Wednesday, April 20, 2011

My Heart Upgrade

Morning of March 30th- Day of the Surgery…..

From Rochelle:

The day for David’s Mitral Valve Repair has come. We are referring to it as his 2011 upgrade. The general medical opinion is that he has felt a gradual degenerative affect of his mitral valve malfunction for many years as the valve’s ability to close tightly has gradually deteriorated. His only symptom has been being tired. Does not seem like a serious symptom to treat. We want to thank Dr. Lubow is General Doctor for noticing his heart murmur so early and minimizing damage to his heart.

He is really looking forward to having this repair to his heart completed so that he can get back to his regularly busy life. David likes to fit in as many experience as he possible can. Living with him is a little like watching someone fit together a life puzzle? He is always looks for a way to fill up any open space with another experience or friend.

David promised me some new experiences when I meet him. I just wanted to go on date and have some fun. Instead my whole life changesd. Like many who meet David they find their lives changed also by his gentle, fun and determined nature.

From David:

Life has funny way of shifting our plans and priorities.
I thought April would find me teaching a group in Kansas City and starting up a couple new classes here in Denver. Instead I find my self planning for open heart surgery with a recovery adventure that will last up to 10 weeks.

To my friends and family I know that this experience simply brings into focus that teaching meditation and intuitive development is what I am inspired to share with others. The blessing and rewards for all are cosmic.

Rochelle and I have been reminded of all our blessing in every one of you. Your interest and compassion during our challenges gives us an explosion of hope and enthusiasm.
Doc. I promised I only eat like this once per week.

Details of the Operation Today:

David arrived here at the hospital at 5:30 am, after being prepped for surgery, and meeting the big hitters on his team they gave him some happy juice and off he went into surgery at about 7:30am.

They began the incision and opening of his chest at 8:40 am. The surgery staff will keep me posted as he progresses through each step. David is healthy and this is a standard procedure so know one is expecting any thing dramatic to happen other than he will have a gnarly scare and a heart that works much better when it is all over.
If they stay with the plan of a Mitral Valve repair he should be in recovery by noonish today.

As soon as he is out of surgery I will send a quick update to all on this list.




This is the last thing that David Remembers:)!

Visiting at University Hospital:
Love to see you….. It is expected that David will be fairly out of it the balance of today and much of Thursday. I would suggest that you touch base with me if you want to visit before Saturday.

FYI-He is planning to watch the Nuggets tonight and is worried they will not have the correct cable channel here at the hospital.


The History:
I do not mind answering any questions you have about why David is having this surgery. I love hearing about your similar health related stories. They have greatly reduced our fears and worries. I wanted to share a brief overview of his condition and how we discovered it. As you can image I have repeated this story many times. I want everyone to have the same information.

As many of you know David discover about a year ago that he had a Mitral Valve in his heart that was not closing tightly. It is a common birth abnormality that often never gets worse and is never issue. His mitral valve allows blood to flow back into his left upper ventricle of his heart every time it beats. This makes his heart work harder to compensate the heart squeezes harder to move more blood. Over time this could lead to many other problems. By doing the surgery now he can avoid any damage to his heart and he will lead a normal life.

He did not have any symptoms until his heart went into fibulation March 5th. This put him in the hospital until they could get his heart into a normal rhythm again.

We meet with his cardiac surgeon Dr. Joe Cleveland who told us that his mitral valve needs this repair right away to avoid further complications.


They estimate his hospital stay to be from 4 to 10 days then he will have another 8 weeks to what they consider full recover. Pretty amazing really when you consider that they open the Chest and stop his heart and a machine will circulate his blood and breathe for him for up to 4 hours during the surgery.

You are on a distribution list. I will keep everyone up to date-
· When he is out of surgery
· When he is out of the ICU
· The Day we head for home

I will be with him during the hospital stay and full time for at least the first week at home.

Feel free to e-mail, Text or call me. My number is 303-549-6502
rochellef@yogaofthemind.com

What an INTENSE day!

It is 6:30 PM. David has been out of surgery since 12:30 today. For the information that you most want to know he is doing really good!!!. He came out of surgery with really stable vitals. He is only on two medications one for pain and one to stabilize his heart until it settles down from the surgery.

The toughest part was the breathing tube that had to stay in until he was awake enough to breath on his own. The nurses gave me the breath coaching job for an hour. David really wanted the tube out. He did really good staying relaxed and remembering to breath.

Thanks to all who provided healing and guides during the surgery. David really appreciates your efforts and knows that it contributed to his Amazingly Successful Mitral Valve Repair surgery.

