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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Surgery plus 16

Busy day today! First, initial visit to Cardiac Rehab.

The initial meeting lasted about 1 - 1/2 hours. Finished paper work, given a description of the total heart rehab program, toured facility, and finally we set up my first four sessions:

Jan 6, 2011 - 9-11AM
Jan 11, 2011 - 8-10 AM
Jan 13, 2011 - 8-10 AM
Jan 18, 2011 - 8-10 AM

Next meetings were at the Downtown Health Pavilion, across from Lancaster General Hospital. First a chest x-ray. Making sure that the chest is healing & I did not do anything stupid the past two weeks! All results came back positive for the chest x-ray. It will be about 8 weeks until the chest is safe for heavier lifting.

The visit with Dr. Burlingame(my heart surgeon) was next. First the nurse gave me the simple tests, blood pressure test, heart rate, check all incisions, and any questions I may have. Then, one of the young doctors was in to check on the areas that were harvested for arteries - left arm(from wrist to elbow), right leg(from just below knee to groin area, and the left chest area. According to Dr. Burlingame, Jared R. Henninger, PA-C, is very good at what he does!
In fact, Jared was chosen to demonstrate this procedure on a DVD to be used in teaching the procedure! He is also a great young man, with a friendly and relaxing personality. I really enjoyed getting to know this group of heart specialists and would recommend them highly!

Last person I saw was Dr. Burlingame. The first thing I did was thank him for allowing me to get back to a "normal" life and extending my life! Open heart surgery is an amazing procedure & the talents of people like Dr. Burlingame is amazing! We also had a great discussion about one of my passions, pole vaulting! I have the go for the Keystone Games in 2012 and beyond!

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