Got to "look" at my Shopsmiths today...

[peterm]

farmer, best wishes with your recovery!

[dusty]

It won't be long until you'll be negotiating those stairs as though they weren't there. But until then, you have the hard part ahead of you. Making yourself behave for 60 days will be a real challenge. In a couple weeks you'll feel like you are all healed up but you won't be.

Now would be a good time to write a book.

[shipwright]

Glad to hear all went well and you are on the recovery trail Francis. When I can't be active I design things in my mind, the longer I have to be inactive - the more detailed the design gets. I even do it on long air trips. I'm thinking with your active brain the sky's the limit. .......... maybe some new Frankensmith mutant?

Take care and don't rush it.

[2centsworth]

A friend of mine 3 days post op went to open the window and spent an extra 3 days back in the hospital and then was on a 90 day lifting limit so don't lift anything. Hope you get to feeling better quickly. Glad all is well !;)

[Ed in Tampa]

It's been a long strange week+... I walked in for a quadruple bypass last Wednesday morning. Released to come home Monday afternoon. I have not been on-line very much since the surgery.
It's going to be a long winter. I'm on a 5 pound lifting limit for the next 30 days and a 10 pound limit for the next 30 to 60 days. I can't drive for at least 8 weeks.
I walked down the basement stairs today and enjoyed a look around. The trip back up the stairs was a little harder than the trip down. I think I will let them rest a day or 2 before I tackle them again...

If you are moving around that much you are doing good. The home health care worker that came to tend to my wife after her release from the hospital after her bypass was pleasantly surprised when my wife answered the door. The worker said that usually his first week or so is spent trying to get the recovering patient out of bed.

My wife had to ride in the back seat of the car something about you don't want to get hit with air bags if there was an accident. However many of the new cars have air bags in back too. We spent about 2 months with me driving "Miss Daisy" around. I think she loved it.

Did they give you a heart shaped pillow to hold to your chest when you laugh, cough or sneeze? That is standard issue for all open chest heart patients at our hospital.

My wife carried hers like a blankey for about a month. It was kind of fun to make her laugh, she got this really wide smile as the laugh started but soon that turned into a look of horror as her chest felt the pressure.

Now that you are through the operation have someone describe to you what went on. Interesting to learn all the muscle groups and all they have to deal with and how they do it. Also apparently there are nurses in the operating room whose only job is to hold the organs that have to be moved to do the operation. I was fascinated when they told us after the fact every step of the operation. Made my wife better understand what had to heal in her recovery.

Doctor told my wife at times she would periodically feel her organs slipping back into their proper place. Sure enough every so often she would get that look a pregnant mother gets when the child first move inside.

[roy_okc]

Farmer,

Great to hear that everything went okay and to see you back online.

Roy

[benush26]

Excited to read that you are up and at 'em. It will be fun to hear what new and interesting things are filling your days until you start making shavings and saw dust.

Be well,

Ben

[camerio]

Like one of my friend keep telling me : in my head I am still going strong as if I was 20 years old but my body keeps telling me otherwise.
Nice hearing from you and have a good recovery.

[robinson46176]

I passed my first follow-up exam Tuesday with flying colors. Upon checking my long incision both young ladies said "Wow!! that is doing really great". I have graduated from a 5 pound limit to 10 pound limit.
My wife and I put up a little over a quarter mile of electric horse fence yesterday. One of my grandson's dropped by and drove the 3 steel "T" post we needed with my very heavy post driver. My wife drove all of the smaller line post with a good sized hammer. She also tensioned the wire and I just tied it off at the end post. Lots of good walking. We have been working hard at getting the horses set for the rest of the winter. We sat a new 300 gallon water tank so we will not have to walk on ice every day all winter to water them. That tank will last a week or two per filling and we can watch them from the house to track the water level.
Our nice warm weather is set to go into the toilet tonight and stay pretty cold for at least the next couple of weeks. I plan to spend a good bit of that time cleaning and organizing (and planning) the basement wood-shop.
I go back for a follow-up with the surgeon just before Xmas and they indicated that based on progress so far that he will likely drop most of my restrictions then including driving.
I was very very lucky... They had indicated that I went into this thing in much better general health than most. I'm a non-smoker (quit in 1968), non-drinker and walked into the procedure rather than going in as a trauma patient. I am very heavy but have always been very active until this fall.
I don't plan on using a chainsaw or my sawmill before about February so this wood-shop will go a long way toward keeping me sane this month and next.


.

[dusty]

I passed my first follow-up exam Tuesday with flying colors. Upon checking my long incision both young ladies said "Wow!! that is doing really great". I have graduated from a 5 pound limit to 10 pound limit.
My wife and I put up a little over a quarter mile of electric horse fence yesterday. One of my grandson's dropped by and drove the 3 steel "T" post we needed with my very heavy post driver. My wife drove all of the smaller line post with a good sized hammer. She also tensioned the wire and I just tied it off at the end post. Lots of good walking. We have been working hard at getting the horses set for the rest of the winter. We sat a new 300 gallon water tank so we will not have to walk on ice every day all winter to water them. That tank will last a week or two per filling and we can watch them from the house to track the water level.
Our nice warm weather is set to go into the toilet tonight and stay pretty cold for at least the next couple of weeks. I plan to spend a good bit of that time cleaning and organizing (and planning) the basement wood-shop.
I go back for a follow-up with the surgeon just before Xmas and they indicated that based on progress so far that he will likely drop most of my restrictions then including driving.
I was very very lucky... They had indicated that I went into this thing in much better general health than most. I'm a non-smoker (quit in 1968), non-drinker and walked into the procedure rather than going in as a trauma patient. I am very heavy but have always been very active until this fall.
I don't plan on using a chainsaw or my sawmill before about February so this wood-shop will go a long way toward keeping me sane this month and next.


.

I am very glad to hear all of this. I am sure we all are. However, don't get too cocky too soon. It sounds like you are pushing just a little bit. I gradually over came the damages that I caused but I got overly aggressive during my recovery and I paid a price. You don't want to go there.