Appreciating the simple things in life…

beautiful truck!

 

As promised, a little update on my bump in the road.
First off, thanks @BulldogDan for openly sharing your scare and subsequent fix... it was helpful to me reading your experience and your positive outcome and attitude.
It also helped me settle the inner debate about publicly sharing my experience, which I decided to do cuz maybe someone somewhere facing a similar situation might read it and gain some small measure of benefit.

I went surfing Saturday and Sunday, took a nice long walk on the beach to gather my thoughts, then surgery on monday.

They started with the "less invasive" incision but decided after opening me up that they would not only be replacing the Aortic vavle, but also the descending Aorta. We knew this was a possibility.

Sunday:









Monday:



Surgery went very well.

Getting the breathing tube pulled out of my throat was a mother fucker.... but I must not have hurt too bad since for my first meal I ordered a nice crunchy taco salad.



My first "walk" in ICU was about 40' with a guy pushing the recliner from my room behind in case I got tired.
Next one was 140' the 300'...

Downgraded from ICU after 2 or 3 days to a room and started doing laps around then the nurses station. They had a little track that was 377'... started with 1 lap couple times a day, then 2, then 3 or 4 at a time.

I felt better when I got up and moved.... lay still too much and the stuff from the wound that's supposed to drain out the chest tubes doesn't... it just settles in your gut and hurts.

Home after 8 days in the hospital, my walks are now around the block @ 1/2 mile+ and I'm feeling good! Got a ways to go but I got aftermarket parts... ain't no stoppin' me now!





Just got home from the hospital... ZING! My heart!



#chicksdigscars

 

Good to see you on the other side! Yeah, no one I know says that the breathing tube was/is fun; but my dad said "as much fun as it's NOT, it feels like it lasts a lot longer than it actually does."

I have to say that looks a hell of a lot better than the normal hospital food does.

 

UCSD hospital food is actually not bad! They have a really good cafeteria on site and I think that's where the patient's food comes from too.
It was funny 'cuz the guys from nutrition who would come to take my order looked SHARP, like they could just as easily be a waiter in one of the fancy restaurants down the road in La Jolla. Black shirt, black pants, black tie, black apron.

I had one of the best bowls of Clam Chowder I've ever had in there, Chicken Posole, Beef short ribs, Ceasar salads.

 

First off, best of luck with the recovery...

I've seen a number of your posts and always tried to figure out where in SD you surfed. I grew up surfing with the TJ Brown Trout in IB...some of the best memories I have. Still have a good amount of family there and get back as often as I can. Unfortunately the days of me braving 55* water at 0600 in Dec are long gone. I don't even get in the pool here until it hits 78*.

EDIT: Leaving for lunch and realized I have this on my desk chair:

 

Glad everything went good. Don’t stop moving. SD has great facilities and great places to pt and recover.

for those of you approaching 50, get a colonoscopy, could give you an early indication of something serious.

 

@SD Surfer ….Dang Brother! It sounds like your entire ordeal could not have gone much better! So glad to finally hear from you. And thank YOU for sharing your story. I too had hesitated in sharing but have no regrets that I did. This whole string of posts has created a community inside an already great community. We’d all much rather be educated from like minded people than faceless strangers. Thanks for being so open and willing to share. It will save someone a lot of anxiety when they face the same circumstance. Take care my friend!

 

@BulldogDan These sort of experiences really have a way of forcing you to recognize your real priorities! Glad they found the blockage before anything terrible happend.

Quick question for you. I purchased my 21 Cement CM last week. Where did you get your cement grill surround?

 

Thank you, recovery is going surprisingly well so far. I'm amazed at our body's ability to rebound from trauma.

I surfed IB a bit back in the day, great waves there!! Water quality, not so much. Some of my first barrel visions of the lip throwing out over my head were at IB.

I surf all aver the county depending on swell direction, tides, etc. but quite a bit in La Jolla area, couple of the reefs, that pic is La Jolla Shores.
I go up to No. county a lot too, Encinitas area.

Foam board fun

 

Good stuff, hope you are able to paddle out again soon

 

I'm absolutely amazed how well the whole thing went from start to finish, and I cannot rave enough about the level of care I received at UCSD.
From the pre-op tests to the Nurse Practitioner who did my pre-op appointment who has an amazing way of presenting information in a way my pea brain can understand and a bedside manner that INSTANTLY put me at ease, to every single nurse I had... they not only do their jobs VERY well, but you can tell they genuinely care about you. The kindness and compassion I felt from them all was heartwarming and has a HUGE impact on the healing process.
I'm getting choked up right now just thinking about how sweet and kind they all were.

Your post quelled some of my anxiety and inspired me to share this, which may in turn help someone else, and so on... I LOVE this stuff! We're all in this together. right?

You're still feeling better than ever I trust?

 

Thanks, me too! This'll be my longest dry dock in some time.

Can't imagine trying to lay on a board and paddle right now though!! I sneezed a couple days after getting home from the hospital and damn near had the wife call 911, JESUS! Thought I'd ripped the breastbone wires apart.

 

Yep, they told me to try and not sneeze the first 48 hours with the stent. I didn’t but around day 4 I did and freaked out worrying I may have done some damage. I am doing well, going to cardiac rehab twice a week (they want me to do 3 days a week but I’m 35-40 minutes from the rehab facility) and having no issues doing what they require. The rowing machine really gives me a workout and I may invest in one for home. I hated it the first day but now I look forward to it. Gets my heart rate up and works all the muscle groups in a short period of time.

