is home and doing well!

[Guest guest]

Thank you to everyone who wrote with advice and good thoughts the past

few weeks. We learned a lot.

My husband had a defibrillator implanted Thursday and came home this

morning. He now has three wires in and around his heart. He's tired

and sore and has an impressive bruise, but he's doing fine, even felt

well enough this afternoon to go outside and chat with the plumber

patching our water line, which chose to spring a leak that bubbled

into the front yard on Wednesday.

's main complaint is that his heartbeat is too loud - it has been

ramped up from 50 beats per minute to 60. He'll probably be used to

that soon.

Surgeon said the only trouble in the surgery, which took about four

hours, was getting one of the wires through a " kink " in a blood vessel

at the site of a bypass graft. ( has had two triple bypasses -

1988, 1999.) In a few weeks, is supposed to receive a wireless

device that will upload reports from the implant overnight - " Big

Brother " at work.

I wasn't thrilled to enter pre-op and find the nurses carrying around

Guidant-promoting clipboards. But the surgeon said he and the hospital

had not had a problem with Guidant products. Hope it stays that way.

Thank you again. We'll keep reading and learning.

Happy holidays!

Teri and in N.C.