A Lazy Sunday at Recovery Manor

I had a good night's rest but I drank too much water before going to bed. I got up three times during the night. There's a nice instance of TMI!

Okay, here's what I'm dealing with now. It has been several hours since I took a pain pill. I think I'm done with them although I'm leaving open the possibility that I'll take one before bed tonight.

Below is a picture of the bandage I'm wearing. I get to remove it tomorrow. The problem is I have several strips of Highway Grade Striping tape hold this big gauze pad over my incision. It is attached to a big fat hairy chest and belly. I'm thinking the removal process is not going to be the most fun I've ever had.

I have just discovered an area by my neck that has been rubbed raw by the tape. I pulled the tape back and placed a gauze pad over the raw spot. I think that will hold me until tomorrow, or 3AM when I spring from bed and frantically remove the whole damn thing while laughing maniacally. Technically, it would be Monday and that's when they said I could remove it.

Anyway, I'm feeling pretty good now and will be happy to put this all behind me.

I believe it is official now. I have entered the realm of Old Mandom. The realm of Old Mandom is that part of your life where you talk about your physical ailments ALL THE TIME!

While I try to be cognizant of when I start to go off, I don't think I spend all that much time talking about my health. If someone else starts the conversation, I'm happy to oblige them with all my recent news.

But I am not the guy who, when asked "How are you?" says, "Oh sit down and let me TELL you how I am. See this welt..." and so on.

However, I am very aware that I am writing a BLOG that is DEDICATED to ALL THE SHIT THAT IS GOING ON WITH MY HEALTH!

Welcome to the Poster Child for A.A.R.P.

In & Out

What follows is my experience of the last 27 3/4 hours involving the installation and activation of the Boston Scientific Teligen ICD Dephibrillator, Model #E102. If you know anything about that particular ICD, you know that it is worlds apart from the Model # E101.

Susan drove me down to Sacred Heart Medical Center where we checked in at 8:30 AM (Not 9:30 like I thought) and proceeded to wait around. Mom showed up about 9:30.

They got me checked into a room quickly enough and got me all set up for the procedure which was scheduled for 11:30. We were told they were running ahead of schedule but that didn't last long. They ended up rolling me into the Operating Room at about Noon:30. They were all talking to me and getting set up and I tried to be attentive and check everything out.

The Anesthetist introduced himself and administered some sort of sleepy potion. I could feel it creeping up my arm. It stung as it climbed towards my shoulder. I was very calm and just ready to have the whole thing over with. I remember feeling a slight dizziness, and commenting on it.

Next they were tapping me on the shoulder and saying they were all done. About an hour and 45 minutes had passed. I was amazed because I felt like I was waking up from a nap. There was no pain and no grogginess at all.

They took me by to see Susan and then into a recovery room for about 45 minutes.

At that point, they rolled me through the cavernous labyrinth of hall ways, with Susan following. Deep into the bowels of the sixth floor we traveled until we arrived at our destination, Room 604. There, I met my roommate, John and we started to party for the rest of the day. "Party" may not be the right word. John is 90 and I feel 90 so perhaps, "Lay there" is a more descriptive verb.

Soon, the effects of the pain medication began to wear off and they plied me with some mild form of hydrocodone, which worked very well.

Susan left about 4:00 as she had to work at the Arena last night and there was really nothing for her to do in Room 406.

I was visited by my close, personal friend Mark, Pastor Gary with his wife Kim, and Ron and Kelly, who brought me balloons, Silly String to keep the Nurses in line, a Baby Ruth and a back up motorcycle battery, just in case.

They also brought a card that was signed by many of the frequenters of Scotty's Bar & Grill.

The night was relatively uneventful and I woke up around 6:30 and took a walk around the floor.

I was then visited throughout the morning by nurses, doctors, technicians and discharge papers.

Susan showed up around 10:30 and now I am home.

I am allowed very limited use of my left arm for the next three weeks and I will visit the Doctor on Tuesday to see how I'm doing.

All this typing has worn me out so I shall now retire to the TV Room and nap in front of the tube. So to close, here is a picture of a picture of me, my wrist band, and a reasonable facsimile of the ICD they implanted in my chest.

De Fib Day

I'm off to the hospital shortly to have a dephibrillator installed. I expect to return shortly and have all sorts of exciting health related issues to prattle on about unil you decide that it's more important to find out the latest developements with Michael Jackson and his funeral arrangements.

Good Day!

Two Days in a Row

Riding the bike two days in a row is enough of a milestone for me to note it here.I've been keeping track over the river flow so here's the latest picture. It's definitely slowing down. It should be to a trickle in a couple of weeks.

I took a new route home on Tuesday. Not really so much different because I still have to travel basically north. This route was on a busier street though. The advantage to it is that I can time the lights on the busy intersections and not lose momentum. I don't think it was any faster or slower, just different.

The main thing is that I actually got some exercise. Weight:219!

