[Bindlestiff]

Austin sent me an email and asked me to post it on the forum, it follows (it sure was good to hear from him).....

I entered Dartmouth Hospital 14 March 2011 for open heart surgery to correct a leaking aortic valve. I was a pretty young healthy 74 year old at the time, and the physical recovery seemed to be going well. I was able to walk 3/8 mile to the main road by early April. I had difficulty eating and sleeping, and dreams that bordered on hallucinations. I had lost 30 pounds before surgery and I consulted both surgeon and family doctor (Dr Ernst Oidtmann ) I signed up for cardiac physical therapy at the local ( Woodsville Cottage) hospital. Around 15 May I became "dozy" and would fall asleep instantly so I quit driving. Pam took me to PT on Friday 20 May although I didn't really feel up to it. I went through the warm up round of exercises and really felt bad a few minutes into the first round and stopped. The leader helped me to chair and gave me a glass of water. She came back and asked what was wrong and I couldn't respond intelligently. She called Pam and the hospital ER and I was taken to the ER. They examined me and Pam stayed with me. They discharged me on Sunday.

According to DR O my thyroid system had gotten weak and I couldn't digest anything. He got it started and I could eat a little. He examined me again Tuesday and decided I had lost it upstairs. He called Pam and began making arrangements for examinations at the Dartmouth hospital. We checked in early Saturday 29 May. I remember only a few days and exams ( MRI's, etc) but not the encephalograms and other multi hour exams. I was able to eat a little on the last few days as my thyroid came to life. I was discharged Monday 20 June to find a dead transmitter on my satellite link; I was customer 25018. They replaced it yesterday.

Hypothesis; Thyroid failure caused failure of blood chemistry; shallow breathing caused collection of carbon dioxide and acidification of blood. I am wearing a pump to bed to stop this.

So far so good ; I am eating and sleeping well at home. If you are ever sick but don't know why, go to a medical school hospital. If you ever loose it upstairs you will only know if your friends tell you after you recover.
The message above was extracted from a message I sent to to my kids and my cousinslast night.

FIRST! My Parker Pages arrived yesterday. I will read it today , but it certainly looks great! Dean and Dave did a great job ; and I see the best of collector magazines continuing well without me.

It is pretty wet and nasty here, but I have been walking around the yard, and down the driveway and then down the town road twice a day. My surefootedness and posture are coming back; I need to work on my wind and muscular conditioning. We think my mind is back. I am now sleeping 9 hrs a night, compared to zero through the time I entered the hospital, and eating 3/4 of my amount of a year ago.

Thanks for all those prayers, that came from beneath all kinds of steeples, all over the country. Good friends make life worth living, bless you all.

Austin