Originally Posted by MikeMpls (Post 13171613)

As a very small number of you already know (and the rest are now finding out) I was hospitalized with a heart attack just before Christmas. Revived 3 times by electro-shock and sedated for 10+ days, I eventually emerged from the sedation 100% disabled around Jan. 3.

As part of this experience, I believe I have come to a full realization of the meaning of "primarily there for your safety" (PTFYS). These are the people who've spent the last 3 weeks keeping me fed, drugged and bathed and even wiping my butt for me when I had neither the strength nor balance to stand on my own. These people are not flight attendants.

We should demand a proper level of service every time we hear that "primarily there for your safety". At one point one of my RNs counted 23 tubes coming out of my body. They added a couple more they finally started reducing the count. Delta could make a lot of money installing tubes for food & drink & even extra oxygen, e.g. $25 first tube, $35 2nd tube, with surcharges for special lines for high-quality alcohol, etc. They also need to add talcum powder to the carts (use your own imagination :D).

I was largely unaware of what was happening, but in my mind & in the best traditions of FT, I did take one final road trip, flying to Juarez, renting a car & driving to San Diego, where I believed I had the heart attack. (Actually it happened in a Minneapolis hospital where I had checked in for observation on Dec. 21 & never checked out).

One crucial point (esp. for high-mileage road warriors): One of my earliest clues that something was amiss was a dream 4 years ago during a red-eye back from SFO that I couldn't breath. It recurred perhaps 2-3 times in over the years. It wasn't a dream. Eventually I couldn't breath at night at sea level. There were other subtle clues not travel related, but in todays HMO environment of case management by pharmaceutical prescriptions, none were truly addressed. The morale of the story here is to pay attention to what might be happening in the 8,000 atmosphere of a plane. It could be real.

And a question: Does anyone know where I can find a local supply of the canned pink grapefruit juice Delta sometimes sells in the lounges? The canned OJ is distributed in-flight, and in the past I've been unable to find a local supply of the canned OJ, not even at high-end stores such as Byerly's. The cans of pink grapefruit juice are sold ("contribution requested") in the lounges are part of their breast cancer fund-raising. Right now I'm barred from consuming oranges & OJ, but a week staring at a stylized-photo of a bottle of grapefruit juice across from my bed in the ICU has left me with quite a craving.

Originally Posted by Mrp Alert (Post 13178324)

As I battle my own health issues with back surgery next week, its heartwarming to see FTers wishing one another well.

Originally Posted by dedehans (Post 13179303)

Having suffered a heart attack 3 years ago I know how terrifying it all is but you can get back to normal....it will be a different type of normal though.

Originally Posted by Mrp Alert (Post 13223842)

I go under the knife today around noon. Will post an update in 2-3 days once they let me out of the hospital. I will try to steal a nurse's cell phone to logon sooner than that.

Originally Posted by Mrp Alert (Post 13223842)

I go under the knife today around noon. Will post an update in 2-3 days once they let me out of the hospital. I will try to steal a nurse's cell phone to logon sooner than that.

Originally Posted by Mrp Alert (Post 13223842)

I go under the knife today around noon. Will post an update in 2-3 days once they let me out of the hospital. I will try to steal a nurse's cell phone to logon sooner than that.

Originally Posted by TrojanHorse (Post 13181497)

to Carnesie.. i disagree that we have one thread for get well wishes.. there are not enough of these posted where we need a master thread.. it seems to diminish the get well wishes..

I want to see the Get well name (FT Name I mean) in the thread title.. you never know when it might be someone in the FT community a little closer to you than others and you may not know.. this thread I may not open till I have a little more free time.. personally I will start a new thread if I (knock on wood that I don't) ever have to start one of these threads..

Originally Posted by SS255 (Post 13176313)

Great idea for a thread, but hopefully there will be no cause to ever bump this thread up once Mike is "up in the air" again.

Originally Posted by GoingAway (Post 13229259)

I strongly second TrojanHorse's thoughts below.

Originally Posted by Canarsie (Post 13179425)

I am sorry to hear about that, Mrp Alert.

I hope that your back surgery is as painless and flawless as possible, and that you recover back to complete health as quickly as possible.I remember when that happened.

How are you feeling today, dedehans?

Originally Posted by Mrp Alert (Post 13243921)

Wirelessly posted (FlyerTalk.com/wap is fun : Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.0.1; en-us; Droid Build/ESD56) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

Hi everybody. I am still in the hospital even though I was supposed to be released yesterday. The surgery appears to have been a huge sucess untangling all my nerves and fusing the vertebrae. Unfortunately, my body has taken an extra couple days to heal as compared with the average patient. I was able to get out of bed and do a few laps around the floor tonight which was a healthy sign. Hopefully I will be released tomorrow or sent to physical rehab.

Thanks again to all of you for your support. It has meant a lot to me and the other FTers who fallen ill.

Best wishes from my heart to my fellow sick members.