Picture of the Reunion Group
Picture of the Reunion Group
The "reunion" was held today, a bright, sunny day in Temecula and was attended by Debbie (Debbie - 1/24/08 scheduled surgery), Resqrn (Mike - 8/2005 surgeries), and Starrman (Jim - 11/8/07 surgery). We had a very good discussion of many pre- and post-op activities based on our unique experiences and tried to reinforce and augment Debbie's view of her surgery next week.
Lots of stories and you continue to learn that much of what we all experience is similar........but there are also unique aspects for us all. Mike was a wealth of knowledge from his days as a cardiac registered nurse. Some of the subjects we gabbed about were: anxiety, valve selection, chest tubes, tube in your neck (you can tell I am not the medical guy), catheter, incision pain, incision location and size, the first trip to the restroom - well you get the idea.........
We also spoke about HarleyGirl528's (Lorie) progress and that a number of her messages were sent while she was in surgery (courtesy of her husband). To our amazement she was back on the computer herself very quickly. We all send her our continued best wishes.
At the end, we gave Debbie a bag full of goodies for her hospital stay that she will be very thankful for like hand lotion, conditioner, breath mints, blistex, breakfast bars, soft tissues, peppermints, notepad and pens. We were there nearly four hours and it was a very nice afternoon for all of us. Here is a picture (from left to right - Jim, Debbie and Mike).