Jump to content

Menu

hellen

Members
  • Posts

    979
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by hellen

  1. @Halftime Hope I don't know how long it typically takes patients to start cardiac rehab afterwards. Patients are most likely to be readmitted within a few days of their surgery which is too soon to have started rehab. I never find out how most people fare once the leave.
  2. Your dad won't necessarily need a taller potty chair. So much is dependent on his fitness level prior to surgery. At our hospital, we don't send patients home if they don't have help for the first few days. They go to rehab instead. Of the patients we send home, which is the vast majority, I can't think of one off the top of my head that needed assistance standing after using the bathroom by the time they were discharged. Getting out of bed is actually the hardest thing. Bring a button down shirt for him to come in because he should not put his arms above his head and that is more easily done with a button down shirt. Our surgeons always start patients on stations if they are not already taking them. Any new meds are started for a reason and not taking them does bring people back in for a redo of their surgery eventually. The number of people who say THIS time I'll follow instructions is higher than it ought to be. In our area, we have outpatient cardiac rehab which everyone gets a referral to upon discharge.
  3. Discharge instructions might vary by hospital, but this is the major points of what I tell my patients after this surgery. The two most common issues that bring people back in to our hospital are an abnormally fast heart rhythm or difficulty breathing. Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is a not uncommon side effect of the surgery. Fast AFib (like 140sish) won't kill you but it could make you dizzy. Go to the hospital. Difficulty breathing is a result of fluid buildup after surgery. Go to the hospital. It's an easy fix. Your dad will need to weigh himself daily to look for any signs of rapid weight gain that would indicate fluid buildup. His incisions will need to be kept clean. Infections are not common, but they are very very difficult to resolve. Patients seem to fall into one of two categories - those who underdo it and those that overdo it. If your dad falls into the undergoing it category and does not want to get up throughout the day, encourage him to move around a bit throughout the day. If your dad is the opposite, remind him to take it easy. Depending on his fitness level prior to the surgery and the number of recovery days post-op, a walker for a few days could be helpful. Maybe 25% of patients will benefit. Your dad most likely had the sternotomy approach which means they made a long incision down the center of the chest. He will not be allowed to lift, push, or pull more than 5 pounds for many weeks. Yes, it is difficult for most 79 year olds to get out of bed without their arms and I bet the number of patients who can practically follow those directions is tiny, so give him grace. This is unrelated to his surgery, but a general aging tip. Elderly people can lose the flexibility to clean themselves well after a bowel movement. Bidets should be more common for the elderly. The second thing is to help both parents with foot care.
  4. I've only watched the first special so far. It was nice seeing David Tennant again because he was my favorite Doctor. We stopped watching during the first season of the Whittaker era, but now I feel like I want to get caught up again before the new season comes out.
  5. Small Steps by Peg Kehret To Say Nothing of the Milk By Neil Gaiman George's Marvelous Medicine By Roald Dahl
  6. I think there are a lot of interesting classes in Grinnell's freshman tutorial offerings which are designed to teach writing. Here's one that's science adjacent: Charles Darwin speculated that “the perception, if not the enjoyment, of musical cadences and of rhythm is probably common to all animals.” In this course, we will explore the utterances of non-human animals from a variety of perspectives, taking into account ideas from the fields of animal studies, zoomusicology, the psychology of music, and evolutionary biology. We will consider broader ethical and philosophical questions regarding the boundary we place between humans and animals; we will look at animal music as it informs and shapes the literary imagination, and we will consider human music that is influenced by the music of non-human animals. We will work directly with animal sounds by collecting field recordings, and we will conduct a survey of the underwater soundscape of a local pond. We will also explore ways in which AI and interconnected remote recording devices are transforming the study of animal behavior and animal expression. Our studies of the Umwelt (the perceptual world) of non-humans will help to foster a deepened understanding of the living beings that surround us, and a healthy humility with regard to our own Umwelt and its limitations. If Darwin’s hunch was right, and musicality is shared across the boundaries that separate species, then perhaps it is worth looking into the music of animals to learn something about our own life as musical creatures. Here's a link to the rest. https://www.grinnell.edu/new-students/first-year-academics/tutorials
