February 24th

Well tomorrow's the big day. I've been rehashing all the information to get myself Re-psyched up for what's ahead for me.

It's amazing how powerful the mind is. I found that my body was following through with what I had set it up for last weeks surgery. While it made me feel depressed and let down my body was going through the motions as if it had actually already gone through the process. I felt my chest being opened up at one point and then feeling a bit confused later in the day. No it's not my blondeness coming out but the orders given to my body from the week before.

So now I've been going back over the "Your Recovery Plan after Open Heart Surgery" schedule. Ugh, the graphic details of what to expect and the need to become familiar with is mind boggling to say the least. But reviewing it is why I guess I'm going to be a very good patient. Part of me hopes that I'll have the chance to take a trip to the other side and have a glimpse and maybe get some answers to some major questions about "Why", "where", "what" and "How". Not that it really matters because we'll all end up there someday anyway.

My surgeon decided that it was best to have a mechanical valve instead of a tissue valve since the replacement of the tissue valve would be much more invasive in 20 years because I have to have synthetic tubing in place of the Aortic Root replacement surgery. Making it much more difficult later on with what my age would be then. This means that I'll have to be on blood thinners for the rest of my life. This is to prevent clotting in the valve. So no more tackle football, snow skiing, karate, of motorbike racing. Yes that's right, I don't do any of those anyway so what's the worry? LOL I just have to wear a medic alert bracelet in case I'm ever in a major accident. Internal bleeding could be detrimental. And I have to take antibiotics anytime I go to the dentist to prevent infection that could attack my heart. So there is some vulnerability but nothing that can’t be lived with.

I really have been blessed with great family and amazing friends from all over the world. Your words of encouragement and powers of prayer are a major force in my strength and I thank you from the bottom of my "NEW" heart.

I'll be in ICU until Wednesday afternoon so if you want to visit you are welcome to come late Wednesday or Thursday anytime. I'm hoping to be home by Friday afternoon. I'm hoping that there will be a new posting keeping things updated for all of you.

Now as for my recovery schedule, I still could use some help the weekend of the 8 & 9th so please feel free to call John 415-519-4865.

Oh and one last thing, My good friend David Aguilar has thrown out the idea that he wants to have a fund raiser dinner on my behalf. He'll probably be contacting you all through this blog. I've given him the okay to do that so you've all been made aware so that you'll know it's now spam.

Thanks again and God bless us all!

XOXO and Love and Light, Jesse