Home from the Hospital

I am home from the hospital. The surgeries took five hours. I went in at ten in the morning then the surgery started at noon. The first surgery was the ablation and it took three or so hours. They found the general location of the misfiring circuit and burned it. He thinks they got it but they don't know for sure. It was a large area.  We are hoping the atria flutter doesn't come back and if it doesn't. then we know it worked. I am think they got it all.

Then they monitored me for a bit to make sure everything was ok then I went in for the second surgery. They put the pacemaker above the heart on my left shoulder area. It has a nice scar, to match the one going down my front from the open heart surgery. They had a hard time putting the wire in my ventricle due to damage in the heart but they did git it. Dr. Alan Heywood is top of the game on ablation and pacemakers.  He put in the state of the art pacemaker for me, Biotronik. It will send info via remotely to the computer so the Doctors can monitor me. The "pacer" is set for 50 beat per minutes at rest and no more than 140 at hard work.

The pacer implant area. It is still very bruised and very sore.

Be aware as I type this, I am on pain pills so if this rambles on, you know why. I stayed overnight at the hospital and was sent home around 11ish. I got home and Janet was here so I chatted with her for a bit, then slept for most of the afternoon. My left side really, really hurts a LOT......I am in major pain. I did get up in the evening and went to see the sheep in the barn and enjoy the sunshine.

Then I had a set back right after I got off the ohone with Scott. My lower back went into back spasms. It  hurt so bad that I cried and the girls went all frantic on me, licking my face and nudging me. Poor Tess leaped on the couch and hovered over me, licking any exposed part of my body and being really concerned. Maid and Rainey put aside their petty dislike of each other and licked my arms. Nan shoved Rain and Maid aside to stick her snout in my face. I had Jeff massage my lower back to ease the cramp. I haven't been in so much pain like that for a long time. It finally went away after he massaged the knots. I have no idea where the knots came from but they were a real killer

Right now, I feel better so am posting this. I can't lift anything with my left arm more than 10 pounds for the next few weeks and not to raise my arm above shoulder height. I also have three major holes, two in my  groin and one in my neck, where they went in with the catheters. I have to make sure they do not open up so  they should heal in about a week.

I still hurt like hell but at least this is the last of the heart operations. I noticed when I got up this morning that I wasn't fatigued and my fingers were warm. That is so huge. It will be nice to have my heart at a normal pace and my life back to normal in a few week.

I will keep you updated on my progress. Thanks to everyone who prayed for me and helped me through this. It's nice to know you have good friends out there.