heart by pass as my mother (his wife of 44 years) had been admitted into a hospice after battling melanoma cancer for 8 years. On the morning my father was taken away for surgergy my mother passed away. My father awoke from surgery to be informed Mum had passed. He has always been a very fit man his whole life and is continuing to exercise however the complexity of his situation has meant that he is often lacking energy probably suffering a little depression not that he would ever say that. He also suffered a virus and infection in the lung which delayed his recovery further. He is desperate to find a book that gives you a guide on how far you can push exercise after open heart surgery as he is keen to get back into it but does not feel his body is up for it which I believe is more psychological than physical. Does anyone have any books they could recommend on this subject???
Can I file for FMLA to go to drs appt if I was on comp approved sick leave after heart surgery for 12wks? union comp 80% sick leave pay. Doctors orders to return after 12 weeks. Didn't have to use FMLA due to benefits and contract. Now i need to use FMLA for follow-up drs appt and tests for on-going heart problems. company is in procedure of changing FMLA saying they can go back and pick up used drs approved sick leave time that was used in a 12 month period. Can they legally do this if I never had to previously file for FMLA? I don't know what to do? I don't want to run into absentee problems. I have only missed one day work in two years, except for open heart surgery and recovery time.
Has anyone's newborn had open heart surgery?? My nephew was born 6/7/08 and we found out that he needs heart surgery to correct a transpositioning of his left and right ventricles. He is getting the surgery 6/12/08 and I just wanted to know if any of your newborns have had open heart surgery and how the outcome/ recovery time was. Thanks
Are there common long-term psychological side-effects to open-heart surgery ? Recently my father-in-law (66) had heart surgery to replace valves and put in bypasses (he has Type 2 diabetes and a kidney transplant around 8 years ago). A few days after the operation, in addition to the medication prescribed, he was told to begin exercising to aid recovery. For a couple of weeks he took virtually no exercise at all and spent most of the time asleep. He complained of aching pain and fatigue and would not be motivated to do anything. Routine tests during visits to the doctor could find nothing wrong. After two weeks of this inactivity he began to talk nonsense and suffer hallucinations so we took him back to hospital. Since then (3 weeks ago) it has been a cycle of around 5 days in intensive care, sometimes fed on a drip, after which he seems coherent enough to be moved to a less intensive ward. In a few days, the delerium returns and he goes back to intensive care. The doctors cannot pinpoint the problem but are now saying he may never recover. What to do
My father at 63 had open heart surgery recently. A triple bye-pass, valve replacement, and a hole repaired.? What can we expect his quality of life to be after recovery.
my mom mom just had open heart surgery and idk how to help? my mom just had quadruple bypass surgery two weeks ago and the recovery is so hard for her. the vicodin gave her nightmares so now she wont take it and is in a lot of pain. i want to help so i clean the house and try to cook healthier meals and try to make sure shes comfortable but shes horribly depressed and in pain and she cries a lot. is there something more i can do? i tell her i love her and ask if i can do anything and she says no. people are bombarding her with visits and phonecalls and its making my mom overemotional and she doesnt want it and i tried to tell them nicely to stop and she said it too but they wont. i just want to help her through the next 6 weeks. how though?
Open Heart Surgery Post Op Questions? I had open heart 3 months ago. I just wanted to know when these little pains go away? (ie - It feels weird when I touch the scar, like a numb tingly feeling, and also it still hurts if I lay on my stomach too much.) It's almost impossible to workout like I used to without feeling like my ribcage is going 2 tear open (I'm only 25 & I can't even do a bench press with more then 20lbs.) I'm petrified to go on jet ski's or play basketball for either smacking my ribcage in the water, or the basketball flying into my chest and messing me up again. How long have other's waited before doing similar activities? I was under the impression, from my surgeon, that all the aches and pains would go away after 3 months and that I could get back to my normal fitness level, but no. The pains are still here. I know recovery is different for everyone, but I was just wondering what some other people went thru thanks!
Im going to have open heart surgery so..? mitral valve prolapse with regurgitation is what my doctor diagnosed me with. How come everyone is acting like i can die any moment. I just want to know how long the recovery should be on that kind of surgery. And also is my mom overreacting when she says that I'm probably going to miss a lot of days in school because of the surgery she said something about rehabilitation. All i know is everyone around me is confusing me so much.I'm trying not to let it get to me but i don't know. Can somebody explain to me the risks of my condition and why is everyone really so worried (doctors nurses etc) im not panicking. to me its really not anything i was so dissappointed i cant go on any rollercoasters this saturday. im just wondering why everyone around me is so panicky not me. because it doesnt even hurt. just uncomfortable sometimes when im walking long distances (i walk alot)
Does anyone knows if there is an Ontario law in regards to short term disability re: heart surgery? I am going to have an open hear surgery and the surgeon told me that the recovery time is 6 to 8 weeks. Our HR told me that I have to use all my Vacation days (4 weeks) and the remaining sick offs that I have not used yet. But all these only covers 5 weeks. Is there a law that covers things like this?
