Mike Kalahar's Surgery Log

Today, mom and dad drove over to the other side of the Elwha, and went for a walk in the national park. They walked around Altair campground and then Elwha campground. All told, they walked for about 35 minutes. It’s nice to see dad out and about. :-)

Yesterday, Mom and Dad travelled to Seattle to do a post-op visit with the folks at UW Medical Center. The biggest thing we learned from the visit was that the oxycodone we were carefully administering whenever he wasn’t feeling well was likely responsible for much of his discomfort. As a result, yesterday he took a much smaller dose of oxycodone, and today he’s completely off it.

With him off the oxycodone, his mental clarity has improved quite a lot. The enormity of the surgery (and the need for a pacemaker) is hitting him pretty hard, but as you all know, he’s tough and he is dealing with it admirably.

There’s some speculation that the iron supplement he was taking was the cause of some of his other discomfort, so we’re temporarily discontinuing that. His crit is still down at 27, so he’ll probably start on iron again soon if he’s feeling well.

Thanks to everyone for all the good wishes. I’ll make a point of writing updates here more frequently, but I can’t promise I’ll have much to say. :-)

We’re all really happy to be home. There is a lot to do, but it’s great to be home. Dad has been walking several times a day, for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. The scenery here is a nice change from the halls of UW Medical Center. We’ve had several visitors, and have really enjoyed the company. Papa Gordie (pictured above) is here now, and we’re chatting about life and beer.

We are safely home. Ashleigh is making dinner while mom and dad visit with Bobbie and Don.

We’re on a 3:15 ferry to Kingston. We should be home in another few hours. Rumor has it they had a pretty rough time with the checkout procedure, but I haven’t heard many details yet. We’re all looking forward to having this part of the ordeal behind us.

This morning, I dropped mom off at the hospital and came back to the house to pack. Mom and dad are trying to get through the last hoops so they can check out, while Ashleigh and I pack. The bikes are loaded, things are ready to roll, and now we are waiting for a call to head to the hospital.

We can’t safely leave the car in the garage at the hospital with bikes on it, as bike theft is too big a risk. We’ll swoop in and pick then up, and then head for home.

This morning dad made it up an entire flight of stairs. It took a lot out of him, but having made it was a really big achievement.

Update: Mom just called to let me know we’re shooting for a 2:30 departure from the hospital.

Dad has been moved from the ICU to a regular room. The doctor says, barring any unforeseen events, he can go home tomorrow. Ashleigh and I made dinner and brought it to him (see photo). We’re setting him up with some movies on the iPad tonight, and looking forward to a probable trip home tomorrow.

Today, Dad has had a great deal of progress. He’s had a catheter in again for several days, and today he had that removed for good. Removing this, the last of his encircling tentacles, he was finally free. Combining that with increased strength and well-being, dad went for a walk without a walker this afternoon. His healthcare providers have decided that he’s ready to move to the general hospital floor, but they don’t have a bed for him there yet. He seems to be on track to head home in a few days or so.

We got an iPad yesterday at the apple store, and he’s been enjoying playing some games on it. Despite my best efforts to introduce him to awesome games like angry birds, and world of goo, his favorite seems to be solitaire.

He’s still got some serious wounds that need time to heal, but things are looking good. He’s cheerful, walking on his own, and generally being the smartass we all know and love.

Dad’s  all settled in with his new pacemaker.  He’s started to talk about being tired of being in the hospital, and wanting to go home.  It’s a good sign, but of course we’ll need to stick around for a few more days to make sure everything is okay before we can go home.  Tomorrow, he’ll likely move from the ICU to the general hospital floor, provided nothing goes wrong in the night, and the general floor has room for him.  We’re making plans to ensure he gets some tasty food, and entertainment.

To that end, if anyone in the Seattle area would like to drop by tomorrow, that’d probably go over quite well.  Bruce and Rudy visited today, and that was great.  If you’d like to visit, give us a call, and we’ll make it happen.

We had some good talks with the physical therapy folks about what sort of schedule to follow with exercise when we’re home.  It’s disappointingly slow for quite some time, but there are good reasons for all of it.  The two primary concerns are the healing of the sternum (which they had to break to do the surgery), and the security of the pacemaker wires.  Because of that, he’s not to lift heavy loads, or raise his arms above his shoulders for several months.  We’ll be going for walks every day, working up to a 45-minute walk each day.  These walks are to include mostly flat terrain, which will probably entail some driving, since 45 minutes of walking circles around the house would get pretty boring.

I apologize for the lack of a photo, but I’ve got nothing right now. I’ll make up for it tomorrow. :-)

Dad now has his pacemaker installed, and it is working great. He says he actually feels quite a bit better now that he has control of his own heart rate. With all the surgery behind him, he’s really ready to get out of here. His heart rate is up to 105, which is fairly high, but it’s normal for the heart to do that as it becomes more accustomed to the pacemaker.

Tonight he even ordered his own dinner! In general, all of his bodily systems are improving.