I don't know if he thinks he's still making up for missing my birthday or if he's pampering me in case I die during heart surgery on Thursday, but Andrew has been super, over the top chivalrous lately.
Yesterday he vacuumed the living room. Wow, right?
Today he did the dishes twice, cooked all three meals, took the trash out, and stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home from running errands. This last he did because he said it might be my last Snickers Blizzard before I die. Such a thoughtful guy.
I know I keep mentioning this heart surgery and it sounds pretty heavy. I suppose any heart surgery is, but this one is minor when you compare it with major heart surgeries...like a transplant, or a quadruple by-pass. I'm about to explain it to you in very short, simple terms.
The 2 upper chambers of your heart are supposed to be separated by a wall of tissue. That wall keeps the dirty, used blood separate from the clean, ready-to-go-out-to-the-body blood.
My 2 chambers are not separated by a wall, but instead, I have a "flap" there which creates a tunnel, allowing used blood to come on over to the "clean side". This used blood can potentially have clots in it.
Back in January a clot got through that tunnel in my heart and traveled to my brain which caused a tiny stroke. The stroke caused paralysis and numbness in my left arm and the left side of my face, including just half of my tongue. That was weird. My risk of having a second, much worse stroke is now too big to ignore.
Strokes are bad.
So on Thursday, my cardio surgeon is going to put a clamp of sorts around that flap to close the tunnel. My heart tissue will grow around the clamp, and after about 6 months, I should be just about as normal as any of you. Well, as far as the heart is concerned.
My chest does not have to be butterflied in order to do this procedure. The doc is going to go through my femoral arteries. One artery for the camera or ultrasound device or whatever it is, and one artery for placing the device inside my heart.
Easy, peasy. In and out.
We hope.
You have a right to complain about heart surgery if you want! I hope everything goes great. We'll be praying for you. And just as any time that a dad is left in charge, I'll be praying for the kids too! ;)
ReplyDeleteI'll be thinking of you on Thursday...and crossing my fingers that your husband keeps everyone clean and fed and doesn't burn the house down.
ReplyDeleteYou have been in my prayers and will be in them double time on Thursday! I'm pretty sure that at least half the family is going to have to have this done, so thanks for being one of the guinea pigs!
ReplyDeletePlease don't die. I would be wholly unsettled on whether to come all the way out there to your funeral or just memorialize you in a blog post. Don't make me make those kind of decisions. Take care fo yourself Bethany. This IS heavy stuff.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh! I feel so horrible that I didn't know about this until just now. I should have been checking in to see if you were ok! How are you doing??? Is the recovery hard??
ReplyDeleteYou are in my prayers. I hope the surgery helps you get back to business, and that you feel good again.