UCLA Journal 4

Here's a pic of Mac, Mom and Duane the day they came to visit me and Carol "helped" set up my blog. Don't know what they were discussing but it was intense by the look of it.

It's 3:00 am - AGAIN. I just can't seem to sleep here no matter what. I had a sleeping pill at 11 and yet, here I am. I get about 45 minutes of sleep and then BINGO, I'm awake.

So far tonight I've had a shower with disinfecting soap, been give a clean, freshly made bed and clean jamies. THEN the nurse comes in and askes if I want a doggie visit. (Of course!) But now I'm all sterile and can't pet or cuddle him. It was my friend, Zeke, who was the second dog to visit me when I first got here. Oh....I didn't tell you about that, did I.....

UCLA has a pet visitation program. Here I am, sitting on the seventh floor of a hospital in downtown LA and I can STILL find a dog!!!!!! My first was a Great Pyreness named Dreamer. I've got pictures of her laying on my bed demanding I rub her belly. Needless to say, in the pics I'm the one sitting up in the far corner with one leg dangling over the side of the bed. That's all the room she left me. It was HEAVEN!!!

My next visitor was Zeke, an old mixed breed with a westie head on a unknown, but too large, body. He's 13 and still visiting but his thing is to lay on the bed with you and LICK. And after Zeke was a Maltese named Sasha and then a long haired standard doxie named Tovah. All of these happened while I was in the criticle care unit. I was there a week. I've been in regular care for 2 weeks and tonight was my first visit here - and then I couldn't be licked.....

UCLA Medical Center, officially called Ronald Regan Memorial Hospital, is brand new. It's been open less than a year and is very up to date. It's ranked 3rd in the world over all and first in heart transplants. I couldn't be in better hands. My doctor is Jon Kobashigawa, who heads the whole heart transplant team. Is the Lord looking out for me or what?

The surgery is scheduled for 2:30 tomorrow (today, really) afternoon. There is a chance that something might prevent the morning surgery - postponed - and I'll go early but I don't expect it. They'll take me to surgery and "paint" me from chin to knees in betadine, then put me out and when I wake up, I'm going to hurt like hell. The surgery is fairly straight forward. They open the chest from collar bone to sternum, stop the heart and "splice into" the pump. It sits below the heart with one end up into the ascending aorta as it comes out of the left ventricle and the other into the big aorta as it leaves the heart area and heads down into the body. Then they stitch my back up. Piece of cake.

Well, it's now 3:00 and I'm getting sleepy again so I'll close and try for a few ZZZZZ's again. I let all of you know what's what as soon as I can get back to my computer. 'Til then, good night.....

Jini