Brief report from Cleveland!!!!!

[Guest guest]

Sunday afternoon 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The Sun is out and alls well.

This is, for me, a very brief note -- just my way of responding to all the

public and private notes, one of which, from Jim which read " One

suggestion. Don't tell the surgeon your opinion of the medical profession

until after the ablation.Good Luck.Jim "

Ok here's the short distilled version. Dr. Natale looks like a kind

response sensitive young Armond Assante. It was obvious that I held

unreasonable worries and he took the time and effort and assuaged them. Dr.

Natale's support staff in the outside the operating room were extraordinary

and were, seriously, totally empathic angels. In the OR, at a certain stage

of the procedure, one woman held my cheeks, like she was holding a golden

vase. She looked into my eyes and keep saying " Breath shallow, Shallow

breaths. " I did exactly as she said.

My wife and I were told the operation would take between five and six

hours. Joanne returned to the comfortable Inter Continental Hotel (a 12

minute walk) and two and a half hours later, they called and said I was in

the recovery area. Dr. Natale waited until Joanne arrived to tell her that

all went exactly as planned, no surprises!. I left the hospital less than

20 hours later. (I was Dr. Natale's third ablation that day!!!) I could not

have wished for a better outcome..Yeah, they warned me about the

possibility of a couple of hiccups along the way. (In fact I did have one,

minor event Saturday afternoon that lasted 10 minutes.But, knock wood,

that's it as of Sunday afternoon.

A little tired, and a tad sore but I feel very, lucky indeed.My thanks to

you...and this list, without which I would be a sorry sight indeed.

Lew