September 8, 2025 • 29 mins
A routine cholesterol test turned into a life-saving discovery when doctors found an aortic aneurysm that required quick surgical intervention. Nathan sits down with his wife and co-host Alicea just nine days after her open heart surgery for a candid conversation about facing mortality with grace, humor, and remarkable optimism.
Alicea takes us through her journey from initial diagnosis to recovery, sharing the surprising way her aneurysm was discovered through a precautionary CT scan. Though her arteries were perfectly healthy, the ballooning in her ascending aorta required swift action – a powerful reminder of how routine medical screenings can uncover silent but potentially fatal conditions.
What makes this conversation particularly valuable is Alicea's honest reflection on the experience from the patient perspective. From choosing Hamilton as her operating room soundtrack to the unexpected challenges of being conscious while intubated, she offers rare insights into the emotional and physical realities of major cardiac surgery. Her remarkably quick recovery (so far) – leaving the hospital in just four days instead of the expected week – demonstrates the profound impact that mindset can have on healing.
The episode highlights the critical importance of community support during health crises. Despite both hosts admitting their reluctance to accept help, they acknowledge how essential their network of friends, family, and church community has been throughout this journey. Alicea's advice to others facing similar situations cuts straight to the heart: "Find people that love you and will take care of you. Don't be afraid to ask for help."
Listen in as we explore how facing mortality can clarify what truly matters, and how unexpected medical journeys can reveal strengths we never knew we had. Whether you're navigating your own health challenges or supporting someone who is, this conversation offers both practical insights and emotional wisdom for the journey.
----
Adventures & Mousecapades is a passion project from Alicea & Nathan Novak - two Seattleites addicted to The Mouse. We are not affiliated with Disney, nor are we travel agents. Opinions are our own.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Nathan (00:24):
Hello everyone, I'm Nathan
Alicea (00:26):
and I'm Alicea
Nathan (00:28):
And welcome to this special bonus episode of
Adventures and Mousecapades.
Today's episode is a littledifferent and a lot more
personal.
My guest is someone veryspecial: my best friend, wife
and co-host, who just happenedto have open heart surgery about
10 days ago and somehow stillhas a better sense of humor than
(00:50):
I do.
She's recovering like a champand we're sitting down to talk
about what it's like to get yourchest cracked open and come out
with even more strength andgrace than before.
Alicea (01:01):
Aw, aw.
Nathan (01:03):
Welcome back, Alicea.
Alicea (01:05):
Thank you.
Nathan (01:06):
I wasn't going to do one of these episodes, but you are
doing so well and we needed tofiller to hit our schedule on
Monday because our guest has alittle bit of a cold.
Anyhow, thank you for being on.
I love you so much.
Alicea (01:22):
You're welcome and I love you too.
Nathan (01:24):
Aw shucks.
We've talked ever so brieflyabout kind of what's going on.
For folks who weren't aware,Alicea had aortic hemiarch
replacement surgery on Friday,August 29th at UW Medical Center
.
Excuse me, University ofWashington.
For those of you not in thevernacular medical center, she's
nine days post-surgery, as wesit down to record.
(01:47):
Can you share a little bit moreabout kind of what led up to
your surgery?
Alicea (01:52):
Yeah, I don't mind sharing medical history at all.
I mean, people want to knowthey can figure it out anyway.
Nathan (02:00):
It is out on the webs.
We've been keeping a caringbridge with our website going.
Alicea (02:05):
So my family has a history of high cholesterol.
Sometimes they're extremely fitand still have high cholesterol
.
I am not extremely fit and Ihave high cholesterol.
And just because of familyhistory, the doc wanted to do a
CT scan just to see how myarteries were and make sure
there wasn't any blockage.
(02:25):
Or if there was, then we'd havea plan forward.
So I did that and she pinged me,wanting to get on a phone call
with me right away.
I'm like okay, I honestlydidn't think anything of it.
I'm like okay, yeah, so I havesome blockage.
Yeah.
Boy, oh boy, fun, fun.
I didn't have any blockage Boy,oh boy, fun, fun.
I didn't have any blockage atall, nothing.
Nathan (02:46):
Right on, yes, good job.
Alicea (02:54):
My heart is very healthy .
My arteries are very healthy.
We did a couple of other teststhat were extremely
uncomfortable, just to make surethat the arteries were okay and
, bar this one little thing, myarteries are very healthy.
Nathan (03:05):
Yes.
Alicea (03:06):
But she did find an aneurysm in my ascending aorta.
Nathan (03:12):
Yeah.
Alicea (03:12):
And I didn't know what an aneurysm was.
For some reason I thought ananeurysm was a type of a clot.
Nathan (03:19):
I always thought it was like a bleed.
Yeah.
Alicea (03:22):
I didn't know.
I mean, I've heard about it allthe time.
You hear of brain aneurysms,you hear of aneurysms bursting
or whatever.
Nathan (03:30):
Yep
Alicea (03:31):
And they are, especially if they're in your aorta, they
can be pretty fatal, prettyquickly.
Nathan (03:38):
Yeah.
Alicea (03:39):
And my aneurysm was large enough that they wanted to
do a surgery sooner rather thanlater, and I am a person who
has a bias more towards actionwith regards to medical
procedures.
Nathan (03:57):
Yeah.
Alicea (03:58):
Like I don't want to prolong the inevitable.
I did this with my knee surgerytoo.
I'm like, yeah, I couldcontinue to get shots year after
year after year, but all thatdoes is mask the problem.
It doesn't actually help it andit could potentially make it
worse.
So, after talking with thedoctor, we found a really good
(04:20):
thoracic surgeon cardiothoracicsurgeon just from people that we
know at church.
We are so blessed to have such awonderful community and, yeah,
kind of fast-tracked this to geta surgery going.
I am extremely thankful that wefound this.
This kind of came out ofnowhere.
(04:41):
You can't tell if you have ananeurysm usually, because when
you find out, that's when it'sburst or.
.
.
whatever.
Nathan (04:50):
Usually yeah.
Alicea (04:51):
An aneurysm is a dilation of an artery.
It's like a ballooning, if youwill, you may understand it a
little better.
The artery itself gets a littlelarge in a specific area, the
walls thin, all that.
Nathan (05:05):
Yeah, it's interesting
Alicea (05:07):
.
All of the medicalprofessionals we've talked to
have all been like, huh, how didthey find this one?
Because it's almost likeexpected, nobody actually goes
looking for these, it's justthey stumble across guessing,
because they've done some othercheck.
So it's been interesting.
What were your thoughts andfeelings when you first learned
(05:28):
you needed open heart surgery?
Well, crap.
I will say I am a veryoptimistic person with regards
to health.
