Dana Olsen post open-heart surgery Healing ... w/ Pics!

[Dana Olsen]

Thanks so very much to all who wrote their well wishes to me. TGP is a special place and a vibrant community, and I deeply appreciate the show of support and camaraderie I got here.

Recovery is going GREAT! I can walk up and down hills, I get to start driving again next Sat, I get to go back to work Monday - I'm STOKED! As I wrote before, I'm surprised and pleased at how much easier it is to play guitar with my blood pressure back where it should be. I don't know that I'm making harmonically smarter note choices, but the ones I do make are sure easier to execute, and it's a great change. Turns out my joints were a little swollen and achey from high BP - I thought it was age or something.

I still take a bunch of medications. Some mess with my stomach, but it's getting steadily better, and soon I'll be able to stop taking some of 'em. Mostly for blood sugar, blood pressure, a statin drug for cholesterol, and heart stuff - a beta blocker, and 1 children's asprin.

I can start gigging again in 3-4 weeks. Right now I'm not allowed to lift more than 20lbs max, until this huge gash in my chest and sawed in half breastbone (now held together with surgical steel wire, the medical equivalent of 'baling wire') heals up all the way. Then I start Yoga - hey, gotta stay limber!

PICS: This one's of me just coming out of surgery, w/ Rowan in back of the bed putting on a brave face for my sister Julie who took this pic. The story I'm telling - Out cold, tubes everywhere, and I'm STILL a babe magnet! Rowan has been WONDERFUL - NOBODY has a better, more supportive, more loving gal than me. Thanks Baby!

My Mom an Dad have been incredibly supportive and helpful. Both of my sisters, my extended family, and my friends have all been FANTASTIC too - I love you all! With all your help, you make my journey to the light at the end of the tunnel come that much faster!

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i40/danacaster/DSCN0056.jpg

This is a scar pic - it looks lots better now.
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i40/danacaster/scarat10days.jpg

This one's my 3rd day home from the hospital - I could play and walk, but only for about 5-10 minutes, then I had to rest.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i40/danacaster/Another10dayoutguitar.jpg

This one's last Sat out on the deck with the '56 Esquire conversion. Nice day, and I can actually WEAR the damn guitar with a strap. I think I'm gonna have to wait a couple weeks before I try a Les Paul on .... pretty heavy.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i40/danacaster/Danastandingwithguitar2weeksagain.jpg

Thanks again EVERYBODY for your well wishes - ya don't get rid of me THAT EASY (apparently!)

Best to all, GET A PHTSICAL, thanks, Dana O.

[Gumby]

Glad to see you are back on your feet.

[SoCalSteve]

That is fantastic news, Dana! So great to hear!

[astigtigas]

nice to hear your doing good...

[Jeffj]

Glad all is well!!!! Take care of yourself

[LongIslandRod]

Dana,

Best of luck for a healthy "musical" recovery.


Thanks for sharing.

Rod

[Ed DeGenaro]

Hey best speed up that recovery...it's only 3 month to NAMM. :)
Glad to see that you're an old toughie!

[CDaughtry]

Man...you look GREAT for just having had major surgery. Enjoy that new lease on life! Treasure the important things!

[Shnook]

Awesome report! May you continue forward with the healing! Best wishes!

[Shane S]

That is great news Dana! It is good to see you in great health.

[dets1]

welcome back!:D

[cdaloia]

Glad to see you up and around Dana!
Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Seems like you're on your way.....

Chuck

[dayn]

Dana,

Don't know you but on here and the ampgarage. So glad you pulled through...scar pic is intense!

You look great and I pray for continued health and strength with a full recovery!

-Dayn

[scottl]

Good to hear you are healing up!! Looking forward to hanging in Jan!

[esoteric pete]

best wishes dana! you know we were all worried about you! great to hear of the progress and im glad you are feeling a bit better.

keep it up!

[KBR]

Right on Dana,
Go Vegetarian, read about nutrition, omega 3's, etc, Lecithin.
Keeps the arteries clean.

God Bless,

[Mondoslug]

Excellent news. A scar never looked so good.

Happy picking Dana!

[fullerplast]

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i40/danacaster/DSCN0056.jpg


At least they let you practice with your Frampton talk box....."Do You Feel Like We Do?" should be a piece of cake now.:D

Welcome back Dana.:AOK

[edgewound]

Congrats on a speedy recovery, Dana.

Welcome back.

[paintguy]

Dana, thanks for the update! Glad to see you are on the mend and looking great!

