{"id":26957,"date":"2019-03-05T12:41:04","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T17:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/?p=26957"},"modified":"2019-03-05T12:57:38","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T17:57:38","slug":"putting-the-patient-thru-her-paces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/?p=26957","title":{"rendered":"Putting the patient thru her pace-making"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Claudia and I are almost through two weeks of convalescence. My part is nursemaid. I fleetingly thought of taking a picture of my sweetie in her week of hospitalization but it was a fleeting thought. So many tubes, bruises, medical monitors, rumpled bedding and flimsy hospital gowns. So instead I present a sketch of mine from our patio circa about 2000. The chief difference today is that the book she is reading is on her cellphone. <\/p>\n

The surgery to replace her aortic heart valve was a success however there were two disappointments. First, Claudia is an old…..ish, Iowa girl who’s uncle raised pigs on a farm. We were hoping she would get a “pig” valve to celebrate her family’s history. She still shares the farm with her siblings. Sadly, it is a bovine valve. Secondly, the original valve was so cluttered with calcium that in removing it nature’s electrical wiring had to be replaqced with the insertion of a pacemaker. <\/p>\n

We will both have to return to the year 2000 when we first became empty-nesters and took up oenology. (the study of wine) Her beta blocker will make further consumption of this noble spirit rare indeed. I will visit the considerable wine cave in the basement only rarely no longer get regular reminders of my former school board colleagues whose picture stares up from the 4×8 election plywood billboard I designed for one of her campaigns. I needed it to rest wine racks on. <\/p>\n

I’ve done little writing for the last month with this preoccupying my thoughts. The medical treatment NOT<\/strong> the dearth of alcohol to follow. But I have done a lot of reading and thinking. I’m not alone. NPR had a story today<\/a> about geriatrics on their last legs pining to see the Mueller Report released before they visit St. Peter. <\/p>\n

Today I might try to crank out a column for the Reader. I almost feel like weekly columns are pent up inside my head clamoring for escape instead of the mere every-other-week <\/em>column I’ve been producing to date. I’m thinking about shifting more of my words to print than to the blog. I’m still undecided about this. I have to fuss a lot harder when something is going to print. <\/p>\n

But. I am about to write a blog entry with a subject that has long been on my mind. It will have a little ruder title than I generally attach to my Reader columns. I think my eight loyalists will be able to handle it, civility be damned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Claudia and I are almost through two weeks of convalescence. My part is nursemaid. I fleetingly thought of taking a picture of my sweetie…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26957"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26957"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26964,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26957\/revisions\/26964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}