WOW! It is great to be back on the show. For the past 7 weeks I have been recovering from heart surgery. I was born with a malfunctioning valve in my heart - it’s a condition that affects about 1 in 20 Americans and it’s known as a prolapsed valve. The good news is that many people who have prolapsed valves will never need surgery, and earlier in life it can be so minor that surgery is not necessary. But it’s important to get your heart checked because you need to know if you have a prolapsed heart valve and if you do, you need to know if it is mild or severe. I don’t want to scare anyone and no one should freak out. I am a living example of how a prolapsed heart valve can deteriorate over time to the point where surgery is necessary.
How do you know if you have a prolapsed heart valve? The symptoms are fatigue or shortness of breath or chest pains. I noticed that I was fighting fatigue and had episodes of shortness of breath. I knew I had a prolapsed valve and I had it monitored every year and when it showed up as a mild condition I let years go by before having it checked again. This year I felt like I needed to get it checked and the doctor was alarmed that the condition had worsened to the point where surgery was needed now.
So, here I am - back on the air after surgery and seven weeks of recovering. This was a life-changing event in my life. First of all, I’m happy that I got my heart checked and that the surgery was a success and as a result my heart is working “perfectly” - that’s the word the surgeon used to describe me after surgery. But being out for the past seven weeks was not a vacation - it was a horrible nightmare.
After surgery, I was in the hospital for 12 days! During that time I became very aware of exactly how long it really takes for the Earth to orbit the sun. Those days were long and dragged on. Now, you might think about me reading or writing for the show during that down time, but no - because it was a 4-hour operation and because of the amount of meds I was taking, my brain was rendered incapable of reading or writing or doing anything except watching TV. That’s all I was capable of doing. So, I binged on “The Office,” “South Park,” the Netflix series, “Love On The Spectrum” - which is about young people with autism going out on their first date as they try to find love and the physical things that go along with love.
I also binged on another interesting series titled, “Welcome To Plathville” - a series from TLC about a family in southern Georgia with two parents and nine children. The parents are unbelievably strict, insisting that there is no kissing or any touching until after marriage. And they were shocked and hurt when the older kids - 21, 17, and 16 - decided to move away. I watched the reality show, “Building a Band,” which was really good and finally watched the movie, “Yesterday,” that some of our listeners have told me I have to watch. I watched it and I thought it was interesting, but very slow and I really didn’t understand why no one had never heard of The Beatles, when they knew about The Rolling Stones and many other artists from that era. But I was so bored so I watched it.
Physically, I worked as hard as I could to get back to the show and as soon as I could walk I pushed myself to walk faster and longer and I would take sunset walks about the lake at West End. There’s a beautiful sunset on clear evenings at West End and there are people who make a point of sitting and watching the sun set. And I want to thank all of the listeners of the show who came up to me and said they hoped I was doing well and they were praying for me and they missed me on the air. And the people who said they missed me on the air made a point of saying that Ian Hoch and Dave Cohen were doing a great job filling in. So I want to sincerely thank Ian and Dave for sitting in while I was recovering and I know they did a great job.
Yesterday was my first big outing - I went to Jazz Fest to see Rod Stewart. As soon as I walked in the gate I ran into one listener - Robin - who is an everyday listener who said it was great to see me out. I saw Donna with the Williams Plum Street snowball location and then saw Kenner Mayor Mike Glaser and Cheryl and many others. I thank you all for your comments and for your prayers and everyone’s prayers worked because I’m back on the show today with a perfectly working heart and I feel great. I still have some recovering to go. I’m not ready for a lot of things, but I think back on how it was a big accomplishment to just stand up with the walker next to my hospital bed.
Saturday night I saw the movie, “Michael,” about Michael Jackson. I don’t think I’ll have time to talk about that today so I’ll plan on doing that tomorrow afternoon and if you have seen “Michael” I’d love to hear your comments about the movie. I thought it was brilliant and it focuses on what a genius Micahel Jackson was and how many people he touched. Jermaine Jackson’s son, Michael’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson played Michael and he killed the role. You are convinced you are watching Michael with the authentic dance moves and the singing, but some of the singing is lip-synced and it all works.
When I got to the point of being able to walk to the corner without the walker and then beyond - I felt I had some of my freedom back. My surgeon, Dr. Divya and her surgical team, the nurses, and everyone at East Jefferson Hospital were awesome. Everything was good except the food. Food is a problem in hospitals, in general. I’m not picking on East Jefferson Hospital, but 12 days of the food might have set me back. I had family and friends bring in smoothies, snoballs from Casey’s on West Esplanade, and real food. Isn’t it interesting that hospitals can hire the best doctors and feature the greatest medical advancements - but hiring someone to do food is a problem.
And special thanks to my dear sister, Jane Hunter, for helping me with my recovery. After surgery and 12 days in the hospital I stayed at my sister’s home to recover and there I had total privacy. She was literally an angel to me. Thank you, Jane - I love you!
And special thanks to Diane Newman, Market Manager Dan Barron, and everyone at WWL and Audacy for allowing me to have this important and life-saving surgery. They were all very supportive and made it easy to recover without any worries.
I enjoyed escaping the daily routine of the news. I was reminded that there’s more to talk about than just the attention-getting news that comes out every day. There will always be the political news we have to talk about, but during this time off, I also learned that life on the radio needs to be more fun and I hope we achieve that in the coming days, weeks, months, and years.
I want all of you - especially women, who are more likely to have a prolapse heart valve - to get your heart checked, especially if you experience shortness of breath, chest pains, or fatigue. You may have a heart condition that needs to be monitored year after year. Maybe nothing needs to be done - but if you need treatment or surgery - get it done and live a long happy life - which is what I plan on doing.
And to all of you who have seen me out recently or have sent messages or cards wishing me well and praying for me - THANK YOU! I’m back on the show as of today and my heart is working perfectly and I plan on kicking ass for many years to come. Thanks - your prayers worked! And thank you God - I know you were with me and I saw only one butt imprint on my sofa - I know that was your imprint as I sat on your lap while you comforted me.
