Kendall in hospital (not any more)

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: moocowpoo
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 11:38 AM

moo be with yoo!

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 12:02 PM

Somewhere I've got a cartoon of "The Dalai Lama's llama dolly with a doily" -- llama on wheels with a crocheted doily on its back being pulled by . . . oh, you get the picture.

With all the good thoughts and prayers being aimed at it, there must be a huge glowing energy dome over Maine Medical Center by now -- hope the Department of Homeland Security realizes it's a GOOD thing.

Linn

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Jeri
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 12:02 PM

You can be friends with a one-'l' beast
Lemur brother, leopard mama
But they ain't the best, cuz at the very least
You can go two-'l' with a llama

He's gonna get a dolly llama
Cause he's heard they're all the rage
For a cough in the night, he can hold it tight
Right up to his rib cage _{2, 3,} ... Ohhhhhhh,
He's gonna get a dolly llama
To keep his guts inside
When a breeze makes him sneeze, pass the llama, if you please
And he can hang on for the ride

Perhaps it might be best if he didn't read that for a couple of weeks...

Love from here. Kendall's in my thoughts today.

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 12:06 PM

Thinking of you Kendall, here in the far north......

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Dani
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 12:15 PM

Jeri, you're too much!

I'm thinking we'll need a Getaway workshop or concert just for all these wonderful homespun songs: this, the car song, Roger's camp song...

Dani

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Tinker
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 12:16 PM

Okay, this utilizing nervous energy thing has gone on far enough, my family isn't going to know they live here if I keep cleaning at this rate. The stairs are empty and vacumned ( all 33 of them!) and I'm down to (up to??) the third floor landing... At this rate I'll be vacuuming Bubba. Maybe I'll even finish the Christmas odds and ends that are hanging around.... I guess I'll sit for a minute and just focus out a little of this...

tink

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Big Mick
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 12:16 PM

I am on pins and needles here. SINS .... be sure and let us know as soon as you can. I had something come up this weekend which precluded me from calling, but he has been in my prayers steadily.

Mick

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Janie
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 01:06 PM

Fingers and eyes crossed--steady stream of prayers and positive thoughts---Is there family there for the docs to talk to when the surgery is over? Hope it is going well-like everyone else.

He is going to be pretty well out of it for awhile after the procedure is finished. He probably won't care if it is a girl or a boy llama!

Hey Kathy--you could always answer my p.m. when the family can't stand the cleaning anymore:)

Janie

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: SINSULL
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 01:52 PM

Good news from Kendall's daughter, Deb.
He is in recovery. The surgery went quicker than expected. I think she said 2 1/2 hours. The shorter the edposure to anesthesia the better. He is still incubated(?) but they will remove the gadget within the hour because HE IS COMPLAINING!

Kendall will spend the night in recovery/ICU and be back on the first floor tomorrow PM. No complications are expected but there is always the possibility of bleeding, infection, or adverse anesthesia reaction.

I will visit him tomorrow. It may be best to hold off on the phone calls for a few days while he gets adjusted to the pain and routine.
SINS, exhaling

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Tinker
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 01:56 PM

And a giant sigh sweeps across the land and sea... Keeping the light but singing a very cheerful tune...

tink

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 02:01 PM

or perhaps that sigh vacuams its way across the land?

"incubated" is probably "Intubated"

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 02:11 PM

Phew! THANKS, Sins!

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 02:27 PM

Complaining is a good thing! Thanks for keeping us posted (and Tinker, if you want to burn off any more energy, I have some vacuuming around here you can do).

SRS

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Jeri
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 02:43 PM

Intubated.
You can't talk when you're intubated. This must be very hard for Kendall, woozie-headed from being hypothermolated and anesthetized or not. One can only imagine the form these non-verbal complaints are taking. That was a SHORT bypass, and I hope it means there wasn't much to do! Thanks to SINSULL and Deb.

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: KathWestra
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 02:46 PM

Whew! Thanks Mary! Now maybe I can get some work done today, rather than checking this thread every 2-1/2 minutes for news.
Kathy (contributing to the Mighty Wind of the collective Mudcat sigh....)

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: jacqui c
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 02:57 PM

Thanks Sinsull

I've been busy working this afternoon but always with one eye on the clock and wondering how things are going.

Jacqui

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Janie
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 03:24 PM

Wow--I didn't know a by-pass could be done that quickly--must be because that heart is so big and he wears on his sleeve where it is easy to reach. Thanks so much Mary--it's not easy to have all of us here on the 'cat waiting for you to pass on every tidbit.

Kendall--it will probably be awhile before you catch up with this thread, but when you do.....hugs and kisses.