I feel that doctors havestudied for.
a reason they know what they'redoing, they enjoy what they're
doing for the most part, I'mguessing and are really good at
(05:50):
what they do.
I never had any doubts aboutthe medical team or anybody that
we saw, and I wasn't worried atall.
Really, I don't know why.
I just felt like I didn't needto be worried at all.
(06:12):
I did that for you.
Nathan (06:14):
Yes, and I know I was very worried.
Alicea (06:18):
I know that it probably was a source of frustration, but
I don't know, I just I wasn'tsuper worried about it.
It was just like oh yeah, thisis another thing that I have to
go through and do and workthrough.
And please don't take that asme not understanding the
(06:40):
seriousness of this, because Itotally understood how serious
and understand how serious thisis.
Nathan (06:46):
Or the risks.
Alicea (06:47):
Yeah, there are lots of risks.
There are things that couldhappen, there are things that
won't happen.
You know, it's just, it's allover the place.
It's a major surgery and theywere doing some major things to
my body to make sure it gotfixed correctly.
But I knew all of that was outof my control.
I couldn't do a thing with thatat all and I don't feel like
(07:12):
I'm really a worrier withregards to stuff, because, first
off, it stresses me out.
And there's nothing I can doabout it.
Nathan (07:22):
Yeah, yeah, no, I think I did our, uh, your fair share
of worrying and my fair share ofthe worrying and all of the
yeah, I, I am a worrying warriorwhen it comes to stuff like
that.
how did you prepare mentally andemotionally?
(07:44):
Was it just you were good to go?
Alicea (07:47):
I did some research here and there.
Because there's not a lot ofthere's really just not a lot of
information out there, Like Iwanted firsthand accounts from
people that have gone throughthis.
Like this specific thing,because there are a lot of
things that can happen with theheart and open heart surgeries,
and this was not having to dowith the heart really at all.
(08:11):
It was the aorta comingdirectly out the top of the
heart.
It was that little bit rightthere.
It wasn't the heart itself,there wasn't any valve issues or
anything like that.
Nathan (08:21):
Right.
Alicea (08:23):
So I did a little bit of searching just on, like reddit
or whatever, because people puttheir own accounts there, and I
found a couple good, good ones Ithought that just gave me a
better sense of what would behappening afterwards, and I
think that was the big thing isokay, like I don't want to know
too much about what is going tobe happening during the surgery,
(08:45):
because I know myself and Iknow my brain does not like
hearing that type of things andwill decide to shut down and
said, nope, you're going to goto sleep now, so.
.
.
But I wanted to know what wouldhappen after and I am very glad
that I looked at that.
We did hear from, like I said,somebody at church who has gone
(09:06):
through this exact same thing.
We're right around the same age.
She was just a wealth ofinformation, but I didn't know
what to ask.
Like we didn't know what wedidn't know.
And just in my research onlineI was like okay, so when I get
out, I'm going to have a tube inmy throat for breathing and I'm
going to have a tube in mythroat for breathing.
(09:27):
I'm going to and I'm going to beawake afterwards.
Nathan (09:28):
Yeah, that shocked me.
Alicea (09:29):
I was like you're going to uh and I'm going to have
tubes in my chest and I'm goingto have all sorts of other stuff
coming out of me.
I'm just keeping track ofthings and that was very helpful
.
Um, I was like I didn't feelany of that stuff.
I'll say I didn't feel any ofthat stuff, like I didn't feel
any of that on my body at all.
Nathan (09:46):
Yeah, except for the.
Alicea (09:48):
Except for the tube going into my throat.
Yes, yes, I felt that.
Nathan (09:52):
When they said that you were going to be intubated
post-surgery and into recoveryup in the ICU that was actually
my I had a lot of existentialdread and worry just about the
whole thing.
Alicea (10:09):
Yeah.
Nathan (10:10):
But my biggest concern about the procedure in the
aftermath.
.
.
whatever you want to call it,like, the immediate post
procedure, as you're starting towake up and you're still going
to be intubated and on abreathing machine, I knew right
then I was like she's not goingto be a happy camper.
She's going to freak out.
(10:31):
Like, it's not going to go well.
.
.
and I think you did really wellfor a while and then did have a
little bit of a freak outmoment.
.
.
Alicea (10:40):
I did have a freak out, and I can tell you exactly why I
had a freak out.
Nathan (10:43):
Yeah.
Alicea (10:44):
Like I don't, I understand the mechanics behind
it somewhat.
I don't think I understood themall the way.
I think if I had been explaineda little bit more about what
that means how far down the tubegoes into my lungs that would
have helped out a lot.
Because I thought like you know, stopped right here.
Nathan (11:02):
Yeah, at the middle of your neck
Alicea (11:03):
Middle of my neck, like you know, stopped right here,
yeah, at the middle of your neck, middle of my neck, and I
really thought saliva waspooling down at the bottom of
that thing and getting into mylungs.
I thought I was drowning.
That was the problem, I thoughtI was drowning in my own spit
(11:26):
and I think if I had had alittle bit of knowledge, more
knowledge about the mechanics ofhow that all worked I would
have been a little better aboutit.
Nathan (11:29):
That's a really good insight, and I know that you're
probably not going to sit downand, and you know, share a big
blog or anything on Reddit orsomething like that, and but
this is actually kind of why Iwanted to do this episode.
I think hopefully this can helpother people who go through a
similar thing to knowpotentially what can happen, and
(11:51):
that is definitely a thing tobe aware of.
Coming out of surgery, anysurgery, and if you're still
going to be intubated, you stillhave the tube down your throat.
Just be prepared, your lizardbrain will take over and I'm not
convinced that even if you hadbeen explained exactly what was
(12:14):
going on with that, that youstill wouldn't have freaked out
a bit.
Alicea (12:17):
Probably not, I don't know.
Nathan (12:18):
It's a very common.
.
.
Alicea (12:20):
Yes, I understand.
Nathan (12:21):
Yeah, it's actually super common to keep people
under full sedation until thetubes are removed, and I know
they had issues removing thetube.
Alicea (12:29):
I don't remember too much about it because they
probably gave me some don't caremedicine.
Nathan (12:33):
Oh, they did.
Alicea (12:34):
Yeah, because I was starting to freak out, I know.
Nathan (12:43):
You absolutely were, and yeah - you got several doses of
don't feak out medicine.
It was, I don't know, stuck insome way, like they tried to
pull, and then it like, I don'tknow, there's some like
inflation balloon that seals offthe wrong pipe.
I think yeah.
Effectively and it wasn'tdeflating all the way or
something like that.
And it was.
.
.
Yeah, it was just.
(13:04):
.
.
Alicea (13:04):
I really feel like understanding the mechanics of
that would have helped me out alot.
Yeah.
