For motorhome maintenance, we keep a list. There are a lot of complicated systems and there are always things that needs taking care of; some things more important than others. The most important stuff goes to the top of the list and gets attention the soonest. It occurs to me that it’s a lot like that with our bodies now too. These are complicated systems. It’s not like we ever get every issue crossed off the list at once. There is always the next thing to take care of. We’ll take care of the most important one tomorrow. Shutting down the motorhome for storage, we turn off master switches for the batteries and the rig goes completely quiet. When it’s time to restore the motorhome to service, we switch the batteries back on, and find we have to reset all the clocks; they’ve all defaulted to zero. When I go in for surgery tomorrow, they’re going to shut me down completely. I’ll go on a heart lung machine and they’ll stop my heart for hours to work on it. So I wonder: When they turn me back on, will they have to reset any clocks? Becky is here. Son Matt is here from Phoenix. Judy is always here, wherever here happens to be on any particular day. Many more are with us in spirit. We go into tomorrow surrounded by friends, family, love, and support. Judy even plans to whisper sweet nothings in my ear just before they take me away, to make sure I have something pleasant to dream about while I’m out. I’ll report back. (Not about the sweet nothings and sweet dreams, but about everything else.)
It seems a strange thing
That I need so much surgery, then they tell us to go home and have a nice weekend, but take it easy, watch for warning signs, and don’t hesitate to dial 911. That’s relaxing! Oh well. They left me awake for the cath procedure. I felt the wire or whatever it is they put in through my wrist go right up through my arm. I talked to the doctor while he was poking around in my heart. He described the arteries as a “mess”, and told me right then there wasn’t enough he could do with stents to restore adequate flow. Later, he told me the reason I am still doing as well as I am is that my heart has grown collateral arteries to make up for the natural ones that aren’t working as well as they should. That got me to thinking that if I can do that well on the treadmill without proper function in my heart; and the surgeon is going to put in five new arteries to bypass all the old ones that aren’t working adequately anymore; the combination of the collateral arteries I’ve already grown, plus the five new ones he’s going to stitch on to me, I should practically end up with super powers! I’ll report back on how that works out. Today we got the bus zipped up and moved to a storage lot. We had to do it today because they’re not open on Sundays and I’ll be busy on Monday. It’ll be six weeks after the surgery before the doctor will release me to drive again, so we need a residential solution in the meantime that doesn’t involve moving the RV. We’ve worked through some options, but haven’t settled on anything yet. No need for an immediate solution; we’ll both stay in the hospital until I get released. Judy might cover trip reports for me for a couple days, so we won’t be totally out of touch. Feel free to email or call her. Judy@TaylorRoth.com. 303-666-6018.
Re: I want a chocolate malt
We will be thinking about both of you. Sounds like they discovered it and a plan is in place to get you back up and doing your regular things. Glad you are near Becky! Will await update.
And a pizza. OMG, I think they might have made me pregnant! We did the cath lab thing. They went in though the wrist and not the groin, which is good. Once they got inside though, they saw more than they wanted to see. I’m not a good candidate for stents. I’ve got blockages in major arteries that have already been stented, and blockages farther downstream that they can’t reach to stent. (They’re saying this to the guy who just ripped up the treadmill test!) I was in and out of the cath lab in 45 minutes. They sent us home. Plan B. We go back again on Monday to a slightly different department, and they crack me open for quintuple bypass surgery. They’re going to totally bypass all three major arteries plus two smaller ones with veins from my legs. It will be an all-day operation. Recovery will take longer than we previously expected. We’re not leaving here next Thursday as planned. I won’t be able to drive the bus again for six weeks while my sternum heals. There aren’t any decent motorhome parks around and there is a two-week limit at state parks. Even if we could find a spot for the motorhome at a state park, I won’t be in shape two weeks after surgery to move the bus again. No worries. We’re making plans to put the bus in storage and move into an extended stay hotel. We have Becky and family here to help us through. Life is still a delight.
