Barb is still improving

July 1st: Barb went in for her checkup with Dr Hamman. She is doing fine. She shared with him that the people at rehab said no arm exercises until Aug 18th. He said that he is sure they are good people, but they are stuck in the 80s. He says it is OK to do some light arm exercises and twirled his arm vertically like the tail rotor on a helicopter. I wish i had a picture of this and Barb's expression. Barb said " I just want to make sure I don't hurt myself." Dr Hamman responded " Your not going to hurt yourself. I put you together with bailing wire." He also told us they did a study were they went out and got lawn mowers for people to push that had been out of surgery for two weeks ad they did fine !!??!!

Barb is supposed to go back in November for a echo cardiogram to see how her heart is doing.
She is still taking all the same meds, but is supposed to drop the Furosemide (water pill) and potassium supplement on Aug 1st.

July 14th: Barb told me she has more energy now than she's had in a year. She still feels some slight pain / discomfort in the sternum area when she bends over or moves certain ways. She is doing 15 minutes on each of three exercise machines at cardiac therapy now.

July 16th: Barb was shopping at Wal-Mart and decided to push a cart instead of ride in an electric one. After about an hour she had trouble getting her whole breath for a few minutes, but was OK after that.

Today, she will see Dr Theleman for the first office visit mainly to get established with him as a patient and for him to review her information.