Got Home Today

Got to go home today

Kaiser Permanent has a group of dedicated people who work in the same place, but don't necessarily talk o each other and coordinate things.

The idea of being "discharged" was a good thing for Dr. Sidhu, the man in the turban and beard who liked the idea of being rid of me on Sunday. I don't know what was supposed to be communicated and to whom, but the nursing staff was asking me when I was being discharged. I gave them "1:00PM" as that was the ime that Dr. Sidu's assistance suggested me me. She was nice to me - instead of telling me to "hold your breath" and yanking the wires of the temporary pacemaker out of my chest, she actually CUT the stitches with tiny shart scissors and then removing the wires.

Got printed instructions on new, old and discontinued meds, and how to take care of me for the next six weeks. (keep things clean and dry, watch for signs of infection and heart failure, etc.)

No driving, no heavy lfting (five pounds or more!) for six weeks. no vigorous upper body activity - have to allow the rib cage to heal up which takes weeks.

While napping, sister Kendyl Lyn called - I returned her call.

Also, Esther Germany, Toastmaster friend called from France - at least that what the "country code" show in my Google Voice Mail - Thank You! for the call, Esther - you had some good news!?

Another new adventure is being on Coumadin, (brand name - polite word for warfarin, which is RAT POISON). This being an anticoagulant, I need to be aware of diet, what I am eating/not eating, ANYTHING that will affect my "clotting factors" and having regular blood tests to measure how much my "International Normalized Ratio" (INR) is.

Because of the Pig Valve, I need to watch out for my body's tendancy to react to it and form a clot. A normal person's INR is 1.0. I need to have an INR of 2 to 3.

Because this is done by blood test and we have stairs to go up and down in the house, we asked about the possibility of the phebotomist coming. The nursing staff had asked and found that this was not done. However, the Anti-Coagulant Pharmacist Rick said that this could be arranged!