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!

Going Home Tomorrow (Sunday)

The cardiac doctor with the turban and beard said that I was good to go home on Sunday.

His assistant who came to check my incision (nice job with no ragged edges - Thank You! Dr. Pfeffer!) told me that I would be discharged about 1:00PM after all the paperwork, instructions, and medications are done.

I was told by one of the nurses that the two wires connecting my heart to a temporary pacemaker would be removed on tne day I go home. ("Hold your breath!" and YANK! as there's only a couple of stitches used.)

They try not to keep their patients too many days because they don't want the patient to get sick in the hospital.

They say that I did good.

Tuesday: Got the aortic valve removed and replaced, and two(?) bypass grafts. Went to sleep 7AM and was remember being awake at 7PM, although I'm told that I was in and out earlier Tuesday.

Wedneday: breathing tube removed and able to "talk". Able to "sit" uprightin a chair for total of seven hours (four hours in intensive care, three in intermediate care after chest tubed were taken out - "Hold your breath" YANK!). Moved from 3rd floor intensive care unit room (no bathroom with toilet) to 5th floor intermediate care unit room (got a bathriim with shower and toilet.)

Thursday: Walked up and down the hallway three times; passed on walking Wednesday as I had already seven hours of "sitting".

Friday: Big day for visitors - Bill, Gordon, Donna, Rick, Mom, Lily, Diana, Elizabeth,And Virginia. Smerke called on the phone.

There's cable television that we don't have at home.. Watched the Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel, AMC, CNN, and the Kaiser educational video on coumadin (polite word for warfarin which is known as a rat poison.) which I will now be taking to prevent blood clots.

Movies and programs included bits and pieces of Alien 2 and Alien 3, The Fugitive, Terminator 2 (I nap in between the bits and pieces that I watch.)

What was really good was "The Night of the Living Dead" where the live people did not refer to the living dead as "Zombies," The final resolution of the zombie problem was the phone call to the U.S. Army phone number stencilled on the storage container containing the original living dead (Secret Project of the U.S. Army) that was mis-delivered to a body parts shop in Louisville, Kentucky.

The U.S. Army simply launched a low-yield tactical nuclear shell that resulted in 4,000 killls over a twenty-square mile area.

Clean and efficient!

Sent from my Peek

Today's Wedneday

Yesterday was the DAY.

Fell asleep before 7:00AM (Teresa gave me a couple pills to "relax" in addition to acid-gas reflux(?) pill plus another of something. Diana says she talked to me as I was falling asleep, AND I don't remember talking to her.

Means that I don't remember ANYTHING between 7 in the morning to 7 Tuesday night when I know I woke up and knew that I did NOT DIE. Good Stuff! People are praying for me from the East Coast to the West Coast and who knows from elsewhere.

I know that I did not die for real becuse the book did not fall out of Norine's bookcase.

I don't remember:

- having IV put into right wrist and left neck .but do know that the two were removed by Maria.

- a tube put my pee-pee to collect my pee but know that Vicky pulled it out after telling me, "take a deep breath!" It hurt!. It also hurts when I pee.

- anything about the operation itself - the evidence I have is pain in chest that hurts when I breath and cough, two tubes coming out of my chest draining bloody fluid and gas, and a BIG bandage on my right leg where Vicky says they took a vein for bypass graft.

I think I had the operation.

I was moved from the ICU to "intermediate" care room because I am doing "well." I feel like I got hit by a bus, hurting all over, can't breathe or cough without pain and discomfort.

I am "doing well" because I can talk and sat upright in a real chair for several hours, as well as not asking for pain meds beyond what give me without asking.

Tomorrow they say that they are going to make me WALK with all these tubes wires hanging off me.

I am in Room 5781 with phone number 323-783-5781, visiting hours 8AM to 8PM with age limit and no colds/influenza.

Sent from my Peek

(Yesterday was) the DAY

Written Tuesday 1/26, ~5:30 AM.

Today is the DAY.

Nothing by mouth after midnight – no food, water, or meds –nothing.

Woke up at 4:00AM.

Took a shower with the scrub soap as a pre-operation preparation.

Lily and Diana brought me to Kaiser to check-in at 5:20 and will stand by until I come out of surgery, approximately 1:00 – 1:30PM.

I will be put "asleep" at 7:00AM, and won't wake up fully until Wednesday, being in and out of it (consciousness) today (Tuesday) after coming out of surgery.

This blog entry is being emailed for me by Diana, who also writes:

He has survived surgery and is in ICU. Miraculously, he is also sitting up. The breathing tube has been removed from his throat, too, so his recovery is going very well!
--
Diana M. Jue, MIT '11
MCP, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
International Development Group
dmjue@mit.edu
(626) 616-9238

One More Day

Tomorrow morning will be IT - open heart surgery to replace an aortic valve and double/triple bypass.

