Stu News and Photos

Hi there. How's it goin'? How've you been?

To the folks who read this, allow me to say thanks for reading, and for putting up with my radio silence the past few weeks. So what happened, Stu?

Well...

'Round about the end of January, I found out that my mom was going to need open-heart surgery. Heavy-duty news for her, but the prognosis was good, and my ma is a strong soul. So I was nervous, but not *too* nervous. (and she's fine, as of this writing, February 27th, 2009, so everything's cool, didn't want you to be tense while you read the rest of this)

Ok, so there I am, in Los Angeles, my folks in New Jersey, and I have to start getting my head in the game. Also, I'm a believer in jinxes, so I didn't blog about it, or really tell anybody, until she was back home, so I stopped blogging and started focusing, and some deep prayin'.

My siblings and I discussed it and decided that I would take the first shift. We'd all meet in NJ a few days before the surgery, then they'd go back to their kids and I'd stay with Mom at the hospital until she was well enough to go home.

So I flew out, saw Mom, she looked ok. Not awesome, but not like a woman who needed a bypass or two. For 70-something, she's in pretty good shape. But still, they were all certain that she needed a bypass - the docs were pretty sure they'd need to do four, but wouldn't be certain until they got in there.

So now it's operation day and we get there, and we wait for a super-long time (hours) before they tell us that there's been some more emergent heart cases and that they'll have to get to her the next morning. That was pretty stressful, and as I was to find out, the waiting is indeed the most stressful part (Tom Petty is right, the waiting is the hardest part)...

So now it's Day Two and this time they are ready and she goes in to surgery. My pop, my bro, my sis, and me sit around and wait. Every few hours they come in and give us an update. Finally it's over, they tell us it went smoothly, she only needed three bypasses (grafts) and we can see her. So we walk to her post-op room and she's sleeping, but sure as G-d made little green apples, she looks better. I mean, to me, it's significant. She had more color or whatever, but she looked better than she had when she was wheeled in hours earlier.

After a few hours they wheel her to her ICU room and we wait for her to come out of the anaesthetic. She does, we say hi and I love you and whatnot, and all heave a sigh of relief.

Eventually, a day or so later, my sister and brother head home and it's just me and Pop watchin' over Ma. And I'll tell you, it was the most amazing thing I'd ever witnessed: my mother got steadily, noticeably better every four hours, almost like clock-work. The staff at the hospital was fantastic - upbeat, professional, competent, empathetic, and never showed a trace of the weariness that must come with the job.

A few days later Ma was well enough to go to a step-down unit, and almost exactly a week after they cracked her sternum to start the surgery, they wheeled her out the front door to head back to her own bed.

So here I sit, at my parent's dining room table, writing this all down, for you and for me.

It's been a pretty heavy few weeks - fair amount of stress, lots to do, a mild amount of hurry-up-and-wait, and way less boredom than I expected. I learned a whole lot of medical stuff in a short period of time, and I learned about the pliability of the human soul. No knock on anyone who has to have open-heart surgery, but for the folks who care and have to bear witness to the healing process, it's a lot of spirit-stretching.

So I'm pretty tired. Fortunately my sister is coming Friday (along with her beloved), and as Mom is clearly on the mend, I'll be heading home on my flight booked for Sunday.

Feel free to ask questions, I'll answer what I can without divulging too much about Mom's medical stuff (she's cool with me telling folks about the general stuff, but there's also a fair amount of stuff that anyone would want kept private) - anyway, ask away, and to the folks who are my friends in one form or another, thank you so very much for your presence - whether you knew it or not, you kept me sane throughout this period and I am ever grateful.

Now it's time to pick up a recliner for my Ma, and to deal with whatever else this day will bring. G-d willing, I'll pick up my regular blog posting some time next week. Prepare for both the boring and the mundane, as it will be my therapy as I sink back into normalcy.

Peace be unto y'all,

Stu