Well it’s been four weeks now and Doug is doing well. First two weeks seemed better or at least not as exhausting as the latter two weeks. However, the pain has subsided a lot the past two weeks.

Another improvement has been the tooth pain Doug began experiencing beginning at the end of the hospital stay. He got the okay to see a dentist and even to have a root canal if necessary but the dentist put him on amoxicillin and the pain began to dissipate so he got a second round and he’s now been tooth pain free for about four days. The dentist thought perhaps a tooth got knocked during the inserting or removing of various tubes down his throat for the surgery as nothing showed up on an x-ray so its all good now.

He continues to tire easily and be short of breath but it is improving slowly. He has lost the water weight he gained from the surgery and more which is probably muscle loss due to the decreased exercise and the inability to do anything using his upper body.

He saw the cardiologist on the 7th)and all sounded good. He likened open heart surgery to being hit head on by a bus: recovery takes time and requires patience.

Doug has been working part time the past three weeks at the Austin Office where he was asked to work for six months but that didn’t pan out.

His appetite has not fully returned but when he does eat, he feels better. His is anemic so is on iron pills to help but they come with their own set of issues which means more fibre.

A colleague of Doug’s lends us his apartment on weekends as he flies home to his family so our routine has been Sunday/Monday in the RV, Tuesday nights in a hotel, Wednesday/Thursday back in Tigger before Friday and Saturday as the apartment. The complex has a pool which we have yet to use as the weekends have tended to be rainy or cool lately with week day temps in the 80’s with sunshine!

Doug went goes for an echocardiogram on the 17th and sees the surgeon on Monday the 20th so we hope he gives us the go ahead to hit the road again.
If so, we have decided to stay in the US a little longer and postpone Mexico to the fall. So we will head north to see four of the six remaining states we have not visited yet: Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas before going to the Denver area to participate in a rally of Tiger owners. From Denver we have also booked flights to Canada to see family and friends both in BC and Ontario.