I have been assured that I will "go to sleep" and "wake up" after its all done with no memory of the surgery. Might be better to have no memory of what happens, and not know what the surgeons actually say about the patient.

Had blood (four vials) and urine tested, chest x-rays (back and side), filled out paperwork for admission - just need to sign in at 5:15A.M. tomorrow morning.

I will be made to sleep at 7:00A.M., and should be done by 1:00P.M. or 1:30P.M. Then I will be drifting in and out of consciousness the rest of the day and fully awake Wednesday.

Probably will be in Intensive Care for one or two days, followed by intermediate care for five to eight days, and then home for three to six weeks of recovery.

Talked with the anesthesiologist who answered questions.

Daughter Diana will send out an email after I come out of surgery.

Two More Days

In two days I will have heart surgery for aortic valve replacement and double/triple bypass.

While I have no problems with dying (everybody dies, see "Memento Mori") what has me concerned is the uncertainty involved - statistically this procedure has 85% survival rate.

That is, if I were to have this procedure done 100 times I would die 15 times "on average".

(This means statistically if an increasingly large number of batches of 100 procedures were to be done, the average number of times of dying in 100 procedures would converge to 15 as the number of batches gets larger.)

On the other hand, there's the certainty of being dead in two years if I do not have the procedure done - it's a no-brainer as far as making the decision to have or not-have the surgery.

After surviving and recovering from surgery I plan on having my ear pierced as a symbol of surviving a life-threatening situation..

(This comes from the sailor's tradition of ear-piercing if he were to survive a shipwreck, along with other things such as crossing the equator for the first time, or to ensure a Christian burial if his body washes ashore after a shipwreck.)

Instead of black pearl, I had made an earring with a two carat canary-yellow simulated diamond in a bevel setting (sits lower on the ear lobe), and will probably go to Old Towne Pasadena to a tattoo and body piercing shop that I found on Yelp for the ear piercing.

Diana will have her ears pierced. We will do this in May when she comes back from school.

Sent from my Peek

edited 3:34PM Sunday, January 24, 2010

"Stifling" - Why I Do It?

I previously wrote that I was writing this blog for my health. The full article on "stifling" can be found here.

Like all good husbands in the world, I listen to my wife.

She told me not to COMPLAIN, i.e., say something is the not right more than once. She does not want it repeated.

So I did not say anything when my health was deteriorating - that would be complaining, as my health was deteriorating over more than one day and the complaint would have been "repeated".

I did not say anything about my situation at Northrop Grumman - that would be complaining, as it was a continuous situation over many months and thus "repeated".

I was doing my best not to complain, me being the good husband who listens to his wife who does not want to hear repeated complaints from her husband.

OF COURSE, she tells me that I am STUPID because I did not do what employees at the Bank of America do in situations that they do not like - go on "disability" and still be paid for not working because of poor health and bad work conditions.

I am not of the high moral fiber as that of the typical Bank of America employee. Ken Lewis is an excellent example of a Bank of America employee.

The woman does NOT want to hear me complain.

As I am not a "manly man", I am prone to complaining - pissing and moaning like a woman, I guess.

My wife Lily tells me that I am "too sensitive", and that I should be more like her friend's husband, Addison (cute name).

When Susan tells Addison that he is "totally worthless", Addison (it is reported), will just "laugh it off" like a manly man.

"Ha! Ha! Hah! What, Woman?! You call me TOTALLY WORTHLESS?! Ha! Ha! Hah!"

I, Michael Jue, am not a "manly man" as Addison, and am NOT able to "laugh it off" as he does.

My COMPLAINT was that I didn't like being told that I was "totally worthless" by my wife. I just don't like it. I am too "sensitive".

Of course, she is TOTALLY JUSTIFIED, as I do not give her enough money, and what little money I give her, it is not given fast enough. Thus, I am "totally worthless" to my wife, Lily.

Another time, I was complaining that the air conditioning was not turned high enough in the car while travelling to San Francisco in the San Joaquin valley heat one summer. As the girls and she get cold more easily than I get hot, her solution to my complaint was a single word, "SUFFER!"

I have learned not to complain.


Disclaimer: SORRY - This is only what I know from my point of view. No lies, just what I see as the truth.

Not All Former Military Pilots Are the Same

Previously I had written about the former military folks at Northrop Grumman.

Nowadays they are hired because they "walk the walk" and "talk the talk" of our military customers and Northrop Grumman management needs and wants to have some kind of rapport with the customer.

Some of these pilot-types are really smart guys. Corey Moore, who is now Sector Vice President, Advanced Concepts and Integrated Solutions at Northrop Grumman Corporate Headquarters is an example. He was in the Systems Analysis group in the 1980's. As a F-18 pilot he wanted to be home more with his family.

