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The Truth About Unicorns
Jul. 22nd, 2018 08:42 amMom had open-heart surgery Wednesday, the 18th. She was given three units of blood at the start of the procedure due to low hemoglobin, probably because of six days of constant testing. The plan was for a quadruple bypass, but one of the arteries was too small to accept the graft, so no home run. Her surgeon said the three other grafts should be sufficient to take care of the blood flow. She was on a ventilator until late Thursday night, and sedated most of the day. When I left Thursday evening, she was able to communicate by squeezing hands and mouthing words around the ventilation tube.
I came back to Louisville to recharge and, as CERT training instructed, keep myself from becoming a liability. Mom's PT team got her out of the bed and sitting upright on Friday, and walking with a little assistance yesterday. We think she's going to be released the day after tomorrow. Then, about six weeks of recovery at home - new ways of moving to keep the sternum from separating, moving and breathing exercises to prevent pneumonia and blood clotting. If things go normally, I'll have my mom back by Labor Day.
My Lexington family has been a lifeline through this, and it's been good seeing some of the places there that were touchstones for me - even if some of them are radically different. The Niece and I are going back tomorrow afternoon, and maybe Tuesday for her release. Otherwise, and this is up to Mom, I'll probably go to Liberty and start prepping the house.
Yesterday was the local Armada store championship - part of my recharge and return to normalcy. We had ten players, mostly locals, but a couple of dudes came down from Bloomington. Seven Rebels, three Imperials, and I think mine was the only fleet without cruisers. I went 1-2, scoring well enough thanks to points from objectives and a couple of murderous volleys from my glass cannon MC30s to land a sixth-place finish. Good times, good games, and a nice stack of prizes. Next up, I think, is our casual play event at The Louisville Game Shop.
One thing about sitting in a hospital waiting room and not really being interested in conversations about which visitor's relative had what procedure - you can get some reading done. I finished a biography of Ulysses Grant, tore through James Luceno's Tarkin, and dove into Catalyst, by the same.
I came back to Louisville to recharge and, as CERT training instructed, keep myself from becoming a liability. Mom's PT team got her out of the bed and sitting upright on Friday, and walking with a little assistance yesterday. We think she's going to be released the day after tomorrow. Then, about six weeks of recovery at home - new ways of moving to keep the sternum from separating, moving and breathing exercises to prevent pneumonia and blood clotting. If things go normally, I'll have my mom back by Labor Day.
My Lexington family has been a lifeline through this, and it's been good seeing some of the places there that were touchstones for me - even if some of them are radically different. The Niece and I are going back tomorrow afternoon, and maybe Tuesday for her release. Otherwise, and this is up to Mom, I'll probably go to Liberty and start prepping the house.
Yesterday was the local Armada store championship - part of my recharge and return to normalcy. We had ten players, mostly locals, but a couple of dudes came down from Bloomington. Seven Rebels, three Imperials, and I think mine was the only fleet without cruisers. I went 1-2, scoring well enough thanks to points from objectives and a couple of murderous volleys from my glass cannon MC30s to land a sixth-place finish. Good times, good games, and a nice stack of prizes. Next up, I think, is our casual play event at The Louisville Game Shop.
One thing about sitting in a hospital waiting room and not really being interested in conversations about which visitor's relative had what procedure - you can get some reading done. I finished a biography of Ulysses Grant, tore through James Luceno's Tarkin, and dove into Catalyst, by the same.