Post by sumgai on Jan 24, 2015 21:28:15 GMT -5
Awright awready, enough's enough - jeesh.
OK, so I let something personal slip, and now suddenly my PM inbox is getting virtually flooded (well, 5 PMs in two days, compared to 21 PMs over the last 7 months....). So I guess it's best to come clean.
Lessee.... so some of you know that I have heart problems, yeah? Well, since last May it's been getting steadily worse. Wassat mean? It means that the day before Memorial Day, I went South, or to be more precise, my heart did. Tha's right, I was in the wahmbulance, and I must've decided to test the skills of the on-board crew or sumpin', because there sure was a riot goin' on when I finally came up for air. Four gorillas standing around and over me, all of them with ham-sized fists and looks of eager murder in their eyes... or so it seemed, 'cause my chest HURT, mama, and that ain't no joke.
You know those paddle thingies that use to revive people? Five (5) times they had to hit me, and trust me, you don't wanna smell the results of smoking flesh when that happens. I almost passed back out from the smell as much as from the heart attack itself - UGH!
So, short story longer then needed: I had a 100% blockage in one my heart's arteries, and they (the ER doctors, not the bloody medic wagon wankers) put in a stent about 10cm long. It joined the two already there from my heart attack back in 2001.
Fast forward to September, and after 10 weeks of Cardio Rehab exercises and such, I still wasn't doing diddley for improvement. I still felt like I could go maybe one-half round with a bantam weight pee-wee, and then I'd need a long nap. So after a stress test and an ultrasound, the docs decided that another blockage or two might be hiding - exploratory surgery, here I come.
Two more stents later (total is now five stents in all), I do feel like I'm improving. Suddenly, the weight I'd gotten used to carrying around on my chest wasn't there! I could go for an easy 3 or 4 miles on the treadmill, and need only 60 or 65 minutes to do it. Not bad for an old fart nearing 70 years young, eh?
But..... The fly in the ointment now has a name. Because of the damage to the left ventricle, due to the heart attack back in May, a certain loss of overall function is now evident. No more hiking for 3 or 4 hours in the wilderness, that's out. Not because I can't do it (I feel I'm close to that level of ability, but who knows?), but because if I do have an issue crop up, then I'm like a million miles from help. Sorta like an unwritten guarantee that I won't be coming back any time soon.
So the docs say that I need what's called an ICD - Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator. This is supposed to be a bigger deal than a pacemaker in that it monitors several factors, and if it sees a need, it can deliver either a mild shock, or a real-meal-deal wake-up call, just like the big boys use in the wahmbulance or the ER. Sounds unpleasant, I know, but then again, what are my alternatives, eh?
Of course, like a raw recruit to the Army, I volunteered cheerfully. Big *$)@%^! mistake.
I had no idea what size this thing would be, but now that I have one inside of me, just about centered between the uppermost sternum rib and the left shoulder, I can tell you that this thing is highly obtrusive. Everyone can see it from a mile away, there's ain't no disguising it. Well, I wasn't all that handsome to start with, so no loss there. In fact, now I get "Hey, what's that?", and whadday know, a built-in conversation starter is born.
The only real down-side? Well, besides not being able to raise my left arm above shoulder height for about three more weeks... they NOW tell me that using a chain saw is verboten. SAY WHAT? "Whaddya mean, how'm I supposed to make my winter's firewood pile grow back up, tell me that, eh?" Fell on deaf ears. Like now I learn that this thing is so sensitive that the saw's magneto can "mess" with its innards, and possibly do one of two things - shut itself off, and provide no protection a'tall. No warnings, of course, just no one home at the monitor panel. The other possibility goes the opposite way, of course. No chance I wanna contemplate that result - been there, done that, bought the T-shirt, mopped up the spilt coffee with it. I'll pass, thank you very much!
Well, crap, ain't this a fine fix I got myself into now.