Corey Moore even had some exposure to the THUNDER campaign model. He was SO SMART that he realized that didn't want to do the type of analysis that we were trying to do. He left Systems Analysis and went on to bigger and better things. Now he gets to move to Virginia.

John Haberbush is another smart guy. He's was also a F-18 pilot working in Systems Analysis at the same time as Corey Moore. John also had some experience with the THUNDER campaign model, and came up with two very smart sayings about analysis:

"If it looks easy, it's hard to do."

"If it looks hard, it's impossible to do."

John Haberbush was smart enough to get a job as an airline pilot and left Northrop Grumman.

There are other pilot-types at Northrop Grumman who were good at being pilots but perhaps not too good at anything else but "walking the walk" and "talking the talk" with the customer and building Powerpoint charts for the customer to look at.

For example, there is currently a "Program Manager" at Northrop Grumman (name not disclosed) who came to Northrop Grumman as a retired USAF colonel. He started out in Systems Analysis years ago. He sounded good, and looked good. Somewhat smart guy who was working on a fuel allocation problem and was able to boil it down to a mathematical description having six variables whose relationships were defined by five equations, all of which he was able to figure out. Smart guy!

Good start, but he was totally confused as to why he could not come up with a "unique" solution to his fuel allocation problem. Most mathematicians will tell you that to solve for an unique solution for six variables, you need to have six equations - he had only five equations.

He would NOT believe that six equations were needed instead of the five equations that he had, and would NOT believe the concept of there being an INFINITE family of solutions (values for the six variables) that would satisfy the five equations.

Conrad Batchelder in the next cubicle overhead the discussion and came over with his Hewlett Packard HP-15C calculator and SHOWED him two sets of values for the six variables that satisfied the five equations.

The retired USAF colonel left the cubicle shaking his head, staring at the sheet of paper that Conrad had prepared for him.

I still don't know if he believed the idea that he needed six equations to get an unique solution for the six variables.

Today he is a unnamed "Program Manager" at Northrop Grumman.

No, he is not Thomas Lee Hull.


Disclaimer: SORRY - This is only what I know from my point of view. No lies, just what I see as the truth.

Got a Date with the Surgeon

Pat from Cardiac Surgery called.

My date for surgery is January 26, and I get to check-in on the 25th.

This will be done at Kaiser Hospital on Sunset Blvd.

Am I the ONLY One? Don't Think So . . .

I came across a couple of web sites that may or may not be of interest to Northrop Grumman employees. What's really interesting is that the comments cover all parts of Northrop Grumman, and not just one sector.

Northrop Grumman management will find nothing interesting because THEY DON'T CARE what the employees think and feel as long as they get what they want from the employees.

The first web site is Jobvent.com. By the name, you would expect to hear from employees who are "venting" about their jobs. Take a look at

Working at Northrop Grumman — Reviews by Employees

Here's a sample: "Northrop is a company moving backwards. Despite some of their technical achievements they treatment of their people is horrific. They burn their people out, and are becoming more and more inflexible..."

The second web site is Indeed.com. They ask the question, "What is the company culture at Northrop Grumman?"

On this forum, we hear both the good and the bad. Some employees are OK with the company culture, others are not OK.

Here are samples:

"My team has a lot of fun during the day, but we also get work done. We plan lunches and things, and no one views it as a lack of things to do. My boss is great, very professional, but also jokes around with us."

"It's a great place to work if you're single, don't have a family, and don't care if you have a life. If you value family, health, personal time, and/or community involvement I would suggest looking elsewhere."

See What's the company culture at Northrop Grumman?


Disclaimer: SORRY - This is only what I know from my point of view. No lies, just what I see as the truth.

As Good as It's Going to Get

"As good as it's going to get."

That's what the kidney doctor basically said - my test results (ELEVEN vials of blood were taken out of my arm on Tuesday!) showed that the numbers that they were looking to go up - hemoglobin and protein levelss - have gone up and are in their respective "normal" range.

Many of the other numbers are within the desired range for dialysis patient.

There were some adjustments to meds to handle the numbers that were not within normal range. A couple of new prescriptions were written and picked up at the pharmacy.

It's a "GO" for heart surgery. We will call the cardiology group on Monday to get things going.

I now understand that we want to have my heart surgery preferably before the end of January before Diana goes back to school so that she can see me come out of surgery successfully.

More on Wes Bush

Two day ago I posted about Northrop Grumman corporate headquarters moving to the "Virginia area". Northrop Grumman management is so smart that I don't understand how or why management makes the decisions that it makes.

Looks like Wes Bush wants to change the culture at Northrop Grumman. The "dead weight" (deadwood and dog meat? this is a memorable quotation from a Electronics Division Vice-President many years ago regarding "reduction of the work force") executives at the higher levels will not be asked to move with the rest of the corporate headquarters to the "Virginia area".