Nathan (13:09):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, other than that, is thatkind of like the thing you
remember most vividly about theday of surgery?
Vivid in in air quotes there,cause you were pretty drugged up
.
Alicea (13:23):
Yes, I was pretty drugged up.
I remember going into the ORand they're asking what music I
wanted, and I listened toHamilton during medical
procedures.
That's just.
It's just what I do.
I listened to it during dentalprocedures.
It helps with my anxiety.
And I listened to it on the wayon the OR or in the OR and they
(13:45):
just put on some random one andthey're like do you have any
requests?
And I said, let's do, You'll BeBack",
[Music] You'll be back, soonyou'll see, you'll remember you
belong meYou'll be back, time Time will .
.
.
[Music fades to background]tell
And and it was fun to hear thedoctors and people in the OR
(14:07):
singing along with that.
Nathan (14:09):
That was pretty awesome.
One of the nurse updates that I.
.
.
because they were calling meevery couple hours and giving me
updates and stuff, did mentionthat and said that they all had
a really good time listening toHamilton.
So I think they kept it goingafter you were done or after you
were.
You were uh out cold.
Alicea (14:27):
So, that's awesome.
So I, I remember that coming onand then I don't remember
anything until waking up.
Nathan (14:35):
Yeah.
Just kind of overall, what wasyour experience at University of
Washington Medical Center inMontl ake?
Any comments or thoughts ormoments that stood out?
Staff members that stood out?
Alicea (14:49):
Oh gosh, there's so many .
I mean that is an amazinghospital.
Nathan (14:53):
Yeah, it is.
Alicea (14:54):
I am very thankful that we went there.
I love that it's a teachinghospital.
I love that they gave me theoption to partake in a research
study.
I'm like, yes, I will help outany way that I can with anything
I'm able to.
So we did a research study,something about strokes.
Nathan (15:13):
Yeah, I think it was stroke correlation with open
heart surgery and they did abunch of blood draws throughout
the procedure and then continueon after, and then a couple days
(15:49):
after the surgery, two or threedays after the surgery, you had
an MRI of your brain to justconfirm that there weren't any
strokes and there weren't bloodsamples that they can use during
surgery to predict the likely,a high likelihood or like that a
stroke is about to occur ormaybe is occurring, so they can
catch that really early and dosomething about it or prevent it
from happening.
So, yeah, I mean that'sfantastic.
I'm, yeah, so proud of you forfor being open and able to do
that, definitely.
Alicea (16:06):
I mean people got to learn and anything.
Any way I can help out, I'm allfor it.
Yeah.
And a couple of times when theyare removing the, the pacemaker
wires, the temporary pacemaker,and then the chest tubes and
stuff there were.
They asked like are you okaywith some grad students coming
in and watching?
I'm like, yeah, have on, comeon in the more the earlier.
You know, students coming inand watching.
(16:27):
You know I don't care.
You guys see this stuff everyday.
I'm not.
I'm not shy with all this,because you are professionals
and you have to understand thehuman body.
Nathan (16:37):
Yeah, yeah.
What was the hardest part ofbeing in the hospital and what
helped you get through it all?
Alicea (16:45):
Um, the hardest part of being in the hospital would, I
think, be knowing that folkswere worried about me.
Nathan (16:53):
Yeah.
.
.
Alicea (16:56):
I don't know how to say it other than that, really, um,
neither of us like being aburden on others.
Nathan (17:02):
Yeah yeah.
.
.
Alicea (17:03):
I mean, it is what it is .
I I understand this was a hugeundertaking, this was a huge
process and I don't want tobegrudge anybody's feelings on
that on it at all.
I totally understand, but Idon't like that.
I was making people worry um, Ithink that was the hardest part
of being in the hospital.
The hospital was, I mean, itwas comfortable, the food was
(17:24):
good, the people were good.
I was tired all the time.
I'm still tired all the time.
Nathan (17:30):
Yeah.
This is like it's part of thereason I wanted to do this,
because I wanted to get you tosit up and do something for a
little while.
So thank you for agreeing to beinterviewed as part of your
rehab.
Alicea (17:45):
Yeah, as long as it's not mid-morning, we're good.
Nathan (17:47):
No, yeah, we've been getting up between 8 and 9,
somewhere in there and thengetting downstairs and you'll
have breakfast and then you justcrash for like two to three
hours.
Alicea (17:59):
It's annoying.
Nathan (18:01):
Hey, it is your body recovery.
Alicea (18:03):
I know, I know I'm like I just slept body recovery I
know, I know.
I know I'm like, I've just sleptall night Come on, but no, I'm
just like out.
Nathan (18:13):
Kind of moving on into post surgery and recovery.
.
.
They had said that you weregoing to be in the hospital five
to seven days and then what welearned was like day one of that
five to seven is the day aftersurgery.
You came home.
Day four.
Alicea (18:30):
Yeah.
Nathan (18:31):
So you're like breaking land speed records, like
everybody was so incredibly,like shocked.
Alicea (18:38):
Yeah, they were expecting me to be in the
cardiac ICU for two days.
I was in there for.
.
.
Nathan (18:43):
barely 24 hours.
Alicea (18:44):
Yeah, barely 24 hours.
Now, the transition from cardiacICU to the cardiac care floor
was a little rough because I hadbeen sitting up for most of
that day and I think, fellbehind on pain meds a little bit
.
Nathan (19:01):
Yeah, you did.
You got behind the pain curve.
Alicea (19:03):
Yeah, and that was not very good.
Nathan (19:06):
Well, and then they, the one I would say kind of fault,
not fault.
The one issue we had is theyinitially had sent somebody over
with like a wheelchair to wheelyou over.
And we're just like uh, whatyeah, like no, no.
So they wheeled you over in abed and got it all figured out.
Alicea (19:28):
And then, well, they had to transfer me to a different
bed.
Nathan (19:31):
Well, yeah, because the ICU bed isn't what the floor bed
is and blah, blah, blah.
Alicea (19:35):
That kind of hurt.
Nathan (19:38):
Yeah, because they got to do their thing, but it all
worked out.
How are you feeling now, bothphysically and emotionally?
Alicea (19:48):
Physically, the exhaustion is an issue.
I'm just I'm tired all the time.
I know that's to be expected.
My body is healing.
It's just really weird becauseit's quite random on when it
happens, except for likemid-morning.
I'm gonna fall asleep, and thensometimes in the afternoon,
(20:09):
it's random yeah I'll just startgetting tired.
So mentally I'm not entirelysure.
I mean, I think I feel fine.
I know I'm gonna get boredpretty soon yeah and then I'll
start watching TV or something.
I've just got sports on and somethings here and there, but
because I fall asleep so easily,I'm just like I don't know if I
(20:31):
want to start anything quiteyet.
