The Team

I had an exceptional team of Doctors, Nurses, and therapists who brought me back to life. I stayed on the ventilator for a day, and when I awoke my hands were restrained. I kept falling in an out of sleep but my nurse informed me they will be removing the breathing tube. They wanted me to eat. She unfastened the restraints on my hands and another nurse removed the tube. It felt good to breathe. My voice was hoarse as I tried to ask why my hands had been restrained. She offered me some Italian ice and smiled. It seems I pulled all my wires and tubes and decided it was time to leave the hospital. A bad unconscious decision on my part. I wasn’t surprised. Sounds like something I’d do in a conscious state. I looked under my patient gown noting two tubes coming out of my chest and what looked like color coded electrical wires. All I could think of was that my heart is running on batteries, and the tubes were draining what looked like a zipper incision in the middle of my chest. I was wearing some kind of chest bandage with handles. I was instructed by my nurses to pull the handles together when I coughed or got up. This two handled wrap, that looked like a bra, was holding by rib cage together, and my surgeon completed closing my cracked open chest plate with a permanent sutured steel cable. Hence, a zipper. Wow!

While thinking about all the medical personnel who were working for my quick recovery, I couldn’t help vision them as a team of professionals each doing their separate jobs effectively and passing me on to the next professional so they could do their part. I was healing quickly and began walking the next day. That was my awakening. After about ten steps, I got very tired. The nurses assured me to keep trying and I would get stronger as I healed. They were right. Everyday I kept doing more and I did eventually grow much stronger. I could walk down the corridors and walk back without being tired. Before being discharged from the hospital my tubes and wires would have to be removed. I was asked by my surgeon if I wouldn’t mind surgical residents viewing the removal? It was fine by me. I was still a teacher and wanted to continue to contribute to education. My battery wires would be removed first and then the tubes. The process was completed quickly and I didn’t feel anything. Being numb with pain meds helped I’m sure. The only thing I was hooked up to now was an IV. A finger clamp monitored my vitals and could be removed easily for when I wanted to walk. I was amazed by how fast I was getting back my strength. It seemed everyday I could do more, and my surgeon had to remind me that even though he used a extra heavy duty cable to put my rib cage back together, I still needed to rest so it could heal properly

I was able to celebrate being married 37 years to my wife, August 1, 1981. There was a chance that almost didn’t happen. She’s unbelievable and stayed by my side the whole time. My surgeon set up appointments to see me in two week intervals, a visiting nurse would visit me daily, and a physical therapist would visit me two times a week. The surgeon informed me I was not allowed to drive, and when I was in a car traveling, I had to be in the back seat. Taking an air bag to the chest in an accident would be a major concern for me while my chest plate was mending. I thought about the team of medical professionals I was leaving and about the team of educators I someday hoped to return to at the prison school. I missed them all. Their jobs were no less glorious than the medical professionals I had just spent ten days with. They always seemed to give their best given the extreme stress of the prison environment, and looking back at it now, I was glad to be their colleague. It would take me a three months to recover fully, and I did eventually. Thanks be to God! TO BE CONTINUED…