Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Tough. Old. Bird.
My father got through his four-vessel bypass today and (last I checked) he’s doing fine in the ICU — undoubtedly because my brother had been “sending him strength all morning.” (His words.)
Hmm. I am reminded of that study that showed that ill people who were prayed for actually did poorer than those not prayed for. Well, let’s hope my brother was only sending strength and not praying.
So the first hurdle is past. He still has five to seven days in the hospital, and a long rehab after that, but at least now he doesn’t have a time bomb in his chest. I’d say that I’m relieved (and I am), but the surgeon told him that most of the deaths occur post-operatively. He quoted him a 4-6% chance of dying after surgery. My father the gambler liked those odds.
Stay tuned.
D.
Good news! I shan’t do any praying, but will take a moment to think positively about your father’s health.
Interesting about the odds. I wonder whether it’s better to tell someone that they have a 4-6% chance of dying or a 94-96% chance of survival. Probably the small chance of bad is easier to take pyschologically. When you were in the doctor factory, getting transformed from a Berkeley intellectual into the god-like Marcus Welby healer that you are, did they talk about stuff like this? (And, yes, I’m aware that the Marcus Welby reference shows my age…).
I, too, shall not pray for your father. What does sacrificing a goat do, I wonder?
In the absence of a goat, I shall merely extend my best wishes for a speedy recovery.
No, Kira, we did not talk about such things. I remember only one discussion vis a vis poor bedside manner: we were told the counterexample of a med student who had just finished examining the abdomen of a man with cancer metastatic to the liver. The man asked, “So, doc, what do you think?” and the student supposedly replied, “I think it feels like the liver of a dead man.” I still find that story hard to believe. Is anyone really THAT clueless?
Thanks, both of ya. He’s still doing well. I spoke with him today; they’ve already gotten him up and walked him twice. He sounds tired, not surprisingly.
Been there! If he’s anything like my dad he’ll be bored senseless in three weeks and sneak a drive in the car to go to IHOP or something equally naughty…just because he can.
Also I didn’t say this at the time but if I’m ever in the hospital don’t bother sending me strength. Send me Natalie Dormer wearing nothing but a strategically placed bottle of whiskey. And two strategically placed shot glasses, of course.
Natalie Dormer? Really? I thought you were a Charlize Theron junkie.
She’s not the sort of woman I could see showing up at a hospital with nothing under a trench coat but some quality liquor. Natalie, on the other hand, gets that glint in her eye and you get the sense that she’s up for anything.
Besides, you can ask Chris. Charlize heads the list, but the list is long.