Nathan (20:33):
Yeah, yeah, that makes sense, that makes sense.
What surprised you the mostabout the recovery process so
far?
You know, you're a little, youknow a week and a bit in.
Alicea (20:44):
Um, how quickly I got out of there, I guess.
Nathan (20:46):
Yeah.
Alicea (20:47):
My level of pain has been pretty low.
Nathan (20:50):
Yes, remarkably so.
Alicea (20:52):
Yeah, uh, and I am waiting for that other shoot to
drop.
Nathan (20:55):
Uh huh.
Alicea (20:57):
I took some Oxy right before we came home just to to
help with the ride home, andbefore that I think it had been
a couple of days before I hadany.
Nathan (21:07):
You've just been doing Tylenol and some muscle relaxers
.
Alicea (21:10):
Yeah, muscle relaxer here and there and I'll feel a
little bit of discomfort hereand there from the incision site
.
Most of it is just muscle ache.
My back and shoulder hurt everynow and then quite a bit Just
like muscly ache things, and I'mguessing it's just how I'm
(21:30):
carrying myself.
Stuff like that I don't know.
Nathan (21:32):
Well, it's also how they , how they set you up on the
table, 'cause they kind of bendyou over, yeah.
I mean, they effectively bendyou over backwards a little bit,
so you get spatchcocked in openheart surgery.
Alicea (21:45):
Okay, so I'm going to amend my answer my ocular
migraines.
Nathan (21:50):
Oh yeah!
Alicea (21:51):
I have a lot of those.
I am extremely thankful that itis just the aura flashes that I
get and I don't get any painfrom the migraines.
It's just the flashes and I donot know how to explain ocular
migraines it's just the theflashes.
I recommend, if you are curious, look it up.
There are actually some reallyinteresting videos or imagery of
(22:16):
what an ocular migraine lookslike.
I've been having probably fiveto ten a day, which is
ridiculous.
Nathan (22:25):
That is a lot.
Alicea (22:26):
But, they do not last as long as my regular ocular
migraines last.
They're like maybe a minute,and usually.
.
.
So when I have regularmigraines, it'll start out as a
very small dot somewhere in myfield of vision and then it'll
get bigger and bigger and biggerand encompass and it'll be like
(22:47):
a circular bubble rim and it'lljust get bigger, go out
throughout my entire field ofvision and then just disappear
and that usually takes abouthalf hour.
For my regular ones.
These will be about one to twominutes long and it'll start out
small and just be a little blip.
It'll stay small maybe get alittle bigger and then just go
(23:09):
away.
Nathan (23:10):
Huh, and you used to have like what maybe?
Well, I mean historicallyyou've been not very many of
them, but recently, in therecent, last couple of years,
you've maybe had like what?
One a month, maybe two a month.
Now you're having like five toten a day.
Alicea (23:31):
Yeah, yeah, it's been hormonal.
Nathan (23:33):
Yeah, yeah.
Alicea (23:34):
The migraines.
Nathan (23:35):
Yeah Well, except for post-surgery, and so thankful
that these don't seem to havepain involved in them.
Alicea (23:49):
Yes, very much so.
Nathan (23:53):
So obviously we've had a ton of support from folks
online, our friends, our family.
We've got this meal train setup for most of the rest of the
month.
We're just so incrediblythankful for our various
communities who have ralliedaround us, and I guess one of
(24:17):
the questions that I had was,what role has that kind of
played in your recovery?
But I think we're really kindof early in that and I guess I
want to pivot to like how hasand I know you aren't finished
with all of this.
.
.
Alicea (24:33):
No, just starting.
Nathan (24:34):
This is a two to three-month recovery, to get
back to quote-unquote normal,but just so far.
Like has this whole experiencechanged your perspective on life
or health or anything else inany way?
Alicea (24:52):
I don't think so.
Um, not really.
I mean I'm pretty good aboutseeing a doctor if I'm having
issues.
I mean I'm not the best, but Istill do go see a doctor if I
have any issues and I highlyrecommend doing that.
Go to see somebody if you'renot feeling well.
Yeah, and this was just aregular lab test type thing, you
know, just regular blood workthat hadn't been done in a
(25:14):
couple of years, type stuff.
That's how this was found.
Nathan (25:17):
Right, because then it was like, oh, hey, cholesterol
is like high and that was thefirst time I think ever your
cholesterol had really been high.
And then, given family history,it's like, oh, let's do a
precautionary CT scan.
And then, hey, your arteriesare great.
Hey, you have an aneurysm.
And then we had a bunch ofother tests.
(25:38):
You kind of alluded to thisearlier.
There's a bunch of otherprocedures leading up to the
main surgery that were done thatvalidated that there were no
other issues with your heart orarteries and things like that.
So, yeah, it's been a ride.
Looking forward, what are youmost looking forward to as you
(26:01):
continue to heal?
Alicea (26:03):
What do I most look forward to?
I'm not sure.
.
.
Continuing with our life likewe usually do, like, going on
vacations and making memoriesand having fun, all that stuff.
One of my big questions that Iam going to ask the doctor is am
I still okay to go on rollercoaster rides?
It's very, very important to me.
Nathan (26:26):
Well, we'll ask him in a week.
And of course we'll just saylike not, obviously, not right
now.
Alicea (26:31):
No, it won't be till June or so, but yeah.
Nathan (26:34):
Yeah, yeah, we'll get you up and going.
Yep.
Do you have any advice forothers who might be facing a
similar surgery or recoveryprocess?
Alicea (26:48):
Your mileage may vary.
Everybody's going to beextremely different in how their
body handles stuff like this.
Find a support group, findpeople that love you and that
will take care of you, and it'sokay if you don't know stuff,
ask.
Don't be afraid to ask for help.
That's, I think that's one ofthe hard things for us is asking
(27:09):
for help like, uh, neither ofus want to be burdens on people.
Even if people want to help,we're like, okay, you may just
have to force that because, yeah, it's just hard for us.
There's resources out there,there's people out there.
Use your community people outthere.
Nathan (27:23):
Use your community.
Alicea (27:26):
Yeah, use your community .
Nathan (27:28):
Be open to using your community and letting everybody
else help you too.
Yep, that's important, that'simportant.
Well, that's a wrap on thislittle bonus episode.
I do want to give a huge thanksto my amazing wife for sharing
her story and reminding us allthat recovery is not just about
healing, but also about humor,love and a lot of patience,
(27:52):
mostly with me.
If you enjoyed this episode,please do send some good vibes
Alicea's way, and maybe a fewsnacks, because hospital food is
officially behind us!And and with that I'll forgo our
usual outro, only to say thatI'll be back in your ears.
.
.
in just a day or two.
