One Year Ago...

This was my baby.. one year ago.
May 4th, 2008. David Graduated! Finally earning his MBA. WE were so excited! All those hours and hours of study had finally paid off. Not only was he getting his Masters Degree, he maintained all A's except for 1 B+. (It was the teacher's fault-at least that's what we hear from our kids when it comes to their grades-why can't it work for David too.) He is truly the smartest man I know. He is a little silly at times and always opinionated, but smart. As we celebrated his achievement, we still had one more hurdle to clear.
David suffered from atrial fibrillation. This is a condition where his heart gets to beating to its own drum. He was exhausted all of the time and would nearly collapse when reaching the top of our stairs. Of course, he didn't know how sick he was until he got better. Stroke is the concern with atrial fibrillation. The top portion of the heart beats out of rhythm with the lower portion. Slower and then faster. This allows for blood to pool in the heart and clot. When it gets back to its original beating pattern, clots may get pushed through the body and result in a stroke.
On May 6th, 2008 he underwent a fairly new surgery called the mini-maize. It was supposed to be a non-invasive form of heart surgery. Let me just say, there is no non-invasive form. What they mean to say is that they don't crack open your chest. They go in through the ribs by cutting two slits on each side. During the procedure, they deflate one lung to work on one side of the heart.. pump it back up..deflate the other. They test and kill any misfiring nodes on each side of the heart and they also remove a small reservoir at the top of the heart. (We always joke about his heart being too big.) I think they did a a few other things as well.. amazing how with time we forget. His surgery went well and if you ask him the worst part of the whole thing was the removal of the catheter... and not the one in his heart. He was assigned straight to the ICU. (Timpanogos Regional Hospital Orem, UT.) Two and a half days in ICU and we were discharged! ICU is not a good place to be.. everyone is dying up there. Really. Our Dr.'s kept reminding David that he was not sick, he was just healing. Armed with his oxygen canister and a prescription for his drugs we were headed home.. five and a half hours North. We made it 3 hours to Jerome, ID. It was time for an emergency drug run. Walmart here we come. I left David in the car and presented my ID to pick up the narcotics.. (I always wanted to say that) We made it home in time to meet the home health people and the oxygen man. David was like an old man! Three days after surgery his heart started acting up again. Back to the hospital.. He was treated for infection at the incision sites and had his heart jump started again. NO more complications! I was begging.. three weeks later he was running up and down the stairs with ease. He was wearing his new heart like a new pair of shoes, running faster and jumping higher! He quickly decided it was time to invest in another motorcycle. I now say, they fixed his heart but messed up his brain. :)
This May, we celebrate his healing. 100% cured! (at least the heart part) I love you Baby!