Open Heart Bypass Surgey Recovery? My mother in law just had a bypass surgery can anyone tell me anything helpful about the recovery process like how long it takes etc...Her son told me that they told her she could not use her arms for 3 months for anything like bathing,going to bathroom etc..they are said to be giving her a heart shaped pillow she has to hold onto for the 3 months so she dont use her arms is this correct 3 months seem like a long time to not be able to use your arms? She is 50 and in otherwise good health,she is suppose to be coming home sunday
My mother is a patient at university hospital in Cincinnati,Ohio and about 2 months ago she had heart surgery. Basically this is the problem she had open heart surgery about 2 months ago had 2 valves replaced and 1 repaired.2 weeks afterwards she was sent to a rehabilitation center/rest home to get rid of this "mystery infection which was making her condition worse".while in recovery there the dumb nurse gave her waaaaaaay too many blood thinners which turned her bowels black and her urine (this messed her up majorly!!).Afterwards she returned to the hospital for a short stay and then came home.while home she was on an iv and other medicines and wore oxygen at night.a week or 2 later she started having chest pains and was sent back to the hospital where she had another heart surgery (which we were unaware of & same procedure) but now she's worse!!! there was talk of the Dr not doing something right but nobody knows. should we get a lawyer and or a family advocate? I think so but I know nothing about any of this and I'm soooooo stressed and scared for my mother. Any advice would be helpful!!!!!!
Two yr old son having surgery, how to help 4 yr old cope? My two year old son will be having open heart surgery mid Jan... I also have a 4 year old boy, who doesn't really understand what is going on. He understands that his brother is sick, but he still plays rough with him, and he is a very sensitive child. I'm not sure how he is going to cope when his brother is in the hospital for a week. The recovery is 2-3 months, so they wont be able to even "play" for months. Any idea how to make him feel extra special and understand what is going on.... but not scare him?
Can Aortic valve replacements be done by keyhole surgery? Ive had 2 replacements already both open heart surgery, I'm 30 now and unfortunately looks like another needed. The recovery time is hard and was just wondering if key hole surgery may be an option this time as its been 10years since my last heart op..? Thanks doc, yeah I had a human grapg at 18 so I could still have the option of chidren.. I had a mechanical valve replacement at 22 after the birth of my son, so I'm on warfarin for life now.. I've recently been told I'm looking at a third replacement, theyre just looking at the severity.. I took the mechanical option in hope I wouldnt need another op..
hole in heart? my grand daughter was just diagnosed with a major hole in her heart and the doctors said it needs to be fixed asap.her heart rate is to high her blood pressure to high and her pulse is to fast. they say she will not grow out of it it has to be fixed. i know its a major surgery because they said it has to be open heart surgery becasue it is to larger for a catheter to fix.how long is recovery and why were we told to limit her activity and watch for any blows to the chest.And why did her dr. not catch it for her school physicale got a record of his and it shows nothing and the doctor said it should have been caught years ago.Please no smart replys for this is very serious to us.
Ideas to deal with depression after surgery? My Dad (70 years old) had open heart surgery Aug 4th. He was released from the hospital 6 days later. Everything went fine and recovery was fast. He is taking pain pills, but doesn't like to. He says if he takes them, he feels physically better but doesn't want to do anything. Not taking the pills, he feels awful and doesn't want to do anything. He has also had a major diet change. He told me today he has been feeling depressed. I don't live close by and he doesn't have a computer. He does have my mother with him at all times. I am sure he is missing his golf game too. He is going to therapy & doing everything advised by the doctors. I am hoping somebody could give advice or ideas on how to "cheer him up". Let me know if you need more info/details. THANX for your time.
my husband was recently diagnosed with crd & was advised to have a angioplasti done, after recovery will he be able to work? he also was found to have diabetes he takes 1 round of insulin a day. this doesnt worry me like the heart problem,hes 58& until now was healthy but hes getting all kinds of problems: bad vision constant chest pain, difficulty breathing weakness . its 90 degrees here & hes always cold .he has a blockage in a major artery .wouldnt open heart surgery work better?