We've got renowned Disney beatreporter Scott Gustin on to
(28:16):
recap all the news from the Bigbig Mouse mouse that came out
from Destination D23 last week.
Scott was a little under theweather after the convention, so
we had to bump our recordingwhile he got his voice back, but
I am recording with himtomorrow as we record Today, as
this comes out in the past.
If you're listening to thisafter the day it dropped, you
(28:39):
can figure it all out.
Anyway, please stay tuned as wereturn to our regularly
scheduled programming.
Bye-bye![Music: The end of You'll Be
Back"Everybody! Da, da, da, da da, da
, da, da, da, da, da da da da dada da da da da da da da da da
da da da da da da da da da da dada da da da da da da da da da
da da da da da da da da da da dada da da da da da da da da da
da da da da da da da da da da dada da da da da da da da da da
(29:03):
da da da da da da da da da da dada da da da da da da da da da
da da da da da da da da da da dada da da da da da da.
Hello everyone, I'm Nathan
Alicea (00:26):
and I'm Alicea
Nathan (00:28):
And welcome to this special bonus episode of
Adventures and Mousecapades.
Today's episode is a littledifferent and a lot more
personal.
My guest is someone veryspecial: my best friend, wife
and co-host, who just happenedto have open heart surgery about
10 days ago and somehow stillhas a better sense of humor than
(00:50):
I do.
She's recovering like a champand we're sitting down to talk
about what it's like to get yourchest cracked open and come out
with even more strength andgrace than before.
Alicea (01:01):
Aw, aw.
Nathan (01:03):
Welcome back, Alicea.
Alicea (01:05):
Thank you.
Nathan (01:06):
I wasn't going to do one of these episodes, but you are
doing so well and we needed tofiller to hit our schedule on
Monday because our guest has alittle bit of a cold.
Anyhow, thank you for being on.
I love you so much.
Alicea (01:22):
You're welcome and I love you too.
Nathan (01:24):
Aw shucks.
We've talked ever so brieflyabout kind of what's going on.
For folks who weren't aware,Alicea had aortic hemiarch
replacement surgery on Friday,August 29th at UW Medical Center
.
Excuse me, University ofWashington.
For those of you not in thevernacular medical center, she's
nine days post-surgery, as wesit down to record.
(01:47):
Can you share a little bit moreabout kind of what led up to
your surgery?
Alicea (01:52):
Yeah, I don't mind sharing medical history at all.
I mean, people want to knowthey can figure it out anyway.
Nathan (02:00):
It is out on the webs.
We've been keeping a caringbridge with our website going.
Alicea (02:05):
So my family has a history of high cholesterol.
Sometimes they're extremely fitand still have high cholesterol
.
I am not extremely fit and Ihave high cholesterol.
And just because of familyhistory, the doc wanted to do a
CT scan just to see how myarteries were and make sure
there wasn't any blockage.
(02:25):
Or if there was, then we'd havea plan forward.
So I did that and she pinged me,wanting to get on a phone call
with me right away.
I'm like okay, I honestlydidn't think anything of it.
I'm like okay, yeah, so I havesome blockage.
Yeah.
Boy, oh boy, fun, fun.
I didn't have any blockage Boy,oh boy, fun, fun.
I didn't have any blockage atall, nothing.
Nathan (02:46):
Right on, yes, good job.
Alicea (02:54):
My heart is very healthy .
My arteries are very healthy.
We did a couple of other teststhat were extremely
uncomfortable, just to make surethat the arteries were okay and
, bar this one little thing, myarteries are very healthy.
Nathan (03:05):
Yes.
Alicea (03:06):
But she did find an aneurysm in my ascending aorta.
Nathan (03:12):
Yeah.
Alicea (03:12):
And I didn't know what an aneurysm was.
For some reason I thought ananeurysm was a type of a clot.
Nathan (03:19):
I always thought it was like a bleed.
Yeah.
Alicea (03:22):
I didn't know.
I mean, I've heard about it allthe time.
You hear of brain aneurysms,you hear of aneurysms bursting
or whatever.
Nathan (03:30):
Yep
Alicea (03:31):
And they are, especially if they're in your aorta, they
can be pretty fatal, prettyquickly.
Nathan (03:38):
Yeah.
Alicea (03:39):
And my aneurysm was large enough that they wanted to
do a surgery sooner rather thanlater, and I am a person who
has a bias more towards actionwith regards to medical
procedures.
Nathan (03:57):
Yeah.
Alicea (03:58):
Like I don't want to prolong the inevitable.
I did this with my knee surgerytoo.
I'm like, yeah, I couldcontinue to get shots year after
year after year, but all thatdoes is mask the problem.
It doesn't actually help it andit could potentially make it
worse.
So, after talking with thedoctor, we found a really good
(04:20):
thoracic surgeon cardiothoracicsurgeon just from people that we
know at church.
We are so blessed to have such awonderful community and, yeah,
kind of fast-tracked this to geta surgery going.
I am extremely thankful that wefound this.
This kind of came out ofnowhere.
(04:41):
You can't tell if you have ananeurysm usually, because when
you find out, that's when it'sburst or.
.
.
whatever.
Nathan (04:50):
Usually yeah.
Alicea (04:51):
An aneurysm is a dilation of an artery.
It's like a ballooning, if youwill, you may understand it a
little better.
The artery itself gets a littlelarge in a specific area, the
walls thin, all that.
Nathan (05:05):
Yeah, it's interesting
Alicea (05:07):
.
All of the medicalprofessionals we've talked to
have all been like, huh, how didthey find this one?
Because it's almost likeexpected, nobody actually goes
looking for these, it's justthey stumble across guessing,
because they've done some othercheck.
So it's been interesting.
What were your thoughts andfeelings when you first learned
(05:28):
you needed open heart surgery?
Well, crap.
I will say I am a veryoptimistic person with regards
to health.
I feel that doctors havestudied for.
a reason they know what they'redoing, they enjoy what they're
doing for the most part, I'mguessing and are really good at
(05:50):
what they do.
I never had any doubts aboutthe medical team or anybody that
we saw, and I wasn't worried atall.
Really, I don't know why.
I just felt like I didn't needto be worried at all.
(06:12):
I did that for you.
Nathan (06:14):
Yes, and I know I was very worried.
Alicea (06:18):
I know that it probably was a source of frustration, but
I don't know, I just I wasn'tsuper worried about it.
It was just like oh yeah, thisis another thing that I have to
go through and do and workthrough.
And please don't take that asme not understanding the
(06:40):
seriousness of this, because Itotally understood how serious
and understand how serious thisis.
Nathan (06:46):
Or the risks.
Alicea (06:47):
Yeah, there are lots of risks.
There are things that couldhappen, there are things that
won't happen.
You know, it's just, it's allover the place.
