Our New Journey, part 1

A month and a half ago, my DH finally decided to see a doctor for the nagging cough he'd had for several months, compounded with the fact that he was having problems breathing after climbing the stairs at work. He's one that never goes to the doctor, and as such when he called the doctor's number on his insurance card, he learned that said doctor doesn't take his insurance.
We ended up at Urgent Care, where after looking at his EKG recommended that we go immediately to the Emergency Room. We even had to sign a waiver since we would be driving ourselves instead of waiting for an ambulance to take him. Lucky for us, it was a slow night at the ER and the Urgent Care had called ahead telling them to expect us, so we were seen right away. The ER doc did an ultrasound of DH's chest, revealing an enlarged heart; plus he had an elevated level of an enzyme that is secreted when one is having a heart attack or some sort of infection that affects the heart. DH was admitted into the hospital that night.
We have a friend that works at the hospital we went to; she was working that night and when she saw us, that pretty much blew the plans for our camping trip that weekend.
A cardiac catheterization revealed that DH had several blockages in his heart, and the best long term solution would be bypass surgery. In addition, his blood sugar was very high, and given the history of diabetes in his family, most likely he was diabetic. Surgery was scheduled and we were sent home with about 10 different prescriptions.
We returned to the hospital on June 23. The surgery began at about 7:30 am and didn't finish until around 3:00. According to his surgeon (total cardio-god, BTW) it took about 3 hours longer than usual. He did 5 grafts and also repaired his mitral valve.
Before I go any further, let me say that Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego is an excellent, excellent facility. They have a comfortable lounge area for families during surgery, plus you are constantly being updated on your loved one's status and condition.
DH was moved into the Surgical ICU around 4:45. Prior to this, my only experience with ICU was when I went to visit my mom after she had an operation to alleviate an aneurysm. It was a very brief visit and that ICU was very open. This ICU, DH had his own room and his nurse was extremely attentive, checking his monitors every few minutes, administering medications, etc. She explained to me that they would be letting DH sleep through the night since his surgery took so long.
DH began to show signs of waking up the next morning; he began to respond to the nurse's commands to squeeze her hand. Once he was more conscious the nurse told him that I was there and did he want to see me, he nodded and as soon as I got to him he squeezed my hand, a very reassuring squeeze. His Respiratory Therapist extubated him soon after, and we were well on the road to recovery. Little did we know that things would change very suddenly, and not for the better.