July 21, 2022
Many heartfelt thanks go to my terrific mother for creating this welcome-home, Italian dinner for me: Stuffed Pasta Shells and Eggplant Parmesan. She used her homemade sugo (sauce) that she made this week. Of course, my wife is enjoying the dinner, too.
I arrived home this afternoon after a total of SEVENTY (70) DAYS in a hospital and physical-rehabilitation facility.
Prior to arriving at my physical-rehabilitation facility on June 3, 2022, I was in the hospital since May 13, 2022, when my wife brought me to the emergency room when I was experiencing severe chest pain. While at the hospital, I would then endure and recover from two (more) surgeries.
I had quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery on March 9, 2022, but I required two plastic-reconstructive surgeries within and 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. These plates were installed during my initial open-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 seven-hour-long, open-heart surgery and made worse by my two subsequent surgeries, leaving me with eight deep holes in my chest to heal.
On June 20, 2022, my sutures were removed. On July 11, 2022, I no longer required a bandage on my chest.
While my wounds have closed, I still require many more months to fully heal and to regain my strength.
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