More Goals Down the Drain

Well, I no sooner write down some goals and then march on to make sure I can't reach them. I was shooting to ride my bike 12 days this month and to date, I have ridden three. I just can't seem to get myself to work without having some sort of errand to run.

Today, I have to go to a lumber mill to check out the possibility of having some siding custom made for the house.

I have given up drinking beer (or any alcohol) during the week and that seems to be contributing positively to some weight loss. Only a couple of pounds but I haven't really been doing anything else to lose weight. Well, I guess I've been eating a little more sensibly. Anyway, today I weigh in at 218 stones...providing each stone weighs one pound.

What I Saw Today

Things I saw on my Bicycle Ride to Work Today:

• A nail in the street. (Missed it)
• Copulating Birds
• A car being towed by a car that will soon need to be towed.
• The River
• A 70 year old man in a 52 year old body riding his bicycle to work.

My back is very sore and stiff today and I almost talked myself out of riding. But I have missed so many days that I couldn't allow it on a day when my only reason not to was my aching back. What better way to un-ache it than to stretch it out on the bike.

Another Test!

I have an afternoon appointment at the downtown office of my Cardiologist to run more tests. They want to determine my Ejection Fraction, which is a percentage of the amount of blood a heart pushes out as it pumps. A healthy heart is somewhere between 55 and 70%. My ejection fraction is somewhere south of there...about 30 to 40%.

If I am below 35%, they will install the defibrillator. If I'm above 35%, there are other alternatives. The test today will give us a number.

Rain Day

It is a turbulent torrent of terrestrial showers and therefore, today does not count against me in the bike riding goal-a-rama. However, I don't think today was included in my original count due to a Doctors appointment that precludes me from riding.

Fluid Skies and Goals

The forecasters are calling for the possibility of rain today and everyone can thank ME for preventing it. I have prevented the showers by NOT riding my bike. Yup! I wussed out.

I was all set to ride too. I was to the point of rolling my bike out into the driveway. I stopped at my car to retrieve my sunglasses. That gave me the chance to stop and really survey the skies. I ended up decided to take the car.

Partly because of the skies, but also because I have a couple of errands. I could have put them off until after work, but if I get them accomplished at lunch, I will really put myself ahead of schedule after work, allowing for more goofing around time.

By the way, I have decided that if it does indeed rain today, that will not count against me in my riding goal. Goals must be fluid.

Slept In

I slept a little too long this morning and really had to hurry downtown to make the bus. My legs are feeling a little fatigued as I sit here and type but it turns out that I had plenty of time. I rolled up just as the bus arrived.

I think my fatigued legs are more from the head wind I cycled into when I arrived at my stop at Liberty Lake. It was really blowing and made my ride a struggle. It didn't help that I met another guy from work as I started into the wind and he just cruised on like it was nothing. He was a full minute ahead of me in the span of just half a mile.

Last summer when I rode the bike a lot, I mentioned some of the other riders on the bus. I went so far as to draw characatures of three of them. (See July 14, 2008)

Only one of those guys is still on the bus. I called him Tatt.

I have had to update him because he has lost the shaved head look. He still manages to look scruffy though. It makes me nostalgic for last summer and I wonder what has become of Jasper and the Polynesian. Actually, upon further reflection, I think I determeined that the Polynesian should have been called the Injun.

And that's all I have for Politcally Incorrect Thursday.

Bike Riding Again

I made it to work today on my bicycle. The first of many days of riding...I hope. I'm not making any predictions. I'm just going to ride as often as I can. I'll do my best to arrange my life so as to allow Bike Trek.

Okay, who am I kidding? Of course I'm going to make predictions. My life is all about setting goals and then falling short of them.

There are 21 days available in the month of June where I could ride my bike. I have already missed two of those, so I'm down to 19. I know for sure that I will not be riding next Monday, as I have a Doctors appointment. That leaves 18 days.

Okay, here's the goal. I will ride my bike at least 12 days this month. I think that is doable.

I took a picture of the river as I crossed this morning. It is flowing pretty high. The newspaper reports the flow at 19,200 cubic feet per second. It will be interesting to watch this channel as they shut down the water flow. In a month, it will be a flow of rock with a trickle of water.
I took another picture when I got down to the Bus Depot...I'm sorry...the STA Plaza. The sun was casting it's rising glow upon the skywalk and I just had to snap a picture.
It looks pretty good and I know the guys who did the work.

By the way, I forgot to weigh myself this morning so no data there. Just as well. I don't want to get to manic on the weigh-in.

218.7 pounds

One good thing about being sick; it's a good way to lose some weight. I haven't eaten much over the last few days and it certainly paid off this morning on the scale. I'm eating watermelon today so I expect the slide to continue.

I was going to ride my bike today but I decided I needed one more to to get over my cold. What a difference a good nights sleep makes. The weather looks great for the next week so I'll be riding as much as I can.