Cheers to the speedy recovery!:BEER

[trisonic]

Tough man, Dana!
So glad to see you back on your feet picking.....

Best, wishes, Pete.

[ericb]

Wow Dana, as Charlie said, you look really great for being so recently out of the surgery . That's such great news.. Hang in there and best of luck in your recovery! ERIC

[michael.e]

FANTASTIC DANA!!

Glad to see that things went as well as possible and that you are on the roa.....OOhh, is that a Naylor 4-10????
SWEET!!!!!






:D

Very best wishes..
Emee

[archtopjazz]

Hi Dana,

Glad to hear your doing well.

Jim Hinds

[Ken Ireland]

Glad to see that your recovery is going well!

[cadduc]

best wishes to you for your speedy and complete recovery

c ya at namm

[LavaMan]

Sooooo cool to see you up and about! Keep gettin' better bro!

[gkoelling]

Thanks for the thread, Dana. I'm glad you're doing so well.



Keep it up! :AOK

[Wagster]

Glad to see that you're doing well.I look forward to seeing and hearing some Namm clips

[FredW]

Good Luck Dana!! I'm sure everyday will get a little better from here on out

[sfarnell]

Hey Dana, this is the first I've heard of what happened. Good to see that you're on your way to recovery. I don't know if you had a quadruple or what, but in 2002 I had a sextuple CBAG, so I know what you are going through. Shoot me an email when you're feeling up to it and I can share what has worked for me. I managed to get off of all meds and my BP and blood tests are better than "normal."

Be well.

[devilrob1979]

Best wishes! I'm glad your recovery is going so well. I bet you can't wait to get back to work and thank those guys. Oh yeah and those scars are totally bad ass.

[mprvise]

Very cool Dana! Thanks for the update. :AOK

[michael.e]

Oh yeah and those scars are totally bad ass.
Word.....:bow



You should get a Harley now...


Emee

[57special]

Good to hear from your, Dana. Sounds like you're surrounded by some great people, which makes getting better all the more worthwhile.


Of course, there's us, too.

[Fingers]

Excellent news & pictures! Thanks for keeping us all posted.

[jb70]

great to hear you're doing well! take care of yourself and keep rockin'.

[GuitarsFromMars]

D.O.,I am LATE to the party,but best wishes,bro...

[jrigg]

Dana, great to see you back playin' Good luck with everything!

[Lucidology]

As I wrote before, I'm surprised and pleased at how much easier it is to play guitar with my blood pressure back where it should be.

I don't know that I'm making harmonically smarter note choices, but the ones I do make are sure easier to execute, and it's a great change. Turns out my joints were a little swollen and achey from high BP - I thought it was age or something.

.

This part really blows my mind Dana... just can't get over the fact how much sense it makes ... Wow!!

Sure hope to meet you, maybe even hear you play one of these days ..
& just hang out shooting the sh*t about the gigging life up and down the Cali Coast ...

So glad yer on yer feet and just about ready to play again ...
Huge Blessings dude ...

[wombat66]

This is great news

Having a sense of humor and humility about these things makes recovery so much easier and faster (but don't take it too fast),
as does love.


Scars are cool. I relish mine.
Plug in

[A-Bone]

Great to see that you are on the mend. It's a pleasure to read your posts here.

[duffyguitarman]

Wow Dana, it sounded and looked a little scary. But in a relatively short amount of time it has been, your looking pretty darn good. Keep it up.:AOK


Peace,
Duffy

[bluesjuke]

So even in a hospital bed you still had tubes!

Good to hear the recovery is going well and you are surrounded by caring, special loved ones.
That makes a nice difference.

[devilrob1979]

My blood pressure's 100/68 and I suck.

[Jon Silberman]

It's to hear from you now, Dana. Welcome back and continue healing!

[Southbay Ampworks]

Hey Dana...glad to see you're up and around...we still need to hit that Mexican food place we talked about last February that bluessyndicate turned me onto. My treat...

[K-man]

Good to hear you're doing well.

[TNJ]

Alright Dana!
Outstanding to see you on your deck workin' over that Tele.
That PRS is pretty sweet too...
You should have had the Tone King at the Hospital. :D
Anyway...take care of those new grafts...eat right and exercise.
Oh...and it's a documented fact that playing guitar an hour a day (or more) lengthens lifespan and is heart healthy!

:dude

S.
j

[Lawn Jockey]

Continued healing mojo.

[mge80]

Right now I'm not allowed to lift more than 20lbs max, until this huge gash in my chest and sawed in half breastbone (now held together with surgical steel wire, the medical equivalent of 'baling wire') heals up all the way.


