Hello to all. Today I am writing this from my usual laptop in the kitchen. I was released from the hospital yesterday afternoon. Being home is not the picnic one might expect after a week in the CCU. Yes, it is nice to be home, but everything is so difficult and tiring. Just going to the bathroom is a 10-minute event, and not always a successful one. With Lasix and other similar meds, sometimes it’s too late even if a could run to the toilet, which I certainly can’t. And someone has played a terrible joke on my anatomy; Now when I try to urinate I have to avoid peeing in my pants and on the rug and all that stuff I thought I gave up when my mommy potty trained me. Hopefully, this situation will improve over time. In fact I’ve already gone to the bathroom several times today and am lucky enough to be wearing the same underwear. – Wow!

But seriously, this will be a long recovery. Last Friday my “ejection fraction” for the heart was somewhere around 10. The normal healthy heart is usually pumping at above 55. So essentially my heart gave out; I did not have a heart attack. My 7-yr old stents and double by-pass are still doing their jobs. I had what is called ventricular fibrillation – my heart was beating super fast, but not really getting any blood out to the body. So from that point I pretty much flatlined. My wife's quick call to 911 saved my life. They were at teh house in minutes and were able to find and maintain a faint pulse until they could stabilize in the hospital.

It will be a long, tiring road to a full recovery, but that's my plan. and anyway, I think this was all Fran's fault, or at least partly Donny's . A BIG THANKS to Steve Molnar, who has become a great pen pal over these few years at SZ.

I will be reading posts and selectively replying when I can. Today was a good day for me. If tomorrow and the next days go as well, I hope to be with you folks for a long while. Thanks so much for your thoughts, concerns and prayers - especially the prayers. If someone like me didn't have a huge faith and trust in the Almighty, there would be no reason to read this post. God bless you all.

Cass