I'm Going Home (Soon)

Monday, July 18, 2022 - GOOD, UH, TERRIFIC NEWS !!!

I am scheduled to return home from my physical-rehabilitation facility on Thursday, July 21, 2022 !!! I haven't been home since May 13, 2022, when my wife brought me with severe chest pain to the hospital.

This afternoon, I initiated my discharge process with three social workers here in my room.

Over the past three days, I have done well with testing by my physical therapists and my occupational therapist. I was discharged from care by my plastic-reconstructive surgeon's office on July 11, 2022, meaning bandages on my chest were no longer required from that day on. However, I must return home with a Foley catheter and then find a urologist to deal with that situation.

Prior to arriving at my physical-rehabilitation facility on June 3, 2022, I was in the hospital since May 13, 2022, enduring and recovering from two (more) surgeries.

I had quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery on March 9, 2022, and two plastic-reconstructive surgeries in/on my chest in May 2022.

For my surgery on May 19, 2022, my plastic-reconstructive surgeon removed metal sternal plates from within my chest due to a staph infection. The plates were installed during my initial heart surgery and were not replaced due to my chest infection.

For my surgery on May 25, 2022, my plastic-reconstructive surgeon cleaned out the remaining infection from within my chest. He then partially closed my chest by first clipping off the tips of my ribs and then by reattaching my chest muscle flaps to my body.

My surgeon used seven spaced-out sutures to close the eight-inch-long, vertical incision in my chest initiated by my open-heart surgery and made worse by my two subsequent surgeries, leaving me with eight deep holes in my chest to heal. He attached an electric wound vacuum to suck discharge and infected blood from within my chest and from my wounds. My sutures and my wound vacuum were removed on June 20, 2022.

Thank you for your prayers, well-wishes, and support. I will continue to pray for everyone who is going through rough times.

PHOTO: I decided to repost this composite photo I made of my chest wounds to show the progress of my healing.