It's a major surgery and theywere doing some major things to
my body to make sure it gotfixed correctly.
But I knew all of that was outof my control.
I couldn't do a thing with thatat all and I don't feel like
(07:12):
I'm really a worrier withregards to stuff, because, first
off, it stresses me out.
And there's nothing I can doabout it.
Nathan (07:22):
Yeah, yeah, no, I think I did our, uh, your fair share
of worrying and my fair share ofthe worrying and all of the
yeah, I, I am a worrying warriorwhen it comes to stuff like
that.
how did you prepare mentally andemotionally?
(07:44):
Was it just you were good to go?
Alicea (07:47):
I did some research here and there.
Because there's not a lot ofthere's really just not a lot of
information out there, Like Iwanted firsthand accounts from
people that have gone throughthis.
Like this specific thing,because there are a lot of
things that can happen with theheart and open heart surgeries,
and this was not having to dowith the heart really at all.
(08:11):
It was the aorta comingdirectly out the top of the
heart.
It was that little bit rightthere.
It wasn't the heart itself,there wasn't any valve issues or
anything like that.
Nathan (08:21):
Right.
Alicea (08:23):
So I did a little bit of searching just on, like reddit
or whatever, because people puttheir own accounts there, and I
found a couple good, good ones Ithought that just gave me a
better sense of what would behappening afterwards, and I
think that was the big thing isokay, like I don't want to know
too much about what is going tobe happening during the surgery,
(08:45):
because I know myself and Iknow my brain does not like
hearing that type of things andwill decide to shut down and
said, nope, you're going to goto sleep now, so.
.
.
But I wanted to know what wouldhappen after and I am very glad
that I looked at that.
We did hear from, like I said,somebody at church who has gone
(09:06):
through this exact same thing.
We're right around the same age.
She was just a wealth ofinformation, but I didn't know
what to ask.
Like we didn't know what wedidn't know.
And just in my research onlineI was like okay, so when I get
out, I'm going to have a tube inmy throat for breathing and I'm
going to have a tube in mythroat for breathing.
(09:27):
I'm going to and I'm going to beawake afterwards.
Nathan (09:28):
Yeah, that shocked me.
Alicea (09:29):
I was like you're going to uh and I'm going to have
tubes in my chest and I'm goingto have all sorts of other stuff
coming out of me.
I'm just keeping track ofthings and that was very helpful
.
Um, I was like I didn't feelany of that stuff.
I'll say I didn't feel any ofthat stuff, like I didn't feel
any of that on my body at all.
Nathan (09:46):
Yeah, except for the.
Alicea (09:48):
Except for the tube going into my throat.
Yes, yes, I felt that.
Nathan (09:52):
When they said that you were going to be intubated
post-surgery and into recoveryup in the ICU that was actually
my I had a lot of existentialdread and worry just about the
whole thing.
Alicea (10:09):
Yeah.
Nathan (10:10):
But my biggest concern about the procedure in the
aftermath.
.
.
whatever you want to call it,like, the immediate post
procedure, as you're starting towake up and you're still going
to be intubated and on abreathing machine, I knew right
then I was like she's not goingto be a happy camper.
She's going to freak out.
(10:31):
Like, it's not going to go well.
.
.
and I think you did really wellfor a while and then did have a
little bit of a freak outmoment.
.
.
Alicea (10:40):
I did have a freak out, and I can tell you exactly why I
had a freak out.
Nathan (10:43):
Yeah.
Alicea (10:44):
Like I don't, I understand the mechanics behind
it somewhat.
I don't think I understood themall the way.
I think if I had been explaineda little bit more about what
that means how far down the tubegoes into my lungs that would
have helped out a lot.
Because I thought like you know, stopped right here.
Nathan (11:02):
Yeah, at the middle of your neck
Alicea (11:03):
Middle of my neck, like you know, stopped right here,
yeah, at the middle of your neck, middle of my neck, and I
really thought saliva waspooling down at the bottom of
that thing and getting into mylungs.
I thought I was drowning.
That was the problem, I thoughtI was drowning in my own spit
(11:26):
and I think if I had had alittle bit of knowledge, more
knowledge about the mechanics ofhow that all worked I would
have been a little better aboutit.
Nathan (11:29):
That's a really good insight, and I know that you're
probably not going to sit downand, and you know, share a big
blog or anything on Reddit orsomething like that, and but
this is actually kind of why Iwanted to do this episode.
I think hopefully this can helpother people who go through a
similar thing to knowpotentially what can happen, and
(11:51):
that is definitely a thing tobe aware of.
Coming out of surgery, anysurgery, and if you're still
going to be intubated, you stillhave the tube down your throat.
Just be prepared, your lizardbrain will take over and I'm not
convinced that even if you hadbeen explained exactly what was
(12:14):
going on with that, that youstill wouldn't have freaked out
a bit.
Alicea (12:17):
Probably not, I don't know.
Nathan (12:18):
It's a very common.
.
.
Alicea (12:20):
Yes, I understand.
Nathan (12:21):
Yeah, it's actually super common to keep people
under full sedation until thetubes are removed, and I know
they had issues removing thetube.
Alicea (12:29):
I don't remember too much about it because they
probably gave me some don't caremedicine.
Nathan (12:33):
Oh, they did.
Alicea (12:34):
Yeah, because I was starting to freak out, I know.
Nathan (12:43):
You absolutely were, and yeah - you got several doses of
don't feak out medicine.
It was, I don't know, stuck insome way, like they tried to
pull, and then it like, I don'tknow, there's some like
inflation balloon that seals offthe wrong pipe.
I think yeah.
Effectively and it wasn'tdeflating all the way or
something like that.
And it was.
.
.
Yeah, it was just.
(13:04):
.
.
Alicea (13:04):
I really feel like understanding the mechanics of
that would have helped me out alot.
Yeah.
Nathan (13:09):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, other than that, is thatkind of like the thing you
remember most vividly about theday of surgery?
Vivid in in air quotes there,cause you were pretty drugged up
.
Alicea (13:23):
Yes, I was pretty drugged up.
I remember going into the ORand they're asking what music I
wanted, and I listened toHamilton during medical
procedures.
That's just.
It's just what I do.
I listened to it during dentalprocedures.
It helps with my anxiety.
And I listened to it on the wayon the OR or in the OR and they
(13:45):
just put on some random one andthey're like do you have any
requests?
And I said, let's do, You'll BeBack",
[Music] You'll be back, soonyou'll see, you'll remember you
belong meYou'll be back, time Time will .
.
.
[Music fades to background]tell
And and it was fun to hear thedoctors and people in the OR
(14:07):
singing along with that.
Nathan (14:09):
That was pretty awesome.
One of the nurse updates that I.
.