 

The grill surround, hood bulge and front bumper caps are actually overlays from Chrome Stoppers. They are a sponsor here. The price for all those pieces was way less expensive than ordering OEM parts for sure. They attach to the existing chrome with automotive 3M tape. They also send you little tubes of adhesive primer but I suggest ordering a 1/2 pint can from eBay or Amazon. One of the tubes I received was dry. The installation was pretty straight forward, the hardest part was removing the parking sensors on the bumper caps. The paint match was near perfect. Under certain lighting it looks a little off but at 1/3 the price of OEM it’s not objectionable. In fact RobMotive on YouTube did the OEM conversion and he remarked the color match was off…so all in all I am happy with the Chrome Stoppers product. Just take your time…can’t emphasize that enough. Chrome Stoppers has a YouTube video of them doing it on our Tundra. I watched it several times.

 

Nice! Yeah, I'll be doing cardiac rehab as well. I wanna say they scheduled it for 36 visits, I'm not sure how many times/week.

An hour per visit, workouts, dietary modification tips, etc.

 

I’m scheduled for 36 visits also. Since I’m only going twice a week instead of 3 times it will last 18 weeks vs 12. I may start going 3 times a week or if I feel it’s no longer challenging I just may quit after 12 weeks. On the days I have not had rehab I walk 3 miles in an hour each day on my treadmill. That is faster than they have me walking at rehab, which is 2.4 for 18 minutes, then 18 minutes on the rowing machine.

 

Two walks today @ a mile each, 3 weeks post-op.

One around the neighborhood this morning, second one on the beach with my wife. Life is good.

 

And yes, that is an actual tin foil hat the gentleman is wearing.

I saw him the day before my surgery too.

 

I would be asking him a few questions???

Glad your feeling better and a speedy recovery.

 

Thanks very much.

I saw him on the day before my surgery as well.

 

Hey Dan, how you doin' brother? I hope your recovery is still going well.

Figured I should drop an update since I just hit one of my major goals.

After 3 1/2 months of dry-dock, I'm back baby!!

First surf since having open heart aortic valve replacement surgery on November 27th, 2023
61 years old, been surfing since I was 13, valve was bad from birth.

Saturday I went down and just paddled around in the bay to see how it would feel laying on a board and paddling.
Paddling muscles felt surprisingly good for over 3 months out of commission. Sternum was a little sore pressing on the board but not unbearable.
Paddled 8/10ths of a mile on Mission Bay

Sunday was feet to wax, stand up and surf!
First waves I've ridden since November 26th.
Pretty sure this was the longest I've ever been dry docked since 1975!

Rode the foamy today... Going on a surf campout with a bunch of the crew next weekend, maybe I'll see what one of my regular fiberglass boards feels like.

Waves were terrible... a super high tide, choppy, jumbled mess, but my very first wave held up and let me connect some sections all the way in.
Felt like flying
I think that first one was Mother Ocean saying "Welcome back" cuz I didn't see anymore waves holding up after that.

Some Dolphins came by to say hi while I was sitting out there contemplating how lucky and blessed I am.

I made sure to walk around cleaning up for awhile after to say "Thank you". Man, life is good.

November 27th:



March 9th & 10th:

 

Thank God you're going to be okay. Enjoy life and wash and wax the tundra to stay calm and relaxed.

 

Glad your doing good. I enjoyed this positive thread. I have a long long list of health problems and hope to enjoy the days I do have left. I hope you all enjoy all the good times. I am also trying to not watch news/ look at anything news related on the internet. The Trillion dollar industry of Politics and consumerism loves us to fight amongst each other and they sit back and make their record profits don't pay taxes as we argue and fight with each other not understanding their laughing at us and talk about us simple people that because of their "news cycles" we think we hate each other when the real problem is them.

But anyways hope you guys continue to enjoy the simple things, your loved ones, and your Trucks!!!!!

 

I just saw this thread and I am sorry I missed it! So glad to see your progress and such an awesome recovery.

My wife is a cardiac stepdown nurse of 20 years (nightshift) in the city and you are the success stories she does it for. Congratulations on putting in the work to achieve the best possible outcome!

Keep making the most of this second chance!

Cheers, bud!

 

Well do me a favor and give your wonderful wife a big hug for me, 'cuz my cardiac nurses were all so unbelievably kind and genuinely caring, and their compassion and professionalism absolutely played a HUGE part in my recovery not only for the 8 days I was in their care, but also starting me off on a trajectory for success going forward.

Keeping a positive mindset, staying motivated to get up and walk my laps around the halls, I'd call them at 2 am sometimes and say "Who wants to walk with me?" and BOOM, they were right there.

I'm sure it's very rewarding helping the success stories, but I don't think I could do that as a career. Your wife is an angel and a rockstar, tell her I said thank you.

 

I'll absolutely show her your message (the entire thread for that matter). Wish everyone shared your perspective. High fives and fist bumps, sir. Stay awesome!

 

Yeah, there was a couple of patients in there that I got the sense that they maybe weren't in a very good headspace, and you can almost see it feeding on itself.

That's the part of your wife's job that I think would eat me alive, not being able to help those who need it but just don't have it in them to push through it.

That, and I don't wanna' wipe the butts of old guy's like me.

 

Between the gross people, the entitled people, and the gropers (can we just call it sexual assault?), the wiping, mopping and sheet changes are the least of her issues. Bedside nursing sucks.

 

Oh dear God, seriously?! People really suck.

I try not to be a pig just on general principles, but even if were I'd think you don't wanna' piss off the person controlling your pain meds!

 

There's a reason YOU are awesome and others aren't. Thanks for being good to your nurses!