Couple of thoughts....from my own experience with father and many friends who had "bypass" procedures over the decades. Youngest 52. Oldest about 79. 1) There's no way to know what the specific outcome will be for your mom. Among those who have the procedure and follow the rehab instructions about 20% pop back to terrific condition. 20-30% never really come back to a particularly satisfactory place. The rest are someplace in between. Everyone I've known who has been through it, has had some level of impairment afterward. Chest-cracking procedures are significant trauma events. Healing takes time. 2) Those that resist rehab instructions, pretty universally have the worst outcomes. From your description of your mom, I would be concerned about this. Especially since you say she can barely walk, normal rehab will likely be much different for her. A big part of rehab is exercise -- a lot of walking, usually starting right away - and if she's unable to do that, she likely will not recover as quickly as if she was able to. I would cover this ground with the rehab folks to get a clear perspective of what will be involved in your mom's particular case. 3) Caregiving can be pretty light or arduous, depending on the individual patient's progress. 4) They've been doing these procedures for quite a while, now, and have become very good at them. They should have a pretty clear picture of what you should expect in your mom's case. Talk to them about your expectations -- whether over or under. Get a better idea from them about what's reasonable to expect. 5) Prepare to upgrade her standard of care from mere "assisted living". In the beginning, she'll almost certainly need more attention. With a good outcome, this period may pass quickly but the burden for you as an individual in the beginning may well be too much to undertake. 6) Get connected with private-care people whom you can call on if you do find yourself overwhelmed. If/when such a thing occurs, you won't be thinking straight. Make these arrangements in advance so you don't have to think about it if the need arises. 7) Let the rehab folks have their way with her. It will be very uncomfortable for her. She will probably complain. You may feel like intervening. Don't. It has to happen. They'll have to push her a bit. They know what's needed. Stay out of their way. You may have to explain this to her and deal with her resentment. She'll probably forget it all in due course. Everyone does. But keep her moving and excercising. Regularly. Every day. Couch potatoes, don't do well. If they did well in the beginning when it was forced on them, they begin to decline when they stop. It will be a lifestyle change. New routines. She will become depressed a little or a lot. You'll have to deal with it and keep her moving. 8) Knee replacement or other procedures may or may not be deemed wise later on. One step at a time. Right now, this is the only thing. Keep focused on this and this alone. 9) The procedure will NOT change her personality. Your present annoyances will likely continue as before -- but at least you'll have some new subject matter to talk about. There are a lot smarter people than me around to ask about this topic. Find them and talk with them.

There are several side effects of all statins. I took Zocor for several years with seemingly no problems. Then I started feeling so tired I couldn't keep awake during the day and my muscles felt weak and I had to lie down for a little while after going upstairs. I couldn't go for a walk because I felt so tired and wobbly. 'I was also loosing my memory. I couldn't carry on a conversation - I just stammered and searched my mind for the word I wanted. My sister would usually finish the sentence for me. I worried I was having dementia or Alzheimer's. My doctor said no, it was because I've had diabetes since I was 12 and now am in my early 70's and the blood vessels shrink in my brain. After reading up on statins I decided to just stop taking it. My cholesterol was 130 and I eat very little food with cholesterol anyway. Since I have gall bladder problems my doctor said I should go on a gall bladder diet so I usually eat a turkey and Vegenaise sandwich and veggies and fruit. When I saw my doctor a couple months ago he said I NEED to be on a statin because of my diabetes. He gave me a sample of Crestor saying it was only 10 mgs instead of the 40 mgs of Zocor I had been taking so that should solve my problems. Whoa! I couldn't keep awake at all for most of the day! I would eat breakfast and immediately fall asleep in my recliner. I couldn't even brush my teeth. I would be ASLEEP until 2:30 p.m - and I mean asleep! How the heck can I control my diabetes or exercise like that?! My blood sugar was all over the place - from 30 to over 300. The rest of the day was horrible, too. Barely awake and not able to stay awake during the evening to watch a TV show. I looked up Crestor and found it is the STRONGEST statin and is called a super statin! Several people on line said they would rather die early than take that! I had told my sister that the day before. I went back to the doctor and he tried to tell me that I needed to be on a statin and I said I'm NOT taking it. Then he said he wasn't trying to hurt me and that I was someone who couldn't tolerate it. As I left he said, "You know, i'm going to get lots of letters from the insurance companys asking why I took you off statins." You'd think they would be happy they didn't have to pay for it! Since I have been off of both of them I am getting much better. My memory is pretty much back to normal, I'm not sleeping the day away and my muscles are getting a lot stronger. I asked my DD to take me out to a mall so I can walk around during the week. I am not out of breath climbing the stairs anymore. 'So I say read up on statins. Some doctors say they are poison and many sites warn of the side effects. One doctor on line says older people NEED some cholesterol in their diet especially older women. Many people do need them especially if they are over weight but we should be aware of the side effects.

