Robyn's Posts

2 Years Ago Yesterday - 2 years ago yesterday I went in to replace a bum heart valve and met with quite an adventure. 3 hours after a very successful surgery, my heart rolled over and put kink my coronary artery. A very rare and completely unavoidable accident. Don't let that scare you - while you need to make sure you take care of things, the odds of something like that happening are truly a billion to 1. On April 7th they gave me 50% chance to survive and were putting me on ECMO. 4 months later I was home. I'm doing fabulously and the journey back to everyday-mostly-normal has been uneventful in the health department. I take a single baby aspirin before bed and that's it for medicine. I like to live while sitting. Getting me up and moving around is a challenge - but then - I hear my heart beat when things are quiet and it reminds me I need to lose some weight. My husband, David is thinking of writing a book about our adventures - could never compete with beloved Adam Pick, but his story is informative and has been really helpful for me while I advocate for my father who had a stroke recently. I wake up feeling good and so very thankful every day (no bs here, every single morning), with my champion, David, by my side. Thanks again to him for keeping up with me, my journal and reaching out to you guys for support. I am convinced your thoughts and prayers brought me back home. 106 Days of Hospital Life. Retrospective highlights. Re-learning to sit up. Re-learning roll over. Re-learning to stand. Re-learning to walk. Constant companions: Ice Chips,Spoon & Yonker. Spectacular hallucinations Heparin shots in the belly Delcolax: Wow, that was fast! Ever changing Nursing staff Explaining history of events over and over and over. Sponge baths: brrrrr Tape glue everywhere Vicky the wound care nurse: The BEST! Ticket to Ride on Steam. How can you ruin scrambled eggs? Joining Facebook. puuhleeese shut off that alarm! Day 86: First shower Day 106: Home. The journey back to 'normal' began.