Heart Felt Wishes for Comfort and Care

With my brother-in-law going in for a quintuple heart bypass surgery tomorrow, not only is my own heart filled with thoughts and prayers, but my heart and hands have been as equally busy this week creating a special 'Heart Healthy Hugs Pillow' and a coordinating quilt.

Filled with strips showcasing bandanna neckerchiefs, pony skin spots, cowboy boots, stirrups, hats and gloves. It seemed perfect for a man who's owned and ridden horses, mules and donkeys for many, many years...and loves all things western.

Quilts wrap us up with love, keep us warm and comfort us, but its amazing how a simple pillow, held tightly against the chest, comforts us by pressing a release from the pain held tightly in the heart chakra. And this works equally as well for both physical or emotional pain. The heart, in this sense, is truly the center of pain and grief, and its acupressure point can be held for the releasing of both the emotional and physical pain...for both kinds of 'broken hearts.'

Research has shown that a cardiac patient's post surgical care involves keeping the body as active as is possible...the heart, the lungs, and the circulatory system...but also to give them something to hold onto...emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

Many major hospitals actually provide a heart shaped pillow, either a sturdy balloon-like pillow or a volunteer created fabric one. Patients hold the pillow against the sternum while moving or coughing in bed, or even while walking, later on. And since patients must be deliberately encouraged to cough to clear their lungs of acquired fluids to prevent pneumonia, pillows become an essential part of their recuperative care.

For cardiac patients, it is used when they are moving or coughing in their hospital beds and later it can be placed under a car's chest seat belt when riding home, to both protect and to defend from the often painful pressure of the chest strap of the seat belt upon a chest wall that has literally been cracked open.

It is quite amazing to discover just how much a small pillow can help........something one can do and be in control of...during a very challenging and quite painful recuperative period. As I wrote in my accompanying gift card...." And each time you use it, remember how much we all care! It holds lots of hugs, love, prayers, good thoughts, and best wishes...and they are all passed on to you, with each and every heart healthy hug!"

Please send prayers, well wishes, and thoughts to my B-I-L, who at age 63, has already had two previous heart attacks. During our last heat wave, he passed out while climbing up a small hill after cooling off in a creek. Because of the loss of consciousness, he tumbled down that hill, hitting his head, gashing it open, and resulting in a surprising amount of visible blood loss.

Because of this fall and the gash, he was taken to the ER, where the doctor was able to discover that not only did he require 16 stitches for his resulting head wound, but his heart had five clogged arteries...2 at 80%, 1 at 90% and 2 at 100%. In effect, that loss of conscious may have saved his life. Without it, he most likely would have simply suffered a third heart attack without previous warning of the severity of his cardiac condition.

Accessing his situation, they will be removing usable veins from his neck and arms (those in his legs were too small ) and transplanting those into his chest during open-heart surgery. It is a quintuple bypass because 5 valves will be replaced (if it ends up being possible) in five locations. Cardiopulmonary bypass with a pump oxygenator (heart-lung machine) is used for most coronary bypass graft operations. His heart will literally be stopped while the machine works for him, during the surgery. Later, his own heart is jump started to begin the process of working on its own using the newly grafted veins in their new locations.

Please bless his cardiac surgeon with a clear mind, skilled hands, and the ability to create new channels that once patched together will create the fabric and the foundation for a new and stronger heart....just as my strip pieced pillow took bits and pieces to construct a new whole.

May this dear man be comforted and protected, and may his surgery not only be successful, but give him a chance at a better and longer life. Making a (Cardiac) Heart Pillow