Has anyone had bypass surgery (heart)? My dad (76 yrs old) otherwise quite healthy, has just been diagnosed with several blocked arteries, but no damage to the heart. He was given a few options, the one with the best outcome being bypass surgery. Of course, we all know, this entails splitting open his chest. Who wouldn't be terrified. I know its a procedure that is being done more and more with greater success, but want to know what to say to him to ease him (if possible) thru this. What is the recovery period like, and how long? Both my parents have a cruise booked for July, I would sure like to see them go on it. I need comforting too.
Anyone want and update? My twins were born a 2 weeks ago today! Their names are Arabella Grace and Maya Lorenza. Maya Lorenza was 4 pounds 6 ounces and 18 inches tall. She was born with minorly undeveloped lungs and recovered from that and jaundice and has been home for 6 days. Arabella Grace was 3 pounds 1 ounce and 17 inches whenn she was born caused by me being a small person and her sister taking up more of the womb than her. She has gained 1 pound and is doing ok. She is expected to come home in 1-2 months. She was born with a heart malfunction that was not detected on the ultrasounds( 2 holes in her heart) that required open heart surgery and a very rough recovery. She had the surgery when she was 3 days old and was on a respirator until this afternoon. She will have tubes and such for a while but we are staying hopeful!!!!! ~JaDe~
9 wk old baby girl---just found out she has VSD.....? Hi!! my daughter is 9 wks old and we found out at 7 wks that she had Ventricular Septal Defect...she is "failing to thrive" as the drs have put it...she has only gained 2lbs since birth...the pediatric heart specialist wants to do open heart surgery to fix her medium to large hole in the wall between the right and left ventricles...but they want my daughter to gain more weight to have a higher recovery rate after surgery...Anybody go thru this with their small child. My daughter is only eating 10 oz a day...we have doubled up the calories in her formula...she is taking 2 scoops of formula to every 2 oz of water...so she doesnt have to work as hard to get the calories she needs...but she still isnt eating that well. Anyone out there who can relate to this?? It is rough on me as the mom...trying/ forcing her to eat. i forgot to add...whether she gains more weight or not,they will still do the surgery...and her pediatrician was talking about putting in a feeding tube today, if her eating wasnt up to par. I am not ready to have a feeding tube put down my daughter's nose...hopefully she is eating enough. we'll see. Thanks for the prayers and warm thoughts so far. thanks to all who have responded so far. The dr seems to be okay with what my daughter has eaten over the last 5 days...ranging from 8.5 oz to 13 oz a day . So far today, she has had 5 oz...mainly eating 1/2 oz at a time.
ANIMAL MEDICAL EXPERIMENTATION??????????? pleasee helpp? [debate project] ? We are AGAINST animal MEDICAL experimentation in our debate project and would like to know some peoples' opinions on quotes from an article that is FOR animal medical experimentation. what would you say to these: 1. "Some people also argue that animal research is no longer necessary because modern technology can replace the use of animals...However, many factors affecting both human and animal lives can only be studied using research animals. The use of research animals has been and will continue to be essential to finding the causes and cures for many diseases. 2. Rats are valuable research subjects because their body systems are similar to humans and other animals in many respects. The animals are also susceptible to many of the diseases that affect humans...whenever surgery is performed, anesthesia is used. 3. Research involving animals has helped identify the causes of high blood pressure and develop more effective drugs to control the problems. Other research has resulted in treatments for strokes and heart attacks that save thousands of lives and reduce recovery time. 4. Dogs have been especially important to researchers who developed open-heart surgery, pacemakers, and heart transplants. These techniques have revolutionized the therapy for people who have severe heart disease. 5. According to Dr. Joseph Murray, winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize for Medicine, "There would not be a single person alive today as a result of organ transplant or bone-marrow transplant without animal experimentation." My partner and I really need some different perspectives against/for these quotes and would like to know the many opinions on animal medical experimentation. We are against it for this debate. thanks in advance ;]
Animal Medical Experimentation [debate project]? We are AGAINST animal MEDICAL experimentation in our debate project and would like to know some peoples' opinions on quotes from an article that is FOR animal medical experimentation. what would you say to these: 1. "Some people also argue that animal research is no longer necessary because modern technology can replace the use of animals...However, many factors affecting both human and animal lives can only be studied using research animals. The use of research animals has been and will continue to be essential to finding the causes and cures for many diseases. 2. Rats are valuable research subjects because their body systems are similar to humans and other animals in many respects. The animals are also susceptible to many of the diseases that affect humans...whenever surgery is performed, anesthesia is used. 3. Research involving animals has helped identify the causes of high blood pressure and develop more effective drugs to control the problems. Other research has resulted in treatments for strokes and heart attacks that save thousands of lives and reduce recovery time. 4. Dogs have been especially important to researchers who developed open-heart surgery, pacemakers, and heart transplants. These techniques have revolutionized the therapy for people who have severe heart disease. 5. According to Dr. Joseph Murray, winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize for Medicine, "There would not be a single person alive today as a result of organ transplant or bone-marrow transplant without animal experimentation." My partner and I really need some different perspectives against/for these quotes and would like to know the many opinions on animal medical experimentation. We are against it for this debate. thanks in advance ;]
