Stephanie Klein's Greek Tragedy

lucas’s & phil’s health update

We’re assuming our little guy is feelin’ fine on the 1 and 9. Lucas had a spine and brain MRI, with and without contrast recently, and we’re still waiting to review the results with his neurosurgeon. I have to believe…

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the placebo effect of dating

I took a Health Psychology class in college, where I learned, among other things, about the power of positive (and craptastic) thinking, particularly its impact on our health. I already knew that imagining myself making contact with the ball on…

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helpless mothers, helpful fathers

Lucas Beckett went in for his MRI today, and Abigail shat herself. Of all mornings, of course she’d pick today, the only day we need to be up super early and be out the door on time to get…

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ejection, rejection, and erections: an owner’s manual

On The Mend Phil’s ejection fraction (the percentage of blood that leaves the heart after it’s pumped in) was at 10 to 15 percent before this most recent surgery, where an ICD-CRT device with a bi-ventrical lead was implanted.…

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teacher man: remembering Frank McCourt

When I heard of the passing of Frank McCourt I asked Stephanie if she would write a blog post about him.  She responded that I should write something as she hadn’t read his books or personally known him. It…

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no more man bra!

I haven’t seen Phil yet, but the doctor just told me all went well. No complications, other than the vein being small, where he needed to insert the third lead, so he went ahead and used the smaller lead…

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surgery scheduled

Phil’s mother is flying in tomorrow morning. She’ll be picked up at the airport, then dropped off at the hospital. To wait with me. "No one should have to wait alone in a waiting room," she said. Dr. Natale…

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should you be alarmed when your nurse starts to cry on your behalf?

Phil had an appointment with his cardiologist yesterday. It was a scheduled "stress echo," where they were planning on taking photos of his heart at rest, and then every three minutes, as they upped the speed on a treadmill. That…

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recovering

  In two weeks Phil will be "cardioverted." It sounds like an optional amenity, something you pay a little extra for, like a sunroof or heated seats. But it’s not a turbo button beside the gears. It’s electric shock…

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a husband’s heart

  Heart History: Phil’s father died at age 32 of a weak heart, an unknown cardiomyopothy, where it was explained that the pump of his heart wasn’t strong enough. Phil, 41, had a very low resting heart rate of…

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