Janie

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 03:43 PM

This is excellent news! If they're talking about removing the breathing tube that quickly it means he's breathing well enough on his own already - astounding considering what he's been through. Yay for Kendall!

Incidentally - you also can't talk when you're incubated. Or at least I've never met anyone who managed it.

Dan

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Walking Eagle
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 03:52 PM

Wooooooooooooooo Hooooooooooooooooooooo!! I can breath now.

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 03:53 PM

Good.

'Tain't no more to say right now, and that pretty much says it all.

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Carly
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 04:19 PM

Good grief! I don't check Mudcat for a few days, and what do I find?
Kendall, my dear, you probably won't read this for a bit, but we are sending good thoughts your way. My mom is going strong 14 years after triple-bypass surgery, and of course there have been great improvements since then. Short surgery time is an excellent sign; heal quickly, now, and don't be too tough on your nurses!
Thank you, Sinsull, for keeping us up-to-date.

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 04:22 PM

I imagine the tube was inserted when he was out, but removal will be when he'll be awake. I don't envy him that. Get comfortable as soon as possible, Kendall!

SRS

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Rustic Rebel
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 04:48 PM

Glad to hear your doing well Kendall. Keep up the healing and get as many massages as the nurses will give you! Time to start eating garlic, vinegar and tomatos!
Heal well, Rustic

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Bill D
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 04:50 PM

great news! SINS--do not let him read this thread for a couple of days! (or only read him small selections..*grin*...wouldn't want staples a-flying!)

Look out, England, in a few weeks he's gonna have more energy than he's been used to!

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: GUEST,Pete Peterson
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 05:31 PM

Go away for a weekend and look what happens! Glad they caught it before serious damage-- you'll be fine! Hugs (carefully) PETE

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Cluin
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 05:57 PM

Get well soon, Kendall.

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: bbc
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 06:03 PM

Thanks, Mary. Kendall, best to you!

Barbara

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: catspaw49
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 06:10 PM

For those of you who have never been on a vent (intubed with a ventilator which does the breathing for you)..........I have no way of describing it. The best thing you can do and the hardest thing to do is relax and trust it. The more you try to breathe, the more you cannot.....you're fighting the machine. It's as if you were drowning. You feel as if you need to breathe to get air, but you don't. But since you're not doing the normal thing you think you are not getting air so you gasp.....it's very strange. The best thing to do is just lay there and hope for drugs to keep you out of it so you aren't fighting the damn thing. After awhile you get used to it but it's still very scary every time you wake up. I've had this experience 3 times now and if I never have it again it will be too soon. It doesn't hurt when they remove it....just a bit of the gag reflex to help it along and out it comes.

My worst experience was back with the aneurysm (aortic dissection) when I was on one for about 10 days. Most of the time I was either in a coma or deep on drugs, but I had to put up with almost three days of being awake and on the vent. When they finally removed it, I was hoarse for several days.

Now that it's over.....Great!!!! Get better real fast Kendall and do all the things on the list. Hopefully all went well and your heart will now have to heal around the new arteries (about 2 weeks) and then get used to operating as it probably hasn't in several years. For that to happen, providing everything else is okay, you need to follow a rehab program and don't try to skip out on it. It's worth it if you can do it.

Also, like you, I had my chest cracked for the bypass, but in '02 when I had to have the mitral valve replaced, I thought I would have to do it again. Luckily, one of the best cutters in the US is at Ohio State and he was doing the testing on the daVinci Robot. Try not to let this depress you, but they now do ALL bypasses at OSU without opening your chest!!! Two small pencil sized holes and that's it! You're out of the hospital in two days and there is no pain from the surgery! Ain't that a pisser? Sorry man......

For me, I was the second patient to have a valve replaced robotically. Again, the two pencil holes for the arms of the robot plus a small incision to pass the valve in to the robot arms and that was it. After the post op (vent of course), I was feeling good right away because the really didn't do anything besides make a small incision....No Chest Cracking!!!! That was glorious! It was a little painful to raise my arm, but compared to the chest bit you get when they saw your sternum, it was nothing at all.

Hold onto your pillow and try not to sneeze and it will eventually go away. It takes a few weeks for the chest to feel much like normal again and you may always have a numb sensation in certain places. Groan a lot and show people your scar and get the max in pity while you can......after awhile they'll realize you're fakin' it. But at first, you won't be so get all the sympathy you can......not from me of course. No, when you think of me, remember I'm the guy who told you that it could have been completely painlessly!!!
.....**yarharharharyarharharharyarharhar**..... (evil laugh)

We love ya' Kendall.....and stay away from the Llahma for a few weeks...