what would be the hypothesis, independent variable and dependent variable of the article? Prayers offered by strangers had no effect on the recovery of people who were undergoing heart surgery, a large and long-awaited study has found. And patients who knew they were being prayed for had a higher rate of post-operative complications like abnormal heart rhythms, perhaps because of the expectations the prayers created, the researchers suggested. Because it is the most scientifically rigorous investigation of whether prayer can heal illness, the study, begun almost a decade ago and involving more than 1,800 patients, has for years been the subject of speculation. The question has been a contentious one among researchers. Proponents have argued that prayer is perhaps the most deeply human response to disease, and that it may relieve suffering by some mechanism that is not yet understood. Skeptics have contended that studying prayer is a waste of money and that it presupposes supernatural intervention, putting it by definition beyond the reach of science. At least 10 studies of the effects of prayer have been carried out in the last six years, with mixed results. The new study was intended to overcome flaws in the earlier investigations. The report was scheduled to appear in The American Heart Journal next week, but the journal's publisher released it online yesterday. In a hurriedly convened news conference, the study's authors, led by Dr. Herbert Benson, a cardiologist and director of the Mind/Body Medical Institute near Boston, said that the findings were not the last word on the effects of so-called intercessory prayer. But the results, they said, raised questions about how and whether patients should be told that prayers were being offered for them. "One conclusion from this is that the role of awareness of prayer should be studied further," said Dr. Charles Bethea, a cardiologist at Integris Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City and a co-author of the study. Other experts said the study underscored the question of whether prayer was an appropriate subject for scientific study. "The problem with studying religion scientifically is that you do violence to the phenomenon by reducing it to basic elements that can be quantified, and that makes for bad science and bad religion," said Dr. Richard Sloan, a professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia and author of a forthcoming book, "Blind Faith: The Unholy Alliance of Religion and Medicine." The study cost $2.4 million, and most of the money came from the John Templeton Foundation, which supports research into spirituality. The government has spent more than $2.3 million on prayer research since 2000. Dean Marek, a chaplain at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and a co-author of the report, said the study said nothing about the power of personal prayer or about prayers for family members and friends. Working in a large medical center like Mayo, Mr. Marek said, "You hear tons of stories about the power of prayer, and I don't doubt them." In the study, the researchers monitored 1,802 patients at six hospitals who received coronary bypass surgery, in which doctors reroute circulation around a clogged vein or artery. The patients were broken into three groups. Two were prayed for; the third was not. Half the patients who received the prayers were told that they were being prayed for; half were told that they might or might not receive prayers. The researchers asked the members of three congregations — St. Paul's Monastery in St. Paul; the Community of Teresian Carmelites in Worcester, Mass.; and Silent Unity, a Missouri prayer ministry near Kansas City — to deliver the prayers, using the patients' first names and the first initials of their last names. The congregations were told that they could pray in their own ways, but they were instructed to include the phrase, "for a successful surgery with a quick, healthy recovery and no complications." Analyzing complications in the 30 days after the operations, the researchers found no differences between those patients who were prayed for and those who were not. In another of the study's findings, a significantly higher number of the patients who knew that they were being prayed for — 59 percent — suffered complications, compared with 51 percent of those who were uncertain. The authors left open the possibility that this was a chance finding. But they said that being aware of the strangers' prayers also may have caused some of the patients a kind of performance anxiety. "It may have made them uncertain, wondering am I so sick they had to call in their prayer team?" Dr. Bethea said. The study also found that more patients in the uninformed prayer group — 18 percent — suffered major complications, like heart attack or stroke, compared with 13 percent in the group that did not receive prayers. In their report, the researchers suggested that this finding might also be a result of chance. One reason the study was so widely anticipated was that it was led by Dr. Benson, who in his work has emphasized the soothing power of personal prayer and meditation. At least one earlier study found lower complication rates in patients who received intercessory prayers; others found no difference. A 1997 study at the University of New Mexico, involving 40 alcoholics in rehabilitation, found that the men and women who knew they were being prayed for actually fared worse. The new study was rigorously designed to avoid problems like the ones that came up in the earlier studies. But experts said the study could not overcome perhaps the largest obstacle to prayer study: the unknown amount of prayer each person received from friends, families, and congregations around the world who pray daily for the sick and dying. Bob Barth, the spiritual director of Silent Unity, the Missouri prayer ministry, said the findings would not affect the ministry's mission. "A person of faith would say that this study is interesting," Mr. Barth said, "but we've been praying a long time and we've seen prayer work, we know it works, and the research on prayer and spirituality is just getting started."
