For the last few of you who read this blog and didn't see a notification elsewhere, the bypass surgery went fine--I was done "off pump" (which means that my heart continued to beat the entire time they had my chest cavity opened) and it was fairly quick, as I was wheeled into the ICU around 10:30am after last remembering the anaesthesiologist saying something to me around 7:45am.

What they don't tell you about bypass surgery is all the extra things they have to do to you, like a port in your neck that has a catheter down your aorta, or the two chest tubes that you have in your upper abdomen that drains the fluid created by your body during the surgery and recovery. I had been warned about the breathing tube, which I don't remember much about even now, although I know it was still in when I woke up, as well as the catheter in my uretha. I also knew that I would have some pain from wherever they decided to harvest some blood vessels to use in the surgery. In that last respect, I got off lucky, as they were able to use one of the mammary arteries (we males don't need blood to that part of the body as much as females), and the vein they used from my right leg they took out using endoscopy, so the incisions are small (an inch near my knee and a small hole where they snipped it near the groin).

I'm recovering quickly, about as quickly as allowed. After only three nights in the hospital, I managed to get discharged on Thursday morning, which was a good thing, as it's impossible to get a good night's sleep in a hospital. They're constantly, even when you're out of the ICU period, coming by to take some measurement: blood pressure, blood sugar, temperature, etc. And that's not to mention that they keep you hooked up with a heart monitor, blood-oxygen monitor, and an IV. The only thing decent about it all is that the pain medication is slightly stronger, but not as strong as some think; i.e., I didn't have a button to press for more meds as soon as I felt any pain. In some ways, handling the pain to me is part of the recovery, and the general fatigue and aches with having your chest sawed open I'm not having too much problems dealing with. The sutures where the chest tubes were are probably my biggest hangup, especially since they still will need to be removed when I visit the surgeon for a follow-up next week. That's the kind of sharp little pains, like being stuck with a needle, that I don't handle as well.

But everyday is better, and I'm already up to walking about 2 miles on Friday, and will probably do as much or more on Saturday. We're making arrangements for Jill to return to Malaysia without me, expecting that my quick recovery will allow me to return earlier (say on the 25th of the month) rather than later. I've got appointments to meet with both the surgeon and the cardiologist in the next weeks, which my parents will still be here to take me to, and it's been wonderful to have a great bunch of friends here who have been visiting and offering to provide us with things that we needed like air mattresses (we rented an actual bed for me) and some pots and pans to cook with. I'm still having a little trouble sleeping all night, unfortunately, for while the house is quiet and much more appealing than the hospital, I still am required to sleep on my back for the next week (my normal position is on my side). That explains why I'm writing this at 5am.