BULLY PULPIT

When I emerged from quintuple bypass surgery in mid-December, my doctor ordered "sternal precautions," meaning I had a lifting, pulling and pushing limit of 5 to 10 pounds, orders not to twist or turn, reach across my body, lift my arms over my head, push myself in my chair or get too cold. I couldn't sit up in bed without help, couldn't transfer without a transfer board and helper, couldn't drive. In effect, when I was released to go home, I could no longer be a paraplegic. I had to agree to become a quad with a personal assistant for six to eight weeks.

All this was to ensure that my sternum would heal properly. After having been sawn in two, separated, and closed up again, my sternum had holes drilled in it and extra-strength wire woven through the holes and twisted tight to hold bone to bone.

Nondisabled open-heart patients have it easier, of course. Most leave the hospital in four or five days and begin light exercise -- walking -- right away. It took me two weeks before I could be wheeled into my living room to set up camp with a hospital bed. My wife became my nurse and personal assistant. During the next month, every move I made was accomplished with her help, including turning in bed at 3 a.m. There would be no exercise for me. Not until sternal precautions were lifted. My sojourn as quad for a season taught me a few things.

First off, I revisited my Stryker frame fear that sudden immobility would somehow drive me insane. This time, though, I knew the fear was irrational. I simply had to be ... patient. I also had to learn what many gimps who use personal assistants know so well -- instructing people in how to manage your body can be exacting and frustrating, and if something goes wrong, it falls on you.

To make matters interesting, I had the usual complications from hospitalization -- a pressure sore from having been mishandled during the drug-blurred days in the coronary ICU unit. They took great care of my heart but forgot about the rest of me. A bladder infection followed. When I got home, shoulder pain flared. The nurse at the cardiologist's office dismissed it -- "Oh, everyone gets that. When your chest is cracked open, it affects all your bones, ligaments, nerves, a common complaint following heart surgery." Oh, yeah, I wanted to ask, so you don't think it has anything to do with my having been a paraplegic for the last 40 years?

After sternal precautions were removed, I discovered the upside. Six weeks of not lifting my 200-pound body around eventually gave my shoulders a rest -- I was pain-free for the first time in decades. On my first day of driving independently, I felt like a prison escapee. My appetite had shrunk, making much-needed weight loss easier. And friends and fellow NM workers contributed time, cash and gifts freely, reducing the burden of medical bills.

--Tim Gilmer