Is anti-Americanism a new phenomenon. Or did the WOT just bring out the haters that were always there? http://www.travelbrochuregraphics.com/extra/the_falseness_of_antiamericanism.htm
Is it just me? Or do people feel the same? There she is, finally asleep. She's lying right next to me in her stroller.. it was the only place she'd asleep. I looked over at her and I remember before I got pregnant. Everything was all about me. I could do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Just like 99% of girls, I dreamed of one day having a baby.. but, I didn't know it'd be so soon. Then, I remembered finding out I was pregnant. Was it the ideal time? No. Was it a happy time? No. Was I completely devistated? No. I was naeseated and sick and tired for the first five months and I could barely walk the last few months. Although I didn't have the perfect body before getting pregnant.. I had totally lost any sort of pleasing shape I did have. I knew everything would change, but I didn't know to what extent. It wasn't until the night before the Cesarean that I began crying and crying and crying and realizing just how different everything would be. I so wasn't ready.. I was too young.. I liked being up at night and I wanted to go to school. I wasn't ready for a baby. I woke up late the day of the cesarean and went to the park. I cried there too. I just wished there was something I could do to put it off longer. The ride to the hospital was quiet. I was so nervous and trying so hard to hold back tears that I thought it'd be best to not say anything at all. After getting called into the hospital room, switching into hospital clothing and lying down, the tears just came back. The nurse asked me what was wrong and I told her that I was scared of the surgery and even more afraid of having a baby. She said it was normal and that a lot of women have told her that. As I sat there, alone, listening only to the heart beats of the baby in my stomach on the monitor screen, I knew my life was over. It seems like it all went by so quickly. Into the operating room, the epidural, lying down, getting cut open.. and then the screams. Everyone in the room said, "It's a Girl!" and unlike the moms I'd seen on all those Birthing Shows, I didn't cry or smile. They brought the baby over to me and upon looking at her I felt nothing. In the recovery room I felt like such a bad mom.. I didn't have any feelings towards my baby at all! The hospital stay went by real quick and I was able to bring her home. It was true.. everything had changed. -I couldn't stay out all night anymore -I couldn't go to the park for my midnight swinging -I couldn't sleep through the day and stay awake all night -I couldn't walk out the door whenever I felt like it Although I knew this would happen.. it really doesn't hit you until it DOES happen. For weeks and weeks all I could do was cry and sit with this feeling of misery. I didn't have that strong love for my baby AND I couldn't be myself anymore. Then, one night at 12AM, Carrie was crying and wouldn't sleep and someone said to me "Enjoy your baby now.. because they grow up so fast." For the first time I realized I was spending so much time longing for the way things used to be that I couldn't enjoy the amazing things I was able to experience now. That's when I looked at Carrie and truly felt in love. It may sound strange to say that I "fell in love with" my baby.. but that's exactly what it was. Being a mom is one of the most amazing and rewarding and difficult things I've ever experienced. I sometimes think back on my freedom, my favorite activites, my sleeping uninterupted and I no longer feel sad. I smile because that was an awesome part of my life, too. I just looked at Carrie, sleeping in her stroller next to me, and I cried. Not because I'm sad, not because I'm regretful, but because even after everything I've gone through.. If I could go back in time to my care-free, no responsibility life and change things, I wouldn't. The love I have for her is unlike any other and makes every single hard thing I've gone through completely and 100% worth it. She'll never know just how much I went through or how much I love her and it's okay. Having her probably hasn't made me a smarter person and it probably hasn't made me more personable.. but she makes me happier than I've ever been and, for that, I owe my life to her just as much as she owes hers to me.