Hi to my Smaller Homes friends! I appreciate your support and care more than you can know. I have been working toward a weight loss diet since the first of the year. I need to lose almost 200 lbs. In the past I have done liquid protein diets, both without and with other foods. This time, I am going to use the liquid protein to replace some meals and to use between my smaller meals. I figure that doing weight loss this way is a more sustainable way, and that I will likely need to use the liquid protein for some meals the rest of my life. Falling into the fast-food/drive-through habit is too easy for me, since I am on the road for my job. If I can leave the house with a liquid protein packet making a nice cappucino-like drink in home-brewed coffee, I won't be stopping for breakfast with bacon and white-flour breading. That saves a few hundred calories right there! I am trying to leave some snacking (a few individual Dove chocolates at night, a handful of pretzels, some air-popped popcorn) in my diet so that I learn to eat the way I always revert to - but with moderation, instead. DH is the sodium-sleuth, and since he does most of the shopping, I can eat low sodium if I do not sabotage his efforts! We still get take-out, but mostly Middle Eastern, and I get salads with some meat most of the time. So that is my plan - to establish better habits overall, use liquid protein drinks to keep my nutrition up, and eat fewer calories while avoiding sodium and white carbs. I started PT this week. We started with my ankles because that is where the worst pain is. Stan, my PT Man (a genius!) first studied my walk and added to my orthotics (he made them) to correct my left foot's roll. I am doing strengthening exercises, too. Next is my elbows, then my hand. Once I am done with the PT, I plan to get into that nice warm pool at the community center of a nearby suburb a few days a week to work out in the water. I am walking almost as fast as I used to walk as I cruise through my nursing homes, but get out of breath. No major heart pains since the one I had in my first week back at work. I am working to recognize my patterns of tension, worry, and stress. I drive around doing deep, slow breathing exercises and relaxing my shoulders! My biggest, best, and most time consuming change has been working my sauna into my schedule. I have done 30 to 60 minute sessions before bed, a 40 minute session as soon as I got home for work, and even a short 15 minute session before showering to go to work. It feels SO GOOD! I wake up without stiffness if I use it at night. As a matter of fact, it is warmed up for me now, and I am going to go indulge in a full hour in the baking, far-infrared 130 degree little cabin in our smallest bedroom right now!

For those of you about to have the surgery--is there ANY chance you can put it off for a while? There's an amazing new lens on the horizon, but won't be available for a bit yet. I can't remember the name/brand of it, but DD was telling me about it, and glad that by the time DH and I would need the surgery, we'd be able to get it, because it's SO superior to what's available now. OP--if you are your husband's full-time caregiver, and won't be able to lift for a week, can you check into having a home health aid in for a few hours a day to help out? Hopefully, insurance will pay for it, if your husband needs that kind of care, but even if they won't, it's home health aids aren't that expensive (think mom was paying $20-40/hour, depending upon what they did for her. And, of course, that kind of expense would be a medical deduction at the end of the year when you do your taxes, so with a little luck, you'd be getting some of it back. You definitely don't want to chance trying to lift him, if it's going to damage your surgery. Good luck.