KK. Hope you all had excellent Christmases! Mine was great; would have been better if I was home, but what're gonna do? As to why I'm not home, well, to save you wasting valuable time digging through past posts, we'll do a quick review: heart broke.
Moving on, you'll see I've attached a colorful and informative chart to the top of the page. You'll note the left ventricle, cleverly designated as "LV". And in that ventricle you'll find the "Aortic Valve" and it is this valve that has decided to stay open 24/7, like some cardiac Blue Dot and this is causing all kinds of problems. Anything you may have heard about these problems being related to vodka, hot, shirtless young men, hell raising until 5am, saunas and/or public nudity, etc, etc, are false... at least as far as my heart is concerned. I'm just sayin'.
(Anyone who has problems with descriptions of surgical procedures should stop reading here... you know who you are.)
So, on Monday morning the cardiac surgeon is going to open me up like a paperback novel, cut through the rib cage, remove a portion of the aorta and the aortic valve, put a Dacron tube in its place, fit in a "biological prostheses", close me up and go have lunch. What could be simpler?
The "biological prostheses" will, in actuality, be a similar valve from a cow. Certainly, having this addition leaves open certain philosophical and ethical doors: will dogs chase me down the street, sensing a yummy bovine treat? Will I sleep standing up? Will I suddenly find that I can't resist standing naked in a pasture all day chewing my "cud"? Time will tell. If nothing else, supporting photographs could be entertaining... or embarrassing, depending on your point of view.
Translated directly from the Italian, an operation is an "intervention". I love that. It's certainly more to the point. Anyway, post "intervention" recovery will be 7 to 10 days in hospital, followed by 2 weeks recovery at home (porn), then 6 weeks of physical rehabilitation, checking for leaks, oil drips and condensation under the rotor cover. Then HOME!!!
Well, you've all been great sports about this and I feel bad not posting a more suitable photo, so I'll leave you with this:
And if he's not an incentive to "get well soon", nothing is.
Arrivederci, beauties!