EASY 10 Points!???? is this the ending for s.e. hinton's the outsiders?? My head was spinning, I felt as if I was going to pass out, but I wasn’t sure about Johnny’s condition so I quickened my pace, falling into step next to Dally as we raced down the hospital corridors. When we reached Johnny’s hospital room I almost ran into Dally, seeing as he stopped so abruptly. The doctor looked over at us and moved out of the way, the second he had moved away from the door, Dally had burst through it, and of course, I followed after him. ”Johnnycake” Dally said with a sigh, as he sat down in the chair next to Johnny’s bed. I looked over at Johnny quickly before I took a seat on the opposite side of Johnny’s bed in the other chair. Johnny was deathly pale, his eyes looked different than they usually did, he didn’t look so scared, and he almost looked at peace. ”Ponyboy” he said weakly “Dally” he smiled a small smile and started coughing, when he didn’t stop coughing after a few minutes Dally looked at me strangely, he almost looked scared, and if Dallas Winston is scared, you had better be scared too. Finally Johnny stopped coughing momentarily, and he leaned back on the bed resting his head on the pillow. I looked back over at him and my eyes grew wide, in Johnny’s left hand was a splotch of blood, slowly dripping over his fingers and onto the bed sheet. I looked over at Dally, who had also noticed and we exchanged a look. I got up, about to go get the doctor, to ask him if that was normal, when a loud beeping noise interrupted my thoughts. The next thing I knew Dally and I were being shoved out of the room and into the hallway. Even though it was hard to see with the fluorescent lighting in the room, I could see the look of terror on his face, and I hadn’t seen that look on Dallas’ face, not since that big blow up with Tim Shepard’s ex girlfriend Maya. Long story short, Maya didn’t want Dally hanging out with Tim and of course, Dally told her to buzz off. She wasn’t having it, so she attacked him with a broken beer bottle and the look in his eyes when she broke that bottle and started advancing towards him, the look in his eyes would have been hilarious, had it been anyone other than Dally. While we stood out in the hallway Dally paced, unable to stay still. I wondered what was going through his mind, because I knew d--n well what was going through mine. Would Johnny be okay? What had just happened? What was that beeping? Is he ever going to be able to walk again? Will he be the same Johnny he was before? Will he have to go back home and live with his abusive parents if he can never walk again? The possibilities were endless, and they were slowly driving me insane. But if I was feeling the pressure, it had to be affecting Dally worse, considering Johnny was technically the closest thing to family that Dally had, gang included. We sat there for hours, dally pacing while I sat there, staring blankly at the wall in front of me. I didn’t blink much, just often enough so that people would know I was alive and not catatonic or something. People were passing by, but we paid no attention. Finally, the same doctor from before, a Dr Kennedy, came out of the room, and looked at us. Before he could say a word, Dally pulled out Two-Bit’s switchblade and brandished it in front of the doctor, who looked alarmed but wasn’t moving an inch. He probably didn’t want to get mutilated by an angry greaser, I know I wouldn’t. ”If you lower your weapon I’ll tell you what happened to your friend, you know, the one in the hospital room? The one you aren’t getting to spend time with because you’re threatening me” He said slowly and calmly, his professional side obviously outweighing the scared part of him. Dally lowered the knife and re-pocketed it, stepping back to allow the doctor some breathing space. ”Your friend Johnny has a lot of internal injuries, to be honest boys, he’s lucky to be alive right now. Back there, when the heart monitor went off, it’s because blood was leaking into his lungs, and he stopped breathing. Which then caused him to go into cardiac arrest, which is a heart attack” he explained, while looking at us. ”Were not dumb, we know what cardiac arrest is” I snapped at him. I was just about to push him out of the way and go into the room when Dally placed a hand on my arm, as if to say ‘calm down Ponyboy’, so I did. The doctor explained that Johnny had undergone 3 major surgeries in the past 6 hours we had been waiting. With a few months of recovery, Johnny should be able to get some mobility out of his legs again, but it was uncertain. Finally we were allowed back into the hospital room, where Johnny lay asleep in his bed, he looked really young lying there in the huge bed and that’s when I realized it, he was young. We had spent the majority of our lives trying to be ‘tuff’ when really, we had never stopped and actually been kids, you know? Being in the gang is great and all, but sometimes…well sometimes I just get to thinking what it would be like if mom and dad were still here… Darry would be in college, Soda would probably still be in school and we could be the happy family that we always had been, and none of this would have ever happened. Darry wouldn’t have hit me, causing me to run away to Johnny and end up in the lot, where Johnny was forced to kill Bob. then we wouldn’t have had to run away and hide in that church, and we wouldn’t have been there to witness the fire and attempt to save those kids, and Johnny wouldn’t be lying in that hospital bed. Behind me I heard the door open and Steve, Two-Bit, Darry, and Soda all came in the room, with Dally trailing behind them. I hadn’t noticed it at the time, but apparently Dally had left the