Ron's in the Hospital

[RonRC]

Looks like the aortic valve replacement is on hold. They get you to stand up and take a few steps after coming out of anesthesia in intensive care. It is to avoid thrombosis and pneumonia from just laying in the hospital bed.

Of course, that means you have to have the ability to stand and walk. That would not be the case right after knee surgery. So, the heart surgery is postponed until I am out of a rigid brace.

I am fine with the delay. It means I can finish my last semester before retirement and I was at work today. It also depends on how I respond to the opioid drugs for pain. Those pharmaceuticals could make me weird, loopy or spacey. But, then, how is that different than my usual state.
Ron

 

[BigAl52]

Ron
How are you doing right now? When are they doing the operation on your knee? Al

 

[RonRC]

The sports orthopedic surgeon will repair the quad and tendon by stitching and stapling the tendon to the bone of the knee tomorrow. I will stay overnight and if all goes well, I will have a catherization angiogram on Thursday morning. That will tie up about 4-6 hours until I can come home.

My son will stand guard over my muzzleloaders while I am away. :shooter: You can't be too careful.
Ron

 

[patocazador]

He'd better stand guard over that stash of opiates.

They give Ritalin, a pill that causes agitation, to hyperactive kids to calm them down. Maybe the opiates will make you act normal? :Questuon:

Uuuh, on second thought .......

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

My son will stand guard over my muzzleloaders while I am away. :shooter: You can't be too careful.
Ron

Aw, heck. There goes my plan. :rabbit:

Don't pinch the nurses. You might be fogged up. Often they are male now.

 

[RonRC]

Given my current immobility, the nurses stay just out of my reach, doggone it.

Then there is the nurse "Big Bertha." She pinches back.....HARD.

Speaking of Big Bertha: Years ago, I was building an Estes Industry solid fuel rocket with my son. The rocket, with its big nose cone, was call "Big Bertha." He had to go to sleep, and I stayed up until 3 am due to my promise to finish it.

The next day at work, the office administrator said that I looked tired and asked if I was OK. I responded that I was up until 3 finishing off Big Bertha. :shock:

She looked at me and said: "I am impressed! Does you wife know about this Big Bertha?"
Ron

 

[patocazador]

Here's the original Big Bertha, a Krupp-made howitzer in WW1:

Big Bertha, a type of 420-mm (16.5-inch) howitzer that was first used by the German army to bombard Belgian and French forts during World War I. Officially designated as the 42-cm kurze Marinekanone 14 L/12 in Räderlafette (“42-cm short naval canon 14 L/12 on wheeled carriage”), the gun was nicknamed “Big Bertha” by German soldiers after one of its projectiles completely destroyed Fort Loncin during the siege of Liège, Belgium. A total of 12 Big Berthas were put into service.

 

[RonRC]

The quad tendon is reattached. The staples come out next week. The dressing is all red from blood, and that will be checked tomorrow.
Two nurses had to poke me 4 times to get the IV in, but the rest was a breeze.
Today, they did the catherization angiogram in the femoral artery to check for coronary artery blockage. One nurse took 4 pokes to get 2 IVs in.
The echocardiagram a few weeks ago showed the arteries to be clear. And, the big ones are. But, the angiogram shows that a descending artery is 90% blocked. That means 1 bypass will have to be done with the valve replacement. It also means that they have to cleave the sternum stem to stern rather than doing minimally invasive surgery.
Damn! I am a little aggravated, but there is nothing I can do so I have to grin and bare it.
Ron

 

[patocazador]

Nurses are the worst stickers there are. Doctors are the next worse.

If you can corral someone from the blood bank, they are usually good ... unless they are RNs. :thumb down:


As long as the end results are good ... that's all that matters.

 

[exMember]

ahh come on! I've had 6 needles stuck in me and my nurses didnt make me pass out once. Which is really unusual!

 

[Muley Hunter]

Mountain men don't need no stinking needles.





btw Jon........my PM to you has been sitting there for two days.

 

[patocazador]

ahh come on! I've had 6 needles stuck in me and my nurses didnt make me pass out once. Which is really unusual!

I have a friend who worked as a sticker at the VA hospital while he was in college. His wife was in the hospital last year and they were trying to insert an IV. After 3 different people tried to find a suitable vein, he got mad and said, "Give me the damned needle. You people are incompetent."
He took the needle and found a suitable vein the first try. He hadn't inserted a needle in anyone for 35 years and he could do it better than the hospital personnel.

 

[Muley Hunter]

ahh come on! I've had 6 needles stuck in me and my nurses didnt make me pass out once. Which is really unusual!

I have a friend who worked as a sticker at the VA hospital while he was in college. His wife was in the hospital last year and they were trying to insert an IV. After 3 different people tried to find a suitable vein, he got mad and said, "Give me the damned needle. You people are incompetent."
He took the needle and found a suitable vein the first try. He hadn't inserted a needle in anyone for 35 years and he could do it better than the hospital personnel.

I've done that to myself if they miss the first time.

Sad to say I got involved in drugs when I was younger, so putting a needle in my vein is no big deal.

 

[BigAl52]

Ron
Sorry to hear about the by pass. I hope you heal quick with the tendon reattachment. I understand the frustration I would be to. Let us know when you find out the date of the heart surgery. Al

 

[RonRC]

Hi, Al,

WE won't schedule the heart surgery until I am mobile.
I have learned that two, small doses of oxycodone pack a wallop! I felt remarkable fatigues and slurred my speech and felt miserable. So, down to a lower dose.
Ron

 

[patocazador]

The doc gave me oxycodone for my knee surgery. <a href='/tags/1' rel='nofollow' title='See all tagged subjects with: #1'>#1</a>: It didn't stop the pain but ibuprofen did. <a href='/tags/2' rel='nofollow' title='See all tagged subjects with: #2'>#2</a>: It made me feel like a zombie and kept me awake in an irritated trance-like state.

That stuff is useless in my opinion. I'd rather take 2 Advils.

 

[Muley Hunter]

Bad stuff. It makes me constipated. Plus, it's easy to get addicted to it.

Just take Advil and tough it out.

 

[exMember]

Now days, Pete just resorts to his hippie days and lights up a fatty to tame his pain :lol: :lol:

 

[RonRC]

When my brother lived in Jamaica, large joints were called "spliffs."
The locals filled those with maryjoanna or some substance like that. After all, how would I know? 
At Tan Son Nhut Air base in Vietnam in 1967 and 68, soldiers could buy a cigarette pack that looked just like Marlboro Cigarettes, but the brand was spelled Marboro. The blue, tax stamp sticker said Viet Cong Hoa. They were NOT filled with tobacco and cost only a few dollars! One of those "cigarettes" could entertain an entire squad or more.
Or so I was told. :lol:
Ron

 

[patocazador]

"At Tan Son Nhut Air base in Vietnam in 1967 and 68, soldiers could buy a cigarette pack that looked just like Marlboro Cigarettes, but the brand was spelled Marboro. The blue, tax stamp sticker said Viet Cong Hoa. They were NOT filled with tobacco and cost only a few dollars! One of those "cigarettes" could entertain an entire squad or more.
Or so I was told."


Was LBJ and Westmoreland smoking those too? If so, it's no wonder we lost that war. Now we have a pothead president. :slaps: