STRONGER EVERY DAY

I just wanted to follow up from last months blog and let everyone know that Mitch is home and getting stronger every day. We ended up back in the hospital one more time with a life flight and an AFIB ablation on the top right section of his heart.  He will still need something done with the left atrial side of his heart, but we are letting everything heal awhile first. I just thought I would share a few take-aways that might help others. 1) If you are in pain that is unusual for you and you just can’t get comfortable -  go get it checked out!! Don’t wait!  Even if it doesn’t present itself as any type of heart attack. Better safe than sorry. 2) Do you have a blood pressure cuff, finger oxygen meter, and the thermometer handy?  And do you know what your normal numbers are for each of those tools? Not that a lot of heart attacks will present where you can tell, but you can tell something is out of the norm if you know what is normal for you. 3) If you are the partner, do you have a couple days meds on you at all times in your purse or your backpack or your vehicle? if you end up staying at a hospital with your partner in an emergency situation you won’t even think about grabbing your meds on your way out the door, but you do think about needing them when the time comes to take your dose.  4) if you do end up in the hospital with your partner, everybody will tell you to be sure and take care of yourself, but it is so hard to leave the room because of your partners condition and every time you leave is when somebody comes and does something.  I really appreciated the five-dollar guest meals from the cafeteria delivered to the room and found the stairs a very quick way to get in a little exercise just to breathe. 5) Mitch said he is going to bring everyone he visits in the hospital a back scratcher as the plastic on the beds tend to lead so sweat and an itchy back. Sure enough they sell them at the hospital gift shop so we bought him one!  And last, but not least, do you have your affairs in order? Do you have your will at least?   Hopefully, you don’t need any of that but that’s the last stress you need during a stressful situation.  A couple other random things that I encountered are to make sure your overnight bag has everything full so if you do have the wherewithal to grab it, it’s not missing contact solution or something like that. (I had to use two denture cases and hospital general saline solution one night).  And be sure you have enough gas in your vehicle at all times to get you to the hospital because if you’re racing to the hospital, you don’t want to have to stop and get gas.  I am really bad at that as I tend to drive to the very last fumes before I fill it up, but I am doing much better since I had to be the ambulance driver for Mitch and get to Rapid City Monument Health.  I knew I had enough, but very little extra. Thanks again for reading and I hope this can help you or someone in your life.