Larry Gets a New, Improved, Super-Duper Heart, Just in Time for Valentine's Day!

When Larry had a heart catherization on Jan. 27, we both thought he might need a stent or two. We were shocked when the doctor came out and told us he had some serious blockages and was a candidate for a quadruple bypass operation! The 90% blockage was in the LAD artery, AKA, the "Widow Maker."  He spent one night in the hospital and then came home for five days before checking in to North East Baptist Hospital for surgery on Feb. 3.

This is not a very good picture, but it was taken just before he was wheeled into surgery when Dr. David Cohen was asking, "Do you have any questions?" Then they talked Super Bowl for a couple of minutes, and he was off to the OR.

Here are just a few of the monitors he was hooked up to for several days. There were more on the other side of the bed.

This screen showed his heart rate (top), blood pressure and oxygen levels which were both turned off at the time. A couple of times, his heart went into atrial fibrilation and sky-rocketed to 184 beats per minute. Medication seems to have that under control now.

When he asked for the newspaper crossword puzzle a few days after he got into a private room, I knew he was on his way to recovery!

Highlights of his nine-day stay were visits from grandchildren. This is a poster made by Macy and Marshall.

And this is a precious card Hayden made at school and had all his classmates sign. There are more on the back!

Here is the sweetest nurse's aide in the entire world, Estela. She is the happiest person I ever met. She helped Larry with his first shower and pampered him every day.

He also had wonderful nurses in the ICU, Gloria and Victor. In the CVU room, he had Nancy, Sue, Lillian, and David. There were also some precious student nurses from Galen College of Nursing.

One afternoon, these student nurses came in to take vitals and Larry said, "Do you want to see my scar?" They said, "Yes!" They had lots of questions. Later this day, they helped administer a unit of blood to him. He had wonderful doctors and nurses. After nine nights in the hospital, he finally was cleared to go home.

Here he is waiting to go home. The doctor usually made his rounds about 11:00 AM....

So, we waited, and waited...and finally about 2:00, he strolled in!!! By the time the nurse filled out all the paper work, it was 4:45 before we headed for home on this cold, rainy day! Yea, finally, we'll get some good sleep with no interruptions!

Here is the beautiful prayer quilt that was made for Larry by the UUMC Prayer Quilt Ministry, and was waiting for him when he got home. Each knot represents a prayer for him by my bible study class.

This is sewn into the corner on the back of the quilt.

Never ever underestimate the power of a card. Larry and I have both read and re-read all of the cards many, many times. Knowing he was thought of and prayed for made Larry feel better each day!

The cross on the wall in Larry's room--a constant reminder of just who was really in charge.