.
because they were calling meevery couple hours and giving me
updates and stuff, did mentionthat and said that they all had
a really good time listening toHamilton.
So I think they kept it goingafter you were done or after you
were.
You were uh out cold.
Alicea (14:27):
So, that's awesome.
So I, I remember that coming onand then I don't remember
anything until waking up.
Nathan (14:35):
Yeah.
Just kind of overall, what wasyour experience at University of
Washington Medical Center inMontl ake?
Any comments or thoughts ormoments that stood out?
Staff members that stood out?
Alicea (14:49):
Oh gosh, there's so many .
I mean that is an amazinghospital.
Nathan (14:53):
Yeah, it is.
Alicea (14:54):
I am very thankful that we went there.
I love that it's a teachinghospital.
I love that they gave me theoption to partake in a research
study.
I'm like, yes, I will help outany way that I can with anything
I'm able to.
So we did a research study,something about strokes.
Nathan (15:13):
Yeah, I think it was stroke correlation with open
heart surgery and they did abunch of blood draws throughout
the procedure and then continueon after, and then a couple days
(15:49):
after the surgery, two or threedays after the surgery, you had
an MRI of your brain to justconfirm that there weren't any
strokes and there weren't bloodsamples that they can use during
surgery to predict the likely,a high likelihood or like that a
stroke is about to occur ormaybe is occurring, so they can
catch that really early and dosomething about it or prevent it
from happening.
So, yeah, I mean that'sfantastic.
I'm, yeah, so proud of you forfor being open and able to do
that, definitely.
Alicea (16:06):
I mean people got to learn and anything.
Any way I can help out, I'm allfor it.
Yeah.
And a couple of times when theyare removing the, the pacemaker
wires, the temporary pacemaker,and then the chest tubes and
stuff there were.
They asked like are you okaywith some grad students coming
in and watching?
I'm like, yeah, have on, comeon in the more the earlier.
You know, students coming inand watching.
(16:27):
You know I don't care.
You guys see this stuff everyday.
I'm not.
I'm not shy with all this,because you are professionals
and you have to understand thehuman body.
Nathan (16:37):
Yeah, yeah.
What was the hardest part ofbeing in the hospital and what
helped you get through it all?
Alicea (16:45):
Um, the hardest part of being in the hospital would, I
think, be knowing that folkswere worried about me.
Nathan (16:53):
Yeah.
.
.
Alicea (16:56):
I don't know how to say it other than that, really, um,
neither of us like being aburden on others.
Nathan (17:02):
Yeah yeah.
.
.
Alicea (17:03):
I mean, it is what it is .
I I understand this was a hugeundertaking, this was a huge
process and I don't want tobegrudge anybody's feelings on
that on it at all.
I totally understand, but Idon't like that.
I was making people worry um, Ithink that was the hardest part
of being in the hospital.
The hospital was, I mean, itwas comfortable, the food was
(17:24):
good, the people were good.
I was tired all the time.
I'm still tired all the time.
Nathan (17:30):
Yeah.
This is like it's part of thereason I wanted to do this,
because I wanted to get you tosit up and do something for a
little while.
So thank you for agreeing to beinterviewed as part of your
rehab.
Alicea (17:45):
Yeah, as long as it's not mid-morning, we're good.
Nathan (17:47):
No, yeah, we've been getting up between 8 and 9,
somewhere in there and thengetting downstairs and you'll
have breakfast and then you justcrash for like two to three
hours.
Alicea (17:59):
It's annoying.
Nathan (18:01):
Hey, it is your body recovery.
Alicea (18:03):
I know, I know I'm like I just slept body recovery I
know, I know.
I know I'm like, I've just sleptall night Come on, but no, I'm
just like out.
Nathan (18:13):
Kind of moving on into post surgery and recovery.
.
.
They had said that you weregoing to be in the hospital five
to seven days and then what welearned was like day one of that
five to seven is the day aftersurgery.
You came home.
Day four.
Alicea (18:30):
Yeah.
Nathan (18:31):
So you're like breaking land speed records, like
everybody was so incredibly,like shocked.
Alicea (18:38):
Yeah, they were expecting me to be in the
cardiac ICU for two days.
I was in there for.
.
.
Nathan (18:43):
barely 24 hours.
Alicea (18:44):
Yeah, barely 24 hours.
Now, the transition from cardiacICU to the cardiac care floor
was a little rough because I hadbeen sitting up for most of
that day and I think, fellbehind on pain meds a little bit
.
Nathan (19:01):
Yeah, you did.
You got behind the pain curve.
Alicea (19:03):
Yeah, and that was not very good.
Nathan (19:06):
Well, and then they, the one I would say kind of fault,
not fault.
The one issue we had is theyinitially had sent somebody over
with like a wheelchair to wheelyou over.
And we're just like uh, whatyeah, like no, no.
So they wheeled you over in abed and got it all figured out.
Alicea (19:28):
And then, well, they had to transfer me to a different
bed.
Nathan (19:31):
Well, yeah, because the ICU bed isn't what the floor bed
is and blah, blah, blah.
Alicea (19:35):
That kind of hurt.
Nathan (19:38):
Yeah, because they got to do their thing, but it all
worked out.
How are you feeling now, bothphysically and emotionally?
Alicea (19:48):
Physically, the exhaustion is an issue.
I'm just I'm tired all the time.
I know that's to be expected.
My body is healing.
It's just really weird becauseit's quite random on when it
happens, except for likemid-morning.
I'm gonna fall asleep, and thensometimes in the afternoon,
(20:09):
it's random yeah I'll just startgetting tired.
So mentally I'm not entirelysure.
I mean, I think I feel fine.
I know I'm gonna get boredpretty soon yeah and then I'll
start watching TV or something.
I've just got sports on and somethings here and there, but
because I fall asleep so easily,I'm just like I don't know if I
(20:31):
want to start anything quiteyet.
Nathan (20:33):
Yeah, yeah, that makes sense, that makes sense.
What surprised you the mostabout the recovery process so
far?
You know, you're a little, youknow a week and a bit in.
Alicea (20:44):
Um, how quickly I got out of there, I guess.
Nathan (20:46):
Yeah.
Alicea (20:47):
My level of pain has been pretty low.
Nathan (20:50):
Yes, remarkably so.
Alicea (20:52):
Yeah, uh, and I am waiting for that other shoot to
drop.
Nathan (20:55):
Uh huh.
Alicea (20:57):
I took some Oxy right before we came home just to to
help with the ride home, andbefore that I think it had been
a couple of days before I hadany.
Nathan (21:07):
You've just been doing Tylenol and some muscle relaxers
.
Alicea (21:10):
Yeah, muscle relaxer here and there and I'll feel a
little bit of discomfort hereand there from the incision site
.