  7. When I had too much zucchini this summer, I made Smitten Kitchen's zucchini spaghetti and loved it. https://smittenkitchen.com/2021/06/zucchini-butter-spaghetti/
  8. Is your husband active duty? If yes, reach out to the spouses. Somebody will be willing to help. Military takes care of each other. You can PM me your location and I can see what I can do.
  9. The Exped Megamat is my favorite car camping sleeping mat. It's as comfortable as a bed. For backpacking, I would be seriously tempted to bring the Exped. We have several lightweight pads for backpacking. None are terribly comfortable for me and I wake up multiple times during the night. We own one quilt. It's colder than a sleeping bag, but works fine for summer. If you're looking to ditch weight, switching to Smart Water bottles will save a few ounces over a Nalgene. Check out the ultralight reddit forum for tons of tips.
  10. Central NY has good teacher pay while still being affordable. The average teacher pay in our school district is in the low 70s. Houses are affordable, but school taxes are high. (That's how teachers are paid well) Winter is definitely gray and it does snow, but it doesn't last for 6 months like some people would have you believe. Houston reached a lower temperature this year than Syracuse. Syracuse has a medical school and a large regional hospital. Minimum wage in NY is $12 per hour. The area is pretty with hills, lakes, and waterfalls.
  11. For lap swimming, you might do best with a competition swimsuit. It's much tighter than you are asking for, but it will be better for laps. You can have a cover up ready for when you get out. Competition swimsuits do not have any sort of built in bras or accommodations for breasts. A waterpolo swimsuit has a higher neckline, but again it's a tight one-piece. https://m.swimoutlet.com/womens-competition-swimwear-c9327/ You could do a loose rashguard over a one piece. At least that way you won't be showing too much in the water once the shirt begins billowing.
  12. Are you certain it's not fungal acne?
  13. We have 3 latex mattresses from Flobeds that are very comfortable. They are all over 10 years old and still comfortable. https://www.flobeds.com/
  14. My daughter was 55 inches (4'7") and 76 pounds at 11 years 9 months. At 13 and 0 months she was 62 inches (5'2").
  15. One time someone had stolen our credit card. They placed an online order for a gift card and something else. We received the something and they kept the gift card. I returned the item to the store. Buying that additional item kept the entire purchase from coming up as fraud. More recently Rainbow Resource sent me something I didn't order. They accidentally put my name on the order that came after mine. I was able to keep a fun puzzle.
  16. My teen boy developed acne on his forehead that wouldn't go away. He tried many of the OTC products over the course of months and was vigilant about skin care, but nothing worked. It turned out to be fungal acne that was cleared up with athlete foot cream within days. I had never heard of fungal acne before so I just wanted to mention it just in case it can help others.
  17. That feature will be added in a few weeks.
  18. I wanted to share this new online planner that was just released. I helped test it and can honestly say it's the best planner I've tried. It easily adjusts your homeschool plan on those days when something comes up. It allows you to print out the weekly schedule for the child. If you have multiple children, you don't need to re-enter the same schedule in future years. Give it a look. https://syllabird.com/
  19. The uniforms make me think of Syracuse University. The school has just one school color - orange. You guys might call it prison orange. It was chosen because it was unique and would stand out.
  20. If you need New York state, but not necessarily New York City look at Fayeteville-Manlius school district or Jamesville-Dewitt.
  21. NY requires masks so bring a mask. Indoor seating at restaurants is available in phase 3. Buffalo is in phase 3 and could enter phase 4 prior to your arrival. Hotels are open, but not all onsite amenities may be available. Pools for instance are phase 4. Maid of the Mist will restart on June 26.
  22. I went to high school with a boy who had late puberty. At graduation he was around 5'5". A few years later he was over 6' tall and completely unrecognizable. His voice, body, and face had changed.
  23. I enjoyed Flume Gorge despite the ticket price. I recommend Mount Washington. It's one of the windiest places on Earth. The drive to the top is scenic.
×
×
  • Create New...