Since the last blog post, I’ve had my right hip replaced, resulting in a lung clot and bleeding that required four units of blood and a stay in ICU. Recently, I finally had that pesky tricuspid valve replaced and developed pneumonia while in the hospital. I was intubated several times. Because intubation can be damaging to the esophagus, the surgeon cut a tracheostomy in my throat. Apparently, I was very bad post surgery, trying to karate my way out of ICU, and pulling out various gadgets attached to me. One doctor told me they took care of this behavior with some good drugs! I was in INOVA Fairfax Heart and Vascular Center! First in ICU and then Telemetry. The nurses were so very good at their jobs and friendly, too. But since I had a trach, I couldn’t eat or drink food or water. I was fed “food” (formula for adults),crushed meds, and water through an NG tube, This was the hardest part of my hospital stay. People always malign hospital food, but INOVA’s is very good! I wa...
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