See this L.A. Times article New Northrop Grumman CEO Wesley Bush shows why he got the job.

Kent Kresa and Ron Sugar are described as sentimental for wanting the corporate headquarters in Southern California because of their being homeboys. Wes Bush, on the other hand, has no such sentiments and would move the corporate headquarters to Nome, Alaska if his key customers were the Eskimos.


Disclaimer: SORRY - This is only what I know from my point of view. No lies, just what I see as the truth.

Not Everybody at Northrop Grumman Knows This

I was talking to somebody at Northrop Grumman this morning and mentioned that I saw the article in the L.A. Times regarding Northrop Grumman's headquarters moving to the "Virginia area". He had not heard about this news at all, but said that he was pretty busy at work this morning.

Wesley Bush made this move announcement on his first day on the job as chief operating officer and President, taking over for Ron Sugar effective January 1, 2010. The L.A. Times had this quotation:

"This is an important move for the company, and it's one that we believe will improve the effectiveness in serving the nation and our customers," Bush said in his first public statement as the company's chief executive. "The proximity to Washington enables us to be a more integrated part of the federal process."

However, I also notice that Wes Bush is a native of West Virginia, and went to school in Massachusetts for both his Bachelor and Master degrees in electrical engineering from MIT. Smart guy. He likes the East Coast.

Wes Bush doesn't waste any time.

Ron Sugar, on the other hand, was born in Hawthorne, and went to school at UCLA. Local boy. Ron Sugar didn't want to move the headquarters to the "Virginia area"; he thought it was fine where it was in Century City.

Wes Bush, the East Coast boy, thought that Northrop Grumman would improve its "effectiveness" if its headquarters were to be physically closer to the federal process in Washington.

Hasn't he heard of the telephone, and airplanes? Distances are not what they used to be when people had to walk for days in order to visit and communicate with other people.

Does this mean that Northrop Grumman has previously been "ineffective" in serving its customers because of the geographic distance between Los Angeles and Washington?

Ron Sugar didn't seem to have a problem with the physical distance between Century City and Washington, but of course, he's a local boy.

Wes Bus does have a problem with the physical distance, but of course, he's from the East Coast and has the degrees from MIT.

They are moving only the corporate headquarters (that's where Wes Bush goes to work).

Evidently the physical proximity of the corporate headquarter will increase Northrop Grumman "effectivess" to its customers. The other parts of the company that CREATES the products for the customers evidently don't need to be in close proximity to the customer and federal process. The research, development, and manufacturing parts of the companyare going to stay in Southern California where it will be more effective after the corporate headquarters moves to be physically closer to Washington and the federal process.

I don't understand.

As I have told many fellow employees at Northrop Grumman, manaagement is VERY VERY SMART, and I am not smart enough to understand the hows and whys of Northrop Grumman management decision making process. This is just another example of Northrop Grumman management being smarter than I am.

I thought that it was because Wes Bush is an East Coast kind of guy, and just wants to go back home where he grew up. Shows how much I know.

Here are some links:

Northrop Grumman Corp. headquarters moving to Washington, D.C., area (L.A. Times, Sunday, January 4, 2010)

Northrop Grumman moving headquarters from L.A. to Washington, D.C., area (L.A. Times, Monday, January 5, 2010)

Northrop Grumman to keep many jobs in California

Northrop move worsens Southern California's Fortune-500 brain drain


Disclaimer: SORRY - This is only what I know from my point of view. No lies, just what I see as the truth.

Happy New Year!

This is the beginning of a new year.

The only resolution I made this year is to survive the year in relatively good health.

We all hope for the best (at least better than last year). However, we need to prepare for the worse (my new email signature includes the quotation from Sun Tzu , "To rely on rustics and not prepare is the greatest of crimes; to be prepared beforehand for any contingency is the greatest of virtues.")

What normally happens though, is that things comes out somewhere in between the two extremes - thus by preparing for the worst and hoping for the best we are both delighted and disappointed. This is OK.

I have these things to look forward to this year:

1) Continued improvement to my health, including increase in hemoglobin count, and protein levels, and continued good results with dialysis.

2) Elizabeth's Birthday Party later this month, and Diana leaving to go back to school after a nice visit home.

3) Given my improved health, we are planning to have to have heart surgery after Elizabeth's birthday and Diana's departure, and not before.

4) Survive this surgery without dying.

5) Given my surviving this surgery (remove and replace aortic valve with pig valve, handle two partially blocked arteries), recover from the heart surgery which take a nominal three to six weeks.

4) Rehabilitation and regaining some semblance of a "normal" life in relatively good health.

These things might not seem like much to the ordinary person, but are a big deal to me.


Disclaimer: SORRY - This is only what I know from my point of view. No lies, just what I see as the truth.