Spaw

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Charley Noble
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 06:20 PM

Good info, Spaw. Two to three weeks and our Captain should be back in better shape than he's been in years. Hope he still has a sense of humor.

Nice song, Jeri.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 06:33 PM

Kendall, Spaw reminded me of something. The scar.

My brother, the one who had nine bypasses, shows off his scar and tells everyone who will listen that he got it when he was bayoneted while trying to save a sweet old nun from the clutches of a gang of drug crazed biker thugs.

If he can come up with THAT, I'm sure you can think up something.

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Nancy King
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 06:37 PM

Glad to hear things have gone well! Mary, thanks so much for passing along the info.

Kendall, mend quickly!

Love, Nancy

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Gareth
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 06:50 PM

Kendall - Survive and confound them !!!!!!

Gareth

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 07:12 PM

If the scar runs up and down, vertically that is, I'd have a zipper tattooed over it!**bg** Take it easy and take heed of what Spaw says.:-)

luvyakat

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Amos
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 07:48 PM

I am sure Kendall us quite capable of expressing his ire with a single finger, if need be, so you can rest assured that he will not be muffled by something as lame as a mere tube. He has more gestures in his vocabulary than they have tubes intheir supply closet!!


A

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Col K
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 09:34 PM

Thanks for the news Sinsull,I am sure that all of us who met him on our trip with the Shellbacks will now be breathing more easily.
Give him our love when you next visit him.Many thanks for keeping us informed
Colin

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: JennyO
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 09:36 PM

Phew, thank goodness for that. Goes to show you can't keep a good man down. See you soon back in chat, Kendall :-)

Jenny

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 09:44 PM

They make some pretty good stuff for treating scars now. Mederma is one of them, kind of expensive, but it works. It's an old fashioned recipe, actually--the main ingredient is onion. My plastic surgeon (who treated a serious cat bite on my leg) said I could probably eat an onion a day and get the same level of scar reduction. It's much easier out of a tube, even if you like onions!

SRS

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: GUEST,Will
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 10:45 PM

Hope you feel better real soon.
Chances are if they make ya feel better naked
you'll probably look better too. Bonus.
Hope we see ya in Belfast.

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Brían
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 10:59 PM

Thanks for the update Sins! I am glad to see that Kendall is doing well(though he might not be thinking so right now)!

Brían

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Escamillo
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 04:01 AM

Breathing better here in the far South too. Get well very soon, Kendall, and do whatever the veterinarians tell you to do. They know nothing, but it is a little more than what we know.

A warm hug from the 37 C degrees of Buenos Aires
Andrés

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 04:41 AM

What a relief - take it easy Kendall - but we're still looking forward to seeing you over here in April.

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 05:50 AM

My fingers and toes were getting cramped from all the crossing1 Wonderful news!
Allison

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: alanww
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 06:42 AM

Thanks for the reports, SINSULL. Let's hear some more good news soon.
Brilliant news about the operation, Kendall! Now, you just hang on in there and get yourself fighting fit.
I am looking forward to seeing you in Stratford-upon-Avon in a mere 11 weeks time.
"All for to hear the small birds sing ...!"
Alan

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: freda underhill
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 07:59 AM

good on you Kendall - your humour has created a web of friendship around the world. Long may you shine!

best wishes

freda

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Fergie
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 08:17 AM

Sound man Kendall, the worst is now over and every day will bring improvement, you are in my thoughts as I offer incantations to the sea gods, stay safe and get well soon

Beannachtaí agus Sláinte
Fergus

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Peg
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 09:53 AM

good news! I knew it would go fine.

Off to Mass General to sit vigil with a friend whose daughter is having delicate brain surgery today...Kendall's suceess is cheering...

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 09:56 AM

Wonderful news. Hope you recover fast...we are looking forward to seeing you on this side of the pond Kendall.

Love
Khatt x

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: karen k
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 10:10 AM

Kendall, you continue to have my best wishes for a speedy recovery. I'm glad the surgery went well.

love ya,
k

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: SINSULL
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 03:21 PM

Kendall is back on Floor 1 and doing amazingly well. I visited him today. He is tired (DOH!) but in good form and humor. I suppose the morphine helps. He ate breakfast and lunch. A somewhat amazing feat since he, Deb, and I all looked at each other wondering who was the guilty party when the tray was brought in. It smelled that bad.

He needs lots of rest. And some sympathy when he hiccups. But he will be home and fine by the weekend.

Subject: RE: Kendall in hospital
From: Just another Dave
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 04:29 PM

Best wishes for a speedy recovery, Cap'n.

Dave