room to call the gang, who were all at my house, bandaging up their wounds from the rumble. That’s when I remembered the rumble, and then everything went black. -- I woke up and looked around; I was back in my bed but something felt…wrong. I looked up, and to my amazement, my mom entered the room with a bowl of soup in her hands. I gaped at her in shock, and she gave me the strangest look. ”What’s wrong baby?” she asked me, while looking at me as if I had two heads or something. “I…you…you’re dead!” I shouted, as I scrambled away to the far end of my bed, as far away from her as I could get. ”You and Dad are dead! You died in a car crash! And Soda dropped out of school and Darry didn’t go to college and Johnny almost died and there was this big rumbled and…and…” I trailed off, because my mother was looking at me as if I had lost my mind. ”No Ponyboy, there was a car crash, but your father and I are fine. You hit your head on something, and you’ve been in a coma ever since. We were allowed to bring you home for at home care, but we didn’t think you’d ever wake up. This is…” she trailed off, tears springing to her eyes, I wanted to believe her, but somehow I felt it was too good to be true. ”What about Soda and Darry? Are they okay?” I blurted out. ”Soda is at school and Darry is playing football with Michael, one of his new college friends” she said, still looking at me strangely. Finally it dawned on me, it had been a dream. A really strange and messed up dream, one that I probably wouldn’t forget for a long, long time. But I think it taught me one of those life long lessons, ones you can’t really learn without experiencing it first hand. In my dream, or whatever it was, I had made some mistakes and there were things I had wanted to say that I never got the chance to say, but now I had that opportunity. I had been given a second chance, and I wasn’t going to waste any second of it.
Open Heart Surgery? I'm a little angry still about it but at age 32 I have 2 different Cardiolgists, 2 echogram'ists(?), and one surgen telling me I need to get my aortic bi-cuspid valve replaced as soon as possible before I start doing perminate damage to my heart. I understand the procedure and roughly what they tell me I can expect through the experiance. My question is: Does anyone have any suggestions to make the aftermath go smoother? Starting mostly while still in the hospital bed but also including the at home recovery. I'm told to expect 3-7 days in the hospital and 3 weeks at home to recover. I convinced the surgeon to do minimum-evacive operation so I'll only have half my ribs pulled away from the sternum so I'm told I can expect a little faster recovery. I plan to tell the wife to bring me a Turtle Latte on my 3rd or 4th day. And maybe bring a laptop so I have something to do while not complaining about the pain or fatigue. Any other suggestions?
How would you feel if your daughter had to have an emergency C section ? My only daughter I supported, love gave it my all - ( my husband left me 6 months pregnant for another woman) and sometimes I know I was not good enough because I had to work two jobs and I had problems. But she was in band, choir and went go to college......... Well my son n law went home and took a shower called " his mom " and during that time the baby heart beat started decreasing to dangerous levels and they rushed her in to surgery while he was home taking a shower he did make it in for the second incision, BUT never called me~! Until it was all over. an hung up after he said he was born. My daughter called me after she woke up out of recovery and said " mama where are you? the baby needs mittens his finger nails are long and he is scratching his face. I told her I would find some and be right there, after 3 stores I found some when I got there I wash them by hand an dried them and then watched as she suffered and he 5 lb 13 oz,.was going down hill through all these test and ended up in the neonatal unit his blood sugar dropped down to 17 and she and the nurse and I tried to get him to eat but when it drops that low it can cause sleep, coma and brain damage . I have diabetes and have studied medicine. I knew and my heart sank . How dare he ? I could do or say many things but I have not he looks at me with resentment and does not like me around because he drinks a lot and I am a recovering addict (marijuana / pot head, abused wife, molested child, mentally and physically abused child I have been in therapy steady 9 years. before that 14 years off and on therapy and I'm a survivor and do not dwell on my past but yet I know it affects me to this day) of 9 years and I know the signs of addiction I put myself in the best Chemical dependency center in NC and found a new life and purpose and forgave my self and ask others to do so. I never left her I was just numbing my feelings as all addicts do. I speak of this openly with the hope of opening others eyes. I talk to children and adults. I'm not ashamed of who I am. I was not a drug dealer and I worked every day and payed my way. We went to Church and I did what I thought was best. If I did not get to go to the University of NC and live in the high society's world as his mother has, I had a family and I had to work it does not make me any lesser of a person, and I lived a decent life with the exception of hiding the fact that I smoked pot with shame of my daughter and son finding out. I think he is still angry that I found out that he cheated on my daughter while they where dating, and it came out at the after the wedding party and ( he says he did not) but the sign was in front of my face and his friends accidentally told me at the" after the wedding party". It came up after