As you saw in Jane’s last post, I’m home.

Well, that was something.  I am scratching quadruple coronary bypass surgery from my bucket list.  But actually, it wasn’t all that fun.  If it’s on your list, I would rethink it.

815 visits as of this time to this site! Wow!  I know many of these are repeats, but God bless each and every one of you who even just opened it up to check in. And thanks for the many positive and encouraging comments.  The hardest part was to resist responding to them, but please know that every comment was powerful medicine for me and my family.

I have incredible support from my beautiful and loving wife.  Thanks to her, and my family members who rallied to help take care of business at the house letting out the dog so Jane could be at my side.  Many of you know she’s a nurse and can help me navigate the clinics and hospitals, and help track what the doctors and nurses are saying, and be a firm but caring hand to keep me on track.  It’s obvious to me why she is so successful in her vocation.

If anyone is ever unfortunate enough to have to go through heart surgery, and are considering Methodist hospital, I would not hesitate to recommend them.  The providers, nursing staff, programs and facilities were excellent.

I still have long road ahead toward recovery, but they released me a day earlier than originally expected, so I take that as a positive step, and intend on coming back stronger.  I have an appointment with my surgeon on April 9, and will know more then, like possibly being released to drive.  But I’ll have a ten pound lifting restriction for eight to twelve weeks for sure.

To everyone at work at the City of Minneapolis, you might start to see me pop up on e-mail a little bit in a couple weeks or so.  I’ll check in when I’m ready.  Don’t worry, I want to be successful, so I won’t push it.  As I had said before I left, you are the ones who get it done, and I’ll miss that camaraderie until I get back.

To my Life Time Fitness friends, riders and colleagues, thanks for the support.  I’ve been assured I’ll be back on the bike, but that might take a little longer.  You’ll likely see me around the club and in class before you see me in front of the class.  I’ll miss working with you ‘til them.  You guys know what I mean when I say that right now I can get to Zone 4 in like 6 seconds, just getting in and out of bed.  But it’s the same steps back to full conditioning that we always worked on (and I probably bored you with sometimes in class), and I’ll use you as inspiration.

To the rest of family, as well as my friends, many literally lifelong, I can’t say thanks enough for the support.

If you can give me a couple days to catch my breath and settle into a routine, I’ll be open to visitors here at the house.  Just check with me before you might want to stop by.

There were a couple of comments that came across that I may comment back on in the next couple of days, and I’ll be more open to communication going forward, so don't hesitate to use this as a communication tool.  We may make a couple more updates on this site as big milestones are met, but don’t worry if you see some time go by.  No news will be good news.

- Mike