MORAL OF THE STORY:
Well, we don't have too many youngsters here aboots, or else I would've started a sub-forum called The Romper Room, just for them. (Like I was gonna do for the old farts, and call it the AARP Lounge!) But there are some folks here who might read this (or even just some passers-by), and for them I'm gonna put on my Professor's Hat. Here goes....
For those who think they care: I'm immortal - I can't die. A year in Viet Nam proved that, and a couple of heart attacks proved it all over again. But you know what? Jim Morrison said it best (because he did so publicly): Nobody gets out of here alive. I know that I'm on borrowed time, it's like a hard drive crash - it ain't a matter of if, it's only a matter of when.
If you honestly think you're "more" immortal than me, then be my guest; I ain't got no skin in that game, trust me. If you can beat Jim M., then please, do the world a favor and write a book about it. Make a gazillion bucks... after all, somebody's got to be able to do it - why not you?
If you want to go out more comfortably than what I'm having to suffer, then visit your nearest Google, and do the Bible thing* for healthy living. I ain't gonna give you no more clues than that, I don't wanna influence anyone unduly in their search efforts. But if your Google-fu is weak, the take another route - strike up a friendship with at least a coupla nurse-types. Let them rag on you about it, until you finally develop some longer-life habits. Too late for me, but there's no reason why you can't get on the bandwagon, amiright?
Yes, this post was written in earnest, and at the same time I tried to inject some levity. Life's too short to grump around all the time! But I'm also mindful of my post back in 2008, wherein I said that I'm not Unklmickey. That worthy, nearly as much as ChrisK, was a driving force here, and yet he just disappeared one day. I don't intend to let that happen to youse guys, you deserve closure, should I seem to be in a state of admirable restraint for an overly long period.
OK, that's my story, whether I 'fess up to it or otherwise. Don't tell me yours, at least not via PM. Make it public, or I'll just turn around a post your PM here for all the world to see. If'n ya got something to add, or wanna go off on another tangent (see gumbo for inspiration on how to do that!), then by all means, let 'er fly!
HTH
sumgai
* The Bible method - Seek, And Ye Shall Find!
OK, so I let something personal slip, and now suddenly my PM inbox is getting virtually flooded (well, 5 PMs in two days, compared to 21 PMs over the last 7 months....). So I guess it's best to come clean.
Lessee.... so some of you know that I have heart problems, yeah? Well, since last May it's been getting steadily worse. Wassat mean? It means that the day before Memorial Day, I went South, or to be more precise, my heart did. Tha's right, I was in the wahmbulance, and I must've decided to test the skills of the on-board crew or sumpin', because there sure was a riot goin' on when I finally came up for air. Four gorillas standing around and over me, all of them with ham-sized fists and looks of eager murder in their eyes... or so it seemed, 'cause my chest HURT, mama, and that ain't no joke.
You know those paddle thingies that use to revive people? Five (5) times they had to hit me, and trust me, you don't wanna smell the results of smoking flesh when that happens. I almost passed back out from the smell as much as from the heart attack itself - UGH!
So, short story longer then needed: I had a 100% blockage in one my heart's arteries, and they (the ER doctors, not the bloody medic wagon wankers) put in a stent about 10cm long. It joined the two already there from my heart attack back in 2001.
Fast forward to September, and after 10 weeks of Cardio Rehab exercises and such, I still wasn't doing diddley for improvement. I still felt like I could go maybe one-half round with a bantam weight pee-wee, and then I'd need a long nap. So after a stress test and an ultrasound, the docs decided that another blockage or two might be hiding - exploratory surgery, here I come.
Two more stents later (total is now five stents in all), I do feel like I'm improving. Suddenly, the weight I'd gotten used to carrying around on my chest wasn't there! I could go for an easy 3 or 4 miles on the treadmill, and need only 60 or 65 minutes to do it. Not bad for an old fart nearing 70 years young, eh?
