The Winding Yellow Brick Road

Eric's evolution from day 4 to yesterday was pretty remarkable. I'm sure we're going to have some "bumps in the road" over the next few days, weeks and months, but so far, he's doing really well.

Dr. Svensson made his rounds with his team yesterday morning. It was a about a 5 second interaction. Kinda wild that Eric spent a total of 15 awake minutes (unless you count YouTube 😉) with this person that was inside his chest repairing one of his vital organs. So of course, Eric and I went and captured a moment with Dr. Svennson before Eric was discharged.

Eric's got a cool scar on the outside and a bit of hardware on the inside. The valve itself was repaired with some crazy felt type fiber, but he has 7 wires tied like a shoelace through his sternum. (I wish I would've asked for the x-ray image, but maybe we'll get a hold of it later.) He also has a bit of one pacemaker wire left in. The wires are placed within the heart during surgery and left in, in case they would need to pace the patient's heart during post-op recovery. Hooking electricity up to a wire that's directly attached to your heart and giving just the right amount of electricity directly to the heart is much more ideal then using external paddles. Anyway, when Eric's wires were pulled out on Thursday, one didn't want to come all the way out, so they clipped it at his skin's surface. No big deal, this is pretty common.

Fellow Westy Firefighter Quint Friesell contacted the Cleveland Fire Department and told them Eric's story. Before we knew it, Sam, from Cleveland Fire Local 93 was paying us a visit. He offered us meals and even a place to stay at the nearest firehouse, if we should need it. (So generous!) If the girls weren't back home already, they would be going to Cleveland Fire's summer picnic on Sunday. Firefighters really take care of their own. We are very fortunate to have the support of the Westminster FD and the entire firefighter community. Thanks Quint!

Eric's friend Tania and her sweet Miss Maggie paid us a nice visit as well. This is even after possibly exposing her household to head lice at the beginning of this week! Thanks Tania for all of your help over the last month. You really helped us navigate Cleveland and Cleveland Clinic.

Thanks, too, for all the messages, thoughts, prayers and overall love and support from all of you! I am so grateful! Thank you! I owe my parents big time. Looking after the house, dogs and girls, and many trips to the airport! Their support has been such a load off my shoulders! 💙

Eric's follow-up appointments are scheduled for Monday afternoon. We'll fly home to Colorado on Tuesday evening. Until then, we'll eat, sleep, walk and and medicate from the hotel room. We might venture out a bit, but no tacos!

For the next 6 weeks Eric has restrictions. No lifting anything more than 10 lbs. No pulling. No pushing. No driving. These are absolutes. His sternum needs to heal, as well as his incision. He needs to keep his blood pressure and heart rate controlled, especially in this first 6 weeks to give the valve repair the best chance for success. Eventually Eric will start cardio rehab, where they will monitor his heart as he exercises. Until then he's cleared for walking. Dr. Svensson said it to me three times in the 2 minutes I interacted with him. "Let's keep our fingers crossed that the repair STAYS successful." In Fort Collins, Eric will be under the watchful eye of his cardiologist.

Eric will take over his blog once again, now that he can look at a screen for more than 2 minutes at a time. Thanks for putting up with me!