Most of it is just muscle ache.
My back and shoulder hurt everynow and then quite a bit Just
like muscly ache things, and I'mguessing it's just how I'm
(21:30):
carrying myself.
Stuff like that I don't know.
Nathan (21:32):
Well, it's also how they , how they set you up on the
table, 'cause they kind of bendyou over, yeah.
I mean, they effectively bendyou over backwards a little bit,
so you get spatchcocked in openheart surgery.
Alicea (21:45):
Okay, so I'm going to amend my answer my ocular
migraines.
Nathan (21:50):
Oh yeah!
Alicea (21:51):
I have a lot of those.
I am extremely thankful that itis just the aura flashes that I
get and I don't get any painfrom the migraines.
It's just the flashes and I donot know how to explain ocular
migraines it's just the theflashes.
I recommend, if you are curious, look it up.
There are actually some reallyinteresting videos or imagery of
(22:16):
what an ocular migraine lookslike.
I've been having probably fiveto ten a day, which is
ridiculous.
Nathan (22:25):
That is a lot.
Alicea (22:26):
But, they do not last as long as my regular ocular
migraines last.
They're like maybe a minute,and usually.
.
.
So when I have regularmigraines, it'll start out as a
very small dot somewhere in myfield of vision and then it'll
get bigger and bigger and biggerand encompass and it'll be like
(22:47):
a circular bubble rim and it'lljust get bigger, go out
throughout my entire field ofvision and then just disappear
and that usually takes abouthalf hour.
For my regular ones.
These will be about one to twominutes long and it'll start out
small and just be a little blip.
It'll stay small maybe get alittle bigger and then just go
(23:09):
away.
Nathan (23:10):
Huh, and you used to have like what maybe?
Well, I mean historicallyyou've been not very many of
them, but recently, in therecent, last couple of years,
you've maybe had like what?
One a month, maybe two a month.
Now you're having like five toten a day.
Alicea (23:31):
Yeah, yeah, it's been hormonal.
Nathan (23:33):
Yeah, yeah.
Alicea (23:34):
The migraines.
Nathan (23:35):
Yeah Well, except for post-surgery, and so thankful
that these don't seem to havepain involved in them.
Alicea (23:49):
Yes, very much so.
Nathan (23:53):
So obviously we've had a ton of support from folks
online, our friends, our family.
We've got this meal train setup for most of the rest of the
month.
We're just so incrediblythankful for our various
communities who have ralliedaround us, and I guess one of
(24:17):
the questions that I had was,what role has that kind of
played in your recovery?
But I think we're really kindof early in that and I guess I
want to pivot to like how hasand I know you aren't finished
with all of this.
.
.
Alicea (24:33):
No, just starting.
Nathan (24:34):
This is a two to three-month recovery, to get
back to quote-unquote normal,but just so far.
Like has this whole experiencechanged your perspective on life
or health or anything else inany way?
Alicea (24:52):
I don't think so.
Um, not really.
I mean I'm pretty good aboutseeing a doctor if I'm having
issues.
I mean I'm not the best, but Istill do go see a doctor if I
have any issues and I highlyrecommend doing that.
Go to see somebody if you'renot feeling well.
Yeah, and this was just aregular lab test type thing, you
know, just regular blood workthat hadn't been done in a
(25:14):
couple of years, type stuff.
That's how this was found.
Nathan (25:17):
Right, because then it was like, oh, hey, cholesterol
is like high and that was thefirst time I think ever your
cholesterol had really been high.
And then, given family history,it's like, oh, let's do a
precautionary CT scan.
And then, hey, your arteriesare great.
Hey, you have an aneurysm.
And then we had a bunch ofother tests.
(25:38):
You kind of alluded to thisearlier.
There's a bunch of otherprocedures leading up to the
main surgery that were done thatvalidated that there were no
other issues with your heart orarteries and things like that.
So, yeah, it's been a ride.
Looking forward, what are youmost looking forward to as you
(26:01):
continue to heal?
Alicea (26:03):
What do I most look forward to?
I'm not sure.
.
.
Continuing with our life likewe usually do, like, going on
vacations and making memoriesand having fun, all that stuff.
One of my big questions that Iam going to ask the doctor is am
I still okay to go on rollercoaster rides?
It's very, very important to me.
Nathan (26:26):
Well, we'll ask him in a week.
And of course we'll just saylike not, obviously, not right
now.
Alicea (26:31):
No, it won't be till June or so, but yeah.
Nathan (26:34):
Yeah, yeah, we'll get you up and going.
Yep.
Do you have any advice forothers who might be facing a
similar surgery or recoveryprocess?
Alicea (26:48):
Your mileage may vary.
Everybody's going to beextremely different in how their
body handles stuff like this.
Find a support group, findpeople that love you and that
will take care of you, and it'sokay if you don't know stuff,
ask.
Don't be afraid to ask for help.
That's, I think that's one ofthe hard things for us is asking
(27:09):
for help like, uh, neither ofus want to be burdens on people.
Even if people want to help,we're like, okay, you may just
have to force that because, yeah, it's just hard for us.
There's resources out there,there's people out there.
Use your community people outthere.
Nathan (27:23):
Use your community.
Alicea (27:26):
Yeah, use your community .
Nathan (27:28):
Be open to using your community and letting everybody
else help you too.
Yep, that's important, that'simportant.
Well, that's a wrap on thislittle bonus episode.
I do want to give a huge thanksto my amazing wife for sharing
her story and reminding us allthat recovery is not just about
healing, but also about humor,love and a lot of patience,
(27:52):
mostly with me.
If you enjoyed this episode,please do send some good vibes
Alicea's way, and maybe a fewsnacks, because hospital food is
officially behind us!And and with that I'll forgo our
usual outro, only to say thatI'll be back in your ears.
.
.
in just a day or two.
We've got renowned Disney beatreporter Scott Gustin on to
(28:16):
recap all the news from the Bigbig Mouse mouse that came out
from Destination D23 last week.
Scott was a little under theweather after the convention, so
we had to bump our recordingwhile he got his voice back, but
I am recording with himtomorrow as we record Today, as
this comes out in the past.
If you're listening to thisafter the day it dropped, you
(28:39):
can figure it all out.
Anyway, please stay tuned as wereturn to our regularly
scheduled programming.
Bye-bye![Music: The end of You'll Be
Back"Everybody! Da, da, da, da da, da
, da, da, da, da, da da da da dada da da da da da da da da da
da da da da da da da da da da dada da da da da da da da da da
da da da da da da da da da da dada da da da da da da da da da
da da da da da da da da da da dada da da da da da da da da da
(29:03):
da da da da da da da da da da dada da da da da da da da da da
da da da da da da da da da da dada da da da da da da.
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