I want a chocolate malt
And a pizza. OMG, I think they might have made me pregnant! We did the cath lab thing. They went in though the wrist and not the groin, which is good. Once they got inside though, they saw more than they wanted to see. I’m not a good candidate for stents. I’ve got blockages in major arteries that have already been stented, and blockages farther downstream that they can’t reach to stent. (They’re saying this to the guy who just ripped up the treadmill test!) I was in and out of the cath lab in 45 minutes. They sent us home. Plan B. We go back again on Monday to a slightly different department, and they crack me open for quintuple bypass surgery. They’re going to totally bypass all three major arteries plus two smaller ones with veins from my legs. It will be an all-day operation. Recovery will take longer than we previously expected. We’re not leaving here next Thursday as planned. I won’t be able to drive the bus again for six weeks while my sternum heals. There aren’t any decent motorhome parks around and there is a two-week limit at state parks. Even if we could find a spot for the motorhome at a state park, I won’t be in shape two weeks after surgery to move the bus again. No worries. We’re making plans to put the bus in storage and move into an extended stay hotel. We have Becky and family here to help us through. Life is still a delight.
I’m high maintenance
Been feeling less energetic the last few months, so we scheduled a visit with the cardiologist while we’re here in Colorado. The sequence of visits has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. The cardiologist scheduled a nuclear stress test (treadmill). The day before the treadmill test was to take place, with some moderate exercise, I got the stabbing pain in the center of my chest which is my indicator that it’s time for trip to the cath lab. The next day on the treadmill though, to our surprise, I did great. We need to get to a heartrate of 126 minimum, but preferably to the calculated maximum for my age, 148. We did that and more, I got to 157 (I had to throw that in) with essentially no chest pain (I gave it a number of 1 on a scale of 1 to 10.) I took that as good news, but frustratingly good news, because it didn’t fit my experience and expectations. If my heart is that good, then why the lack of stamina? Anyway, free from any anxiety that I’m about to have a cardiac event, Judy and I went up into the high country and hiked around a couple lakes the next day. (Maybe free from my anxiety if not Judy’s.) The treadmill was day before yesterday, the follow-up appointment was today. It turns out the imaging they did before and after the treadmill run showed a “reversible defect”. That means I have a defect, which kind of sucks, but I haven’t had a heart attack, which is great news, because that damage is not reversible. For the defect, and the reversing, I’m scheduled for the cath lab tomorrow, so they can go into my heart and try to find something to stent. They might go in through my wrist this time instead of through my groin. How amazing is that! In a way, even though we know something is wrong, our situation is less frustrating now than it was the day before, because the experience and expectations have come together again. Heart catherization is the less-invasive heart surgery option, and that usually takes care of the problem. There is always the possibility that when they get in with the catheter, they’ll decide that bypass surgery would be a better option. If that’s the case, they’ll bring me back out and we’ll have a chance to discuss it, before going back in for the more invasive surgery (but that’s not what we’re expecting). Going through the nuclear stress test takes a couple hours altogether and involves some sitting around and talking with the technicians. There are three people in the room with me: Joe, the guy who runs the treadmill; Jeff, the guy who runs the imaging; and Jamie, the cardiac nurse who is there to save me, or at least call off the test, if I start to croak. Conversation made its way to the Bolder Boulder, the annual 10K run that had just happened on Sunday. It’s a massive event now, involving something like 50,000 runners, and has to be carefully managed so that faster runners get a chance to run without getting held up by all the fun-runners. They ran about 75 flights (of progressively slower runners) to get through the process. I got to impress them with the fact that I ran in the first ever Bolder Boulder forty years ago. (Longer than some of them have been alive.) The first time for the race, it was so small that Judy rode next to me on her bicycle and didn’t get in anyone’s way. I didn’t get to impress the people in the room with me by telling them my best time, because I never broke the one-hour barrier. It turns out Joe, the youngest in the room had just run the Bolder Boulder. I asked him his time and he replied evasively “faster than the year before”. I pried his number out of him and he conceded 47 minutes (a very respectable time). I let him know that he posted a better time than my grandson (Conner) who had just run a 55. Since Conner now has a time, and a good one, he won’t have to start in the back half of the pack next year. He has qualified to start up in the top third somewhere. Today, back at the cardiology offices, we ran into Joe in the hallway and I updated him that by the way, the grandson he bested was 13 years old. He was shocked. First he said “I’m still glad I had a better time.” But he was truly impressed that Conner had run such a good time in not only his first Bolder Boulder, but his first 10K ever! But I digress. A haircut this afternoon and another delightful dinner at Brian and Becky’s house tonight; shredded chicken enchiladas compliments of Teigan. We’ll know more about my condition tomorrow afternoon, but radio silence for a day or two is also a very real possibility. Not to worry, I’ll report back as I’m able.