Wait 'til you sneeze for the first time (if you haven't experienced that yet). It was easy for me to hold a pillow or something when I had to cough, but a sudden sneeze....holy smokes.:eek:

Mine was 5 years ago this past July, and these have been the best 5 years of my entire adult life. Hope you are on your way to similar success.

[The Golden Boy]

Glad everything is working out!!!

[ski_fast]

Dana, that is scary stuff. You don't look overweight. Just curious did you ever smoke cigarettes? I am 48 and know two people my age who died from heart attacks last year. If somebody healthy looking like you can have heart issues that is really scary. Any tips on what the doctors told you? Best of luck to you!

[teleman1]

You and the medical society have taken the term speedy recovery to new levels. Here's to an even speedier recovery!

[shallbe]

Man, you look great! I'm glad things are going well, and it sounds like you will actually feel better than before.

[Steve Snider]

Way to go champ!!! Lookin' Good there. See you in Jan.

SS

[mge80]

and it sounds like you will actually feel better than before.

That is a 100% guarantee.

[emilio]

Dana, hope all continues to go well for you and you are up and playing out again, soon...

[fyrwyr]

Wow, what a ride you had!

So glad to see you making a quick recovery, stay healthy, your family, friends and fans need you around for a long while;)

[bluesdoc]

:AOK:AOK:AOK:AOK:AOK

I'm so glad to hear you're doing so well, Dana. Love, music, and health.... that's about it, huh :jo :)

more love from me and Kat you both of you guys

I can't help but wonder if a thoracotomy might help my playing................... nahhh :messedup

jon

[Ron Thorn]

Right on Dana!
It was a pleasure to hear your voice, keep on tickin' my friend.
Ron

[BuddyGuit]

Glad to hear the news on your recovery! Continued good health!

[Frankee]

Lookin' good man....:AOK

[mude]

Man, I did not even know this was happening. So glad to hear that things are progressing well. Don't go to fast, but keep on going! :)

Evan.

[decay-o-caster]

Late to the dance on this thread, but Dana, the news that you're back and that you're good is hugely great. Not that I was worried about you, no far from it. Of course. But still... Way happy to hear you're on your feet and recovering. Way happy! :)

[Birdy]

Good on ya Dana :AOK

Quite an exclusive "club" to be in bro'.

[mge80]

Not to hijack Dana's thread, but since I was so young when I had mine (47), they insisted on using arteries to do the grafts, instead of veins (usually from the legs), which is more typical. They took one from my chest wall, and one from here: (Photo recently after the surgery and one from a few weeks ago...5 years later)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b395/mge80/Gordonarmincision.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b395/mge80/AtkaSept2008032.jpg

[Glowing Tubes]

Hey Dana,
Best wishes for a continued speedy recovery. So glad you are ok. Great attitude goes a long way, seem like you got it down.

Richard

[tonefinger]

I don't know you, but from a fellow dude named Dana, I am glad you're allright.

[frankencat]

God bless you Dana. Good to see you up on your feet. :AOK

mge80. looks like a great place for a tattoo :)

[rattles]

Glad to hear that you are up and about and doing better.

Take care of yourself and DON'T take your health for granted!


:BEER to good health Dana!
(water!)

[Dana Olsen]

FANTASTIC DANA!!

Glad to see that things went as well as possible and that you are on the roa.....OOhh, is that a Naylor 4-10????
SWEET!!!!!
EmeeThanks Michael - Yup, that's a Naylor 4x10's cab. Sounds great, now I need a matching Naylor Duel 60 to go with it!
Best wishes! I'm glad your recovery is going so well. I bet you can't wait to get back to work and thank those guys. Oh yeah and those scars are totally bad ass.Oh yeah - mge80 and I have a great 'base' for tatoos now!
Wait 'til you sneeze for the first time (if you haven't experienced that yet). It was easy for me to hold a pillow or something when I had to cough, but a sudden sneeze....holy smokes.

Mine was 5 years ago this past July, and these have been the best 5 years of my entire adult life. Hope you are on your way to similar success.I MAN, do I hear THAT loud and clear - the first time I sneezed when I got home it felt so normal at first, I was welcoming it. I did the big inhale, felt my chest twinge, and my inner voice went, "Oh-Oh, I think this might hurt..."

It did - a real 'waker-upper, eh?

Thanks for the encouraging words my scar brutha - I'm thinking about getting a tatoo of a zipper on my chest scar, or maybe a dotted line with the instructions: "Open Here" or "Cut Along Dotted Line".

