Sept 29 Texas State Fair

Craig took me to the fair today. I have never been. The weather was perfect and it was great fun. We hiked around for about 7 hours, taking in pigs, horses, new cars, music shows, wild bird shows, more cars, home improvements, gadgets, games and a few rides.

Howdy Folks. Big Tex welcomes you to the Texas State Fair, where, among other things, you can actually now purchase your very own heart attack. The answer to your question for me and Captain Bypass is a resounding NO.

Craig checked out trucks and jeeps. I checked out vettes and vipers.

Christy: I haz speedz. I wantz more speedz. whyz i living on a sailboat?

Best game on the midway: Shooting out the star with a full-auto BB gun. Close but no prizes for us. Bonus round: watching the tobacco-chewing, scuffed up boots-wearing, skoal-can mark in the back pocket of the levi's, camo-wearing boys give it a whirl.

Most interesting game: hit the chicken launcher with a hammer and try to get the chicken to land in the moving pot...

The "illumination sensation" fireworks and laser light show we caught on the way out:

Dakota waited up for us and got a prize when we got home:

Oh. And I bet you wanted an update on the captain. He is doing just fine, mostly back to his usual self. He does cardiac rehab when it fits in our busy social schedule and is quite the star, being the only man without gray hair in the whole place. We are flying down to Tallahassee this Friday to visit my parents and friends in Florida. Craig will stay a week and I'll stay for two. Upon my return to Texas, we plan to run down to Kemah for several days to play, visit friends and scout real estate. When your own boat is thousands of miles away, what to do but run down to the coast and terrorize the waterways on someone else's boat?? Captain Skip is making all preparations for our visit.

September 17 PostOp Week 1

Craig made it through his first week at home like a champ. He is comfortable most of the time (courtesy of Darvocet), eating well (courtesy of Mom Yakel) and increasing his activity with good walks out and about in the neighborhood (courtesy of Dakota).

Judging by emails, phone calls and flowers, along with direct reports from my contact man on the audiovisual scene, Captain Skip, I'm certain the convention and trade show industry came to a screeching halt and then breathed a collective sigh of relief the day of Craig's surgery.

Craig's extensive network of friends are quickly on the scene.

Mike, Dennis and Ray came by for the afternoon on Wednesday.

FJM (Fabulous Jeff Marker) came by on Thursday. I hate that I forgot to take a picture, precious!! Knowing Craig, and along with his own brand of know-how, Jeff brought a get well toy and some mags. The remote control helicopters are THE BOMB!! I'm not sure which is more entertaining: watching Craig, watching Dokota (aka Killer) or flying them myself. Craig laughs so hard it hurts. This is good for him. I need a bit more practice but it's helicopter wars tomorrow. It has been raining a lot here. Ken and Diann can't send us outside to play.....

Other "anti-boredom" gifts brought by Jeff Marker:

Things to do with your formal dining room, you ask? Turn it into Puzzle Central like we did, puzzle courtesy of Craig's aunt and uncle, Dick and Barb Furst:

Yup, you heard it right: "I'm learning to fly it pretty good now"...

Sept 12 Postop Day #3 Craig is home!!

By popular demand, here are some pictures of Craig's chest incision. For the record, there will be NO pictures of the "other" incision.

Craig is home and feeling pretty good. They pulled his pleural drains this morning and these were the source of most of his discomfort. Only two puncture holes under the dressing. His skin is stained with special preoperative betatdine that adheres to the skin and has to wear off.

Thanks to everyone for your notes, thoughts and prayers!!!

Sept 7 Labor Day

We spent Labor Day weekend relaxing and enjoying our time at Chez Yakel. Ken and Diann hosted a family get together on Labor Day in honor of my nephew Reed's 15th birthday. He is 6'3"!!! Sister Candy with Reed and Maggie were the first to arrive and a volleyball game immediately ensued. Sister Christy stopped by, along with Rod and Linda Duncan of S/V It's Perfect, currently located in Kemah, Texas.

Pray for good genes and eat your oatmeal.....

So isn't this the tackiest lesion you ever saw?

A = Narrowing of the LAD, left anterior descending, starting at the bifurcation and progressing to

B = Almost complete occlusion

C = Vessel diameter difference which precludes stent

Everything else, though, is clean as a whistle.....

September 6: God Bless Texas!

We flew to Dallas via Puerto Rico on Tuesday, September 1st. Wow...is it great to be back in the states to visit family and friends. After the relative peace and quiet of the islands, it is a bit shocking. Everything is so loud and fast here, and everyone constantly on the cell phone and/or texting. Really, is it that important?? And so much FOOD and STUFF!! You can buy ANYTHING here!!! We get into a bit of consumerism right away....a real salon with my forever stylist for me, West Marine and Frye's for Craig (us). Walmart was crazy fun as were the sporting goods stores to replace some beat down Columbia shorts for us both.

We are staying with Craig's parents in Denton, about 30 miles north of Dallas. I have my two sisters here and we both have many friends whom we hope to see during our stay. Unfortunately we had to cancel our much-awaited trip to see family in Nebraska but are stil looking forward to a trip to Tallahassee to see my parents and friends there.

Have missed seeing well-fed cows, even if this one tried to charge us...

The latest in beer-opening technology. STUFF!!!

Dakota mugs for the camera.

We are also glad to be back home so we can take care of a medical emergency that popped up in Grenada. Craig began having chest pains the week prior to our departure. The medical care in Grenada is quite good and the end result of all that is that on the Friday preceding our Tuesday departure, Craig had a positive stress treadmill with ischemic changes in anterior leads after 5 minutes. I called the interventional cardiologist from Grenada and got an appointment on Wednesday. We scheduled the cardiac catheterization and probable stent on Thursday. Scary but simple enough. Not the case. Craig has a large lesion in the LAD just below the bifurcation with a section of narrowing as well as a section of almost total occlusion. The anatomy of the lesion and vasculature precludes a stent, so Craig is scheduled for open heart surgery for a single vessel bypass graft this coming Wednesday. Thoracic surgery technology has advanced so that they do not have to stop his heart and use a cardiopulmonary bypass machine during the operation. They still have to open his chest through the sternum (breastbone) and that is an 8 week recovery. It will be a good little while before we are hauling up a mainsail.

For now, we are resting and enjoying family time. Hakuna Matata is safely tucked away in a marina, under the watchful eyes of our cruising friends, anxiously awaiting our return. She does not like to be tied up!!