Two Kingdoms, One Preferred

“Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves in the kingdom of that other place.”    Susan Sontag, quoted in Illness as Metaphor  (3)

My review

 

 

 

Cliff enters the Kingdom of the Sick

For decades, my husband has inhabited the kingdom of the well. For most of his life, Cliff has warded off infections and stayed healthy even during the COVID pandemic.

Now in his eighties, he has been working out at the gym three times a week. Still, because of a combination of family history, advanced age and other factors, Cliff was obliged to use his dual passport and identify himself “in the kingdom of that other place,” as Susan Sontag imaginatively puts it in her monograph, Illness as Metaphor.

 

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Because the procedure affects the lungs, Cliff was urged to take deep breaths with a breath indicator to strengthen the lungs and guard against pneumonia (practiced before surgery and following).

 

 

As the hour for surgery approached, the patient was trying to be brave, projecting the V for Victory sign, but his face shows otherwise.

 

During the procedure, the operating room staff, a diverse group, signaled progress on an ever-changing digital bulletin.

 

Our son Joel noted progress too as he worked on his computer. We followed the process from “In progress–> Wrapping up–>Procedure completed.” Simultaneously, personnel also gave me text messages: “Patient is doing well” an hour into the 3-hour process even though I knew brutal (though life-saving) procedures may be going on inside the operating theatre.

 

 

 

No rest for the weary: The day after operation, the patient was up and walking, at first with assistance.

 

Ah, time to hydrate!

 

At first, food was broth and Jello, a gelatin which tried to slither off the spoon more than once. Then, solid food came–hallelujah!

 

English poet John Milton has wisely stated, “They also serve who only stand and wait.” There was plenty of waiting. I felt like both a bystander and participant in the medical drama unfolding.

A heliport outside the window stood ready to receive emergencies. During our stay, I never saw any flights.

 

The Goal of This Patient: Permission to Go Home. After 5 full days, Cliff was released the next day to leave the hospital.

 

 

 

 

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Convalescence at Home

Initial recovery from cardiac bypass surgery usually takes 6 weeks. More healing occurs in the next 6-12 week interval. In the early days, I joked, to Cliff “You’ve been a free-range chicken for a long, long time; now you’re a sitting duck.” He thought that was funny probably because he has a sense of humor and because he has hope to be free ranging again.

 

Takeaways

1. We found the diagnosis and proposed treatment unsettling. Very much so. Years earlier in 2021, doctors were inconclusive concerning Cliff’s heart test results. Back then, coronary bypass surgery was an operation that happened to other people, so we thought. Subsequent questions this year fell into the same category, inconclusive, at first. Doctors and nurses asked the question, “Do you have chest pain or shortness of breath?” Expecting the answer to be “Yes,” instead of Cliff’s self-assured “No,” we detected a 4-second pause, which we learned to equate with incredulity. “You don’t have pain in your chest?” “You’re not short of breath?”  How come? they must have wondered.Then came a heart catheterization, a minimally invasive procedure that captures images of the heart and arteries. This time the results seemed dire. Cliff now needed other options, possibly serious treatment very soon.
2. We, as an artist and writer, found ourselves intensely immersed in the workings of a medical community foreign to us. In this world, precise techniques and measurable outcomes are noted on digital files. Numbers, not mere words, reign in medicine.
3. In home visits after the surgery: Two registered nurses and one physical therapist paid regular visits early on. In the coming weeks, Cliff will have other cardio exercises at anther facility. How thankful we have been for health insurance that covers those expenses and others.
4. We enjoyed food from Meal Train – an organized effort where friends take turns preparing and delivering meals to a family experiencing a major life event.”

This service is of immense help to caregivers whose time is required to assist the recovering patient. Who has energy to shop for groceries and fix meals when the patient needs help with daily routines? Volunteers from our church signed up online and suggested their menus; for example, salmon, veggies, and potatoes (low salt). Those who weren’t sure, used “TBA” to indicate food choices. That way, menus were varied and not duplicated.

5. We experienced “Visitor Lite” – Well wishes who came didn’t stay long, a good policy during recovery from  serious illness.
6. We have tried to live life one day at a time—good advice no matter what your age or medical condition.
   Sir William Osler, a Canadian physician and co-founder of Johns Hopkins Hospital, gave wise advice to graduates in a Yale University commencement address. Osler referenced English author Thomas Carlyle when he said this: work steadily towards fulfillment in life by taking the world in strict 24-hour increments, letting neither yesterday nor tomorrow be a worry today.

In other words, let go of dead yesterdays and unborn tomorrows. (Dr. Osler called such thinking “Life in day-tight compartments.”)

 

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Our Amazing Heart

The heart, a four-chambered organ, beats about 100,000 times per day.

This amazing pump, powered by electrical impulses, ceaselessly squeezes blood through the body, supplying energy. When something goes wonky with this intricate system, however, one needs medical intervention.

On a follow-up visit, I told our surgeon Dr. Bates (chief of cardio-thoracic surgery at Baptist Heart Hospital) that he is skilled as both medical plumber and electrician—exquisitely so. I meant it as a compliment, of course. He managed a sly smile.

 

The Body, Amazing

Psalm 139:14

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.   KJV

 

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Have you, or someone you know, experienced a serious medical condition?

Can you add to the takeaways I’ve listed?

What has provided balm during the experience of illness–either for you or someone else?

 

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Thank you for reading! I value our connection here: I will return sometime in October.