Alive and Well!

Hello faithful readers and supporters! It's me, Mike -- out of surgery, out of ICU, and on the recovery floor. Now, if only I could convince the docs to put me on a regular diet and stop the IVs! Yes, I'm still causing problems...but in a good way.

From what I'm told, surgery went just fine. There were some delays initially, but once surgery started it went without any difficulty. ICU was, as always, a difficult time -- you're disturbed every hour for a neuro exam, and you're hooked up to every machine imagineable -- so sleep is basically impossible, and that's all you really want to do. To make matters worse, I was setting off alarms every few minutes -- if your heart rate drops below 60 beats per minute, or if your respiration rate (breaths per minute) drops below a certain number, it sets off an alarm. As many of my endurance athlete friends know very well, a heart rate under 60 beats per minute is quite common for us -- a resting heart rate of 44bpm, in my case. So, even if I could get to sleep for a few minutes, shortly after nodding off my heart rate would drop into the low 50s or high 40s, acting like an alarm clock and waking me up, not to mention the nurses and orderlies rushing in to see what was wrong. Same thing with respiration rate. Well, I guess I've found the downside of being in shape. All this to say that last night was a very long, very restless and very uncomfortable night...but I made it!

The biggest victory today was the removal of the EKG leads and the Foley catheter. With those two things gone, I actually have freedom to move and walk around...even run, if they'd let me! I'm up on the patient recovery floor now, where I have a TV and my own room, without the hourly wakeups and heart rate/respiration alarms. Much more peaceful and restful. I've spent most of the morning napping, and now I'm in the lounge on one of the computers furnished by the Wounded Warrior project. Yes, I'm on the Wounded Warrior wing again -- these guys are just incredible! I even had lunch next to a guy who had lost an arm to an IED. Please support this foundation if you can, and say a prayer for them. Hereos, every one.

So, the goal is to be home in time for the Duke game tomorrow night at 8pm. Any bets? Also, it looks like I'm teaming up with a few friends for my next race...the details are still in work, but stay tuned! Potentially big news shortly, if we can work it. Stay tuned, and thanks for your prayers! Pictures soon, I promise...