But..... The fly in the ointment now has a name. Because of the damage to the left ventricle, due to the heart attack back in May, a certain loss of overall function is now evident. No more hiking for 3 or 4 hours in the wilderness, that's out. Not because I can't do it (I feel I'm close to that level of ability, but who knows?), but because if I do have an issue crop up, then I'm like a million miles from help. Sorta like an unwritten guarantee that I won't be coming back any time soon.
So the docs say that I need what's called an ICD - Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator. This is supposed to be a bigger deal than a pacemaker in that it monitors several factors, and if it sees a need, it can deliver either a mild shock, or a real-meal-deal wake-up call, just like the big boys use in the wahmbulance or the ER. Sounds unpleasant, I know, but then again, what are my alternatives, eh?
Of course, like a raw recruit to the Army, I volunteered cheerfully. Big *$)@%^! mistake.
I had no idea what size this thing would be, but now that I have one inside of me, just about centered between the uppermost sternum rib and the left shoulder, I can tell you that this thing is highly obtrusive. Everyone can see it from a mile away, there's ain't no disguising it. Well, I wasn't all that handsome to start with, so no loss there. In fact, now I get "Hey, what's that?", and whadday know, a built-in conversation starter is born.
The only real down-side? Well, besides not being able to raise my left arm above shoulder height for about three more weeks... they NOW tell me that using a chain saw is verboten. SAY WHAT?
"Whaddya mean, how'm I supposed to make my winter's firewood pile grow back up, tell me that, eh?" Fell on deaf ears. Like now I learn that this thing is so sensitive that the saw's magneto can "mess" with its innards, and possibly do one of two things - shut itself off, and provide no protection a'tall. No warnings, of course, just no one home at the monitor panel. The other possibility goes the opposite way, of course. No chance I wanna contemplate that result - been there, done that, bought the T-shirt, mopped up the spilt coffee with it. I'll pass, thank you very much!Well, crap, ain't this a fine fix I got myself into now.
MORAL OF THE STORY:
Well, we don't have too many youngsters here aboots, or else I would've started a sub-forum called The Romper Room, just for them. (Like I was gonna do for the old farts, and call it the AARP Lounge!) But there are some folks here who might read this (or even just some passers-by), and for them I'm gonna put on my Professor's Hat. Here goes....
For those who think they care: I'm immortal - I can't die. A year in Viet Nam proved that, and a couple of heart attacks proved it all over again. But you know what? Jim Morrison said it best (because he did so publicly): Nobody gets out of here alive. I know that I'm on borrowed time, it's like a hard drive crash - it ain't a matter of if, it's only a matter of when.
If you honestly think you're "more" immortal than me, then be my guest; I ain't got no skin in that game, trust me. If you can beat Jim M., then please, do the world a favor and write a book about it. Make a gazillion bucks... after all, somebody's got to be able to do it - why not you?
If you want to go out more comfortably than what I'm having to suffer, then visit your nearest Google, and do the Bible thing* for healthy living. I ain't gonna give you no more clues than that, I don't wanna influence anyone unduly in their search efforts. But if your Google-fu is weak, the take another route - strike up a friendship with at least a coupla nurse-types. Let them rag on you about it, until you finally develop some longer-life habits. Too late for me, but there's no reason why you can't get on the bandwagon, amiright?
Yes, this post was written in earnest, and at the same time I tried to inject some levity. Life's too short to grump around all the time! But I'm also mindful of my post back in 2008, wherein I said that I'm not Unklmickey. That worthy, nearly as much as ChrisK, was a driving force here, and yet he just disappeared one day. I don't intend to let that happen to youse guys, you deserve closure, should I seem to be in a state of admirable restraint for an overly long period.
OK, that's my story, whether I 'fess up to it or otherwise. Don't tell me yours, at least not via PM. Make it public, or I'll just turn around a post your PM here for all the world to see. If'n ya got something to add, or wanna go off on another tangent (see gumbo for inspiration on how to do that!), then by all means, let 'er fly!
HTH
sumgai
* The Bible method - Seek, And Ye Shall Find!
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