she was about 7months pregnant and he asked me about it and I went through the details I knew and told him I would never hurt my daughter as I had suffered that pain ( 3 Marriages and all of them were red handed caught cheaters I divorced all of them and have been single for 14 years) and it was a pain that you can not explain it was like the death of a loved one, but it does so many things to a person mentally unless there are heartless and I told him I would come straight to him if I knew that he was doing something that would hurt my daughter and the subject was dropped. But he told my daughter and my daughter did not need to hear this she has been abandoned by her father and had only been married a year and my daughter told him that I carried a gun ... I'm not a threat to no one but I do protect my Family, and my home and have never threatened to shoot anyone I think if I had to it would be hard for me to but it would have to be in a life or death situation, such as a break in, rape or a robbery. But I'm really having issues with him not calling me. I was praying for my daughter and my grandson that night openly on my front porch, no shame in my belief's and I know God answered them, and I did not know she was in labor and having problems, I just had a feeling something was going on.He is grown 36 yr old spoiled baby boy and maybe I need to just pray more for him and ask God to lead me. But with my sugar not in check I will sometimes say something when he acts so ignorant and I can not help it if you have diabetes you will understand that but if not you will not. ANY suggestions? try being Bipolar and not rambling and only living for your children. I know I ramble but that not what it is about.. I give my daughter and son n law space because I know I can be over caring mom and I have had to change. When my grown child's life is in danger I want to be notified where they are and what is going on. I get along with my son n law because I know it is important for their marriage and now son. I look over his judgemental views. I'm open and honest. Very southern, but not prejudice I'm in counseling and the issue is with the son n law calling his mother and not me! My niece is a Doctor and was on call when they went in she knows hows I have sacrificed my life for my children, and no I have no guilt over my OLD addiction I have been clean for many years and she/ they went to meetings with me and I was not always an addict it happened in my later years of their life. Maybe I ramble to much but I'm not drunk when my sugar gets out of wack I get mean, shaky and sleepy and if not given proper treatment I pass out. If any of you have gone through this then you would understand diabetes affect each person different. So if you have anything bad to say just do not answer. this was useless. I will resolve the issue with my professional therapist. I do not beleive their is one mother that has answered this because when your childs & grand childs life is critical in danger MOMS WANT TO KNOW. JUST FORGET ANY MORE ANSWERS BECAUSE I KNOW IN THE LONG RUN ALL WILL WORK OUT.
Can someone help me with my essay? if i dont get this assignment turned in tomorrow, it will be hard to get my grade back up. I'm having a little bit of trouble with this essay. Can someone turn this into a 500 word, 5 paragraph essay? help appreciated... Like the title, 2007 has been the worst year of my life. To start off doctors found a tumor on my moms liver so they scheduled surgery to remove it. It was the day after her birthday when they did it. When they took it out, they found out that she actually had lung cancer, and that it had spread out in one of her lungs, diaphragm, and then her liver. So they took it out. They caught it in time, and she went through about six months of chemo. Before she even finished chemo, she was on her way to pick me up from school, and she lost control of the car, and then rolled it, and landed on the top. Thanks to friend, family, and God, she made it through the accident and finished chemo, and now she is healthy and cancer-free. Also my dad had a heart attack a couple weeks before she finished chemo. He had a quintuple bypass, and then as soon as the doctor would let him. That also brought me closer to God because my dad did not feel good, but he felt that he needed to go to church that night anyway, and a couple guys that used to be doctors told him that he needed to go to the emergency room, and the major thing is that if he would not have gone he would have left the next morning on a trip to New Orleans to deliver a trailer for FEMA, and that he would have had a serious heart attack that would have more than likely killed him. He made it through that. A couple weeks ago, he got a new job at Beau Greer's mine, then he was working on a roof and he had set his ladder on a pile of wet, slippery micha, then he fell with the ladder twelve feet. He got a huge bruise on his chin, chipped four teeth, cracked two ribs, and busted (not cut) his legs and elbows open. He had to get stitches in his elbow. He is just now getting over that. And then, there is one last thing, my grandmother (I do not remember when) was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. I understand that nothing bad happened directly to me, but they are my family. I give all credit for their recovery to God. I know that without Him, things would be a lot worse, and that He probably used it to test our faith. My family is starting to get back up on our feet and getting caught back up financially, after all the medical bills, and we hope that 2008 will be a good year. if u cant help completely then, help make it longer
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