2nd Anniversary of 3rd Surgery

May 25, 2024, at home

Second Anniversary of My Third Surgery !!!

COMPOSITE PHOTO:

1. my chest: after my first surgery

2. my chest: after my third surgery

3. my chest: healed externally

To see the composite photo that I made (below), just click/tap on "Learn more," then on "See photo," and you will be able to see it.

Today is the second anniversary of my third of three surgeries in 2022.

1st (March 9, 2022): I had quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery. As usual, a section of a vein in my left thigh was removed to be used in my open-heart surgery. I had two drains installed in my belly. When I arrived home from the hospital, I engaged in physical therapy and occupational therapy (at home), followed by cardiac rehabilitation at a nearby facility.

2nd (May 19, 2022): A second surgeon removed the sternal plates from the first surgery that were holding my broken breastbone pieces together from within my chest. The screws became loose. He also cleaned out much of a staph infection also from within my chest. A wound vacuum was then attached to my chest, sucking out the remaining infection and discharge, running 24 hours per day. My chest remained open for about a week with the wound vacuum constantly sucking.

3rd (May 25, 2022): A third surgeon closed my chest by attaching seven sutures, leaving me with eight holes in my body from my lower neck to my upper belly. The wound vacuum was reattached and continued to suck on my chest for many more weeks.

I entered the emergency room of the hospital on May 13, 2022, with severe chest pain, and I would not return home until July 21, 2022, the day before my wife's birthday. I spent a total of seventy (70) days in the hospital and at a physical rehabilitation facility, the latter of which I entered on June 3, 2022.