Maybe not - as it is, I can tell people the long one's a knife scar, and the smaller ones are bullet holes. I can also say the guy who gave 'em to me is STILL in the hospital! (Of course, he's a Cardiac Surgeon - where else would he be?)

I already feel better than I have in years!

Dana, that is scary stuff. You don't look overweight. Just curious did you ever smoke cigarettes? I am 48 and know two people my age who died from heart attacks last year. If somebody healthy looking like you can have heart issues that is really scary. Any tips on what the doctors told you? Best of luck to you!Don't smoke, I eat well, I'm not overweight, and I run - go figure. Genetics said the Docs. My heart itself is not what my problem is - it's my ARTERIES that were clogged. I have high blood sugar (Type II Diabetes, Adult onset) and THAT caused high cholesterol and irritated my arteries and made 'em rough on the inside, which gave the blockage (think 'gristle') a place to anchor and grow. My heart's fine, thank god.

They ALSO said: If you're over 40, GET A PYHSICAL AND A STRESS TEST! Also, control your weight, exedrcise daily - even walking for 40 minutes a day is GREAT exercise!

Jim Soloway, TNJ, Scott Lerner, Chuck D'Aloia, all other NAMM types - I WILL BE THERE, working this year for Mark Bartel and Tone King. I'm stoked to be helping Mark out at NAMM with his great new amp - I haven't heard it yet, but you know it'll be wonderful!

Thanks Everybody, Dana

[mge80]

Maybe not - as it is, I can tell people the long one's a knife scar, and the smaller ones are bullet holes.

For me...the "bullet hole" ones...where the chest tubes were, have completely disappeared. I just went and looked and there really is no trace. But, I do have the memory of the nurse pulling them out. I had no idea they were that long.

I also have no problem feeling the wires holding the breast bone together...after all this time.

Really glad you're getting along so well. I've done so well with my lifestyle changes and exercise, etc...that the Drs don't see the need to continue with yearly stress tests or any more angiograms unless some sort of symptoms reappear. Knock on wood, that is a long time down the road, if ever.

It sucks to get this kind of wake up call, but at the same time, it is far better than the alternative. Continued good luck with your recovery. It really is amazing how quickly you're able to become more and more active.

[ButchR]

Dana, I wish you continued success in your recovery. My Dad went through this about 8 years ago and has had excellent results. Plus he is taking much better care of himself.

You MUST take care of yourself and be patient with your recovery and I know that you will do well. Our prayers are with you.

[cubado]

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i40/danacaster/Danastandingwithguitar2weeksagain.jpg

sweet....

makes me smile man....

GREAT TO SEE YA...

AND READ YA AGAIN !!

[Ren5150]

Great!!!! Glad to see you are on the mend quickly and feeling better. Nice to see some good news now and then.

[Blue Strat]

Holy Crap! This is the first I've heard of this.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery Dana!

[Tony Foran]

All the best to a true gentleman.

[dbeeman]

Hey Dana;

I just caught this news myself.

Good to see you doing better. Keep on keepin on!


Doug

[rh]

Holy smoke -- first I've heard of this. Sorry, bro and best wishes for your continued great recovery.

[Tonefish]

Wow, I had no idea. Those surgery pics are sobering...but you look great!!!

Thanks for the continued tips whilst you recovered!!!!!

[walterw]

I already feel better than I have in years!

really glad to hear that, and best wishes!

[Scott Peterson]

Dana,

Best wishes and keep on fighting the good fight. So good to hear you are doing better!

[Thor]

Good to see a smile on your face and a guitar over your shoulder!

Keep up the good work,

Edward

[big mike]

Holy CRap Dana, I missed that you were having surgery.

Glad you're okay my friend, all my positive thoughts and prayers for speedy recovery.

[Anthony Gring]

Been meaning to call you to see how things are going. Pictures are worth a thousand words and you look like a million bucks! Been thinking about you and praying for you. So stoked to hear your recovery is going so well and that you'll be back on the farm soon. Surgery at Cottage? You were in good hands. There and above... God Bless.

[phoenix 7]

Dana,

Glad to see you're still tickin' and still pickin'! Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

[crosse79]

Glad to see you back. Take it slow yeah :) After that - rock on!!

[Bradd]

Hey Dana I have the same scars as you! I had a heart transplant in May 2006 due to heart failure. If you're healing process is anything like mine you should feel good as new by early December. Hope you have a speedy recovery and stay healthy!

[soulohio]

wow...get well soon! i guees that's why you ain't had much to say abot Orange amps and Partridge trannies.