For those of you that might want to know more details below is a photo that Dr. Cleveland took of the damaged mitral valve with his iphone during the surgery. COOL!!!! (You know the medical junkie in me loved this)

What you are looking at here is the problem flap in the mitral valve- The surgeon removed this flap of tissue because 3 of the tissue strings that open and close the flap were detached and this flap was allowing the flow of blood back into the upper left Ventricle. Thus the problem. Very Bad! Makes you feel fatigued and short of breath. Long term this would have caused congestive heart failure. Really Not Good!
In summary David’s Mitral Valve is a repair. He has no back flow of blood. Not a drop. Huge success!!! Thanks Dr. Cleveland and team.

David is currently watching the Nuggets Game and napping. He feels pretty good considering what his body just went through. Getting his pain meds just right so he can make friends with his new friend "Chest Pain".

David’s throat is really sore from the breathing tube so the phone is not good for him. I will update everyone on Thursday but the ICU nurses are thinking he might be sent to a regular cardiac room by Friday afternoon. Which would be awesome?

March 31st I did a short list update:
For those of you that are following along a little more closely I thought you would enjoy seeing the below picture of David just 24 hours after Heart Surgery. Amazing.

David is resting now. Not much sleep last night. They did not have the pain meds adjusted perfectly They have gotten him on oral pain meds now and the new combination is working much better. Vicodin and Oxycodoni. Physical therapy will be by later today to get him up and moving around. His high tech arterial monitors in his neck and wrist will be coming out in the next few hours as well. No pain with this just a cannot move around easily.

Phone calls and or visits will be welcome on Friday. Today he is still getting his footing.
I will do the group e-mail later today with a more detailed update and hopefully our room number after we move to the general Cardiac area of the hospital on the 10th floor.

thanks for all your support.

We Have Moved!
More stuff is being removed- One less chest drain tube, removed the surgical dressing on his chest. Kind of disappointing he will barely have any visible scar:)! I told him he will have to get it tattoo so it looks more impressive.

They have the pain meds just right. He is feeling pretty good for guy that just had his chest opened up and his heart stopped.

We all cheered David as he walked around the ICU this morning. Just like your child taking their first steps. It is scaring make these first steps to be up and under your own steam. He really enjoyed the movement. It gave him a bunch of confidence and he is looking forward to his next big outing after lunch.

David’s first steps!

Say high to his ICU Nurse Robert…. He is the first nurse that would let me take a picture for the photo album. Shy bunch except for if someone messes with their patient. Then they can be very bold. We are really enjoying the nursing staff here at University. Top Notch Group!





We are moving! Headed to the top- 10th floor room 1012- Plenty of room and a nice view. Come on by and give David some encouragement. Please let me know when you are coming by just in case he has an appt to be somewhere else we do not want to miss your visit.
University of Colorado Hospital
12605 E. 16th Ave
Main Hospital entrance to the West of Emergency Doors.
10th Floor Room 1012
Please call instead of coming by if you are not feeling well. Doctors Orders.



Call me if you want to stop by
303-549-6502, text or e-mail






Going Home Today!
We want to thank everyone for the in person visits, calls, e-mails and text messages. David has enjoyed every one of them. It is very inspiring to have contact with the outside world when you are in a hospital healing.

We are back at home as of today April 6th.
David is really looking forward to a good nights sleep. He is completely exhausted from the constant 24 hour per day monitoring of his body.



A special THANKS to our friends Dr. Jose Melendez, (Anesthesiology, Senior Medical Director, at the University of Colorado Hospital) and his wife, Chiara Del Monico who also works at the Hospital. Chiara lovingly made the Italian Wedding Soup picnic that you see in these pictures. It was such a refreashing splash of color and gourmet seasonings.
Jose is responsible for setting David up with Dr. Cleveland, who has given David the gift of many more years of life with an ideal Mitral Valve Repair.






From David:

“This has been a life changing journey with many lessons, challenges and break throughs. A hundred years ago, I would not been long for this world.

But due to the dedication, research, and courage of many people, my heart flaw is corrected; I have been given the gift of many more years of life.

One thing it has shown me is how important all the people in my life are to me. Thanks to everyone who visited, called, texted, prayed and sent healing energy. All of you are very dear to me and are helping me heal.”


Many of you have offered to help and we know it is hard to know exactly what would be helpful: So we thought we would let you know that one of the main needs in the coming weeks will be driving David around to run his accounting tasks and meetings during the day. There are probably some other tasks that he can use some help with that we have not figured out yet. If you would like offer your time during the day or night to help out let us know with a reply to this e-mail and David will give you a call to talked about what you would like to do and when you might have time to do it. Remember this all very flexible and on your schedule so it is OK if you can only help out one time and help only if it works for you.

Chriss Lemmon & Deborah Martin
They did a remote group healing during the surgery to reduce blood loss and remove the affects of aesthesia. David had no blood loss and awakened easily after the surgery.
Lourdes and David












Scott and Michael

Scott provided many hours Spiritual Human Yoga Healing.













Elizabeth and Lori