Well -- 10 weeks since surgery. My heart hurts...aches really. I went back to see Guber and got some x-rays done. Here is what's weird - on the x-ray you can see the valve, clear as day. And the wires in my sternum. They look like twist ties from a loaf of bread or something.
Anyway -- everything seems to be ok. The pain is most likely from the healing process. So, I'm taking Advil every four hours or so. Which is helping.
Not much new...still hiking and riding my road bike as much as I can. Still can't run or ride my mountain bike (two more weeks), or shoot my bow. Which I'm anxious to do, as I have to get ready for archery season (Sept.). I don't think I can fire the rifle yet. I'm afraid that if I do, it'll blow my sternum apart. So, that will need to wait for a while.
I'm sleeping like shit, so I'm taking Ambien again. I'm fat too, so I guess that's good.
Anyways, not a lot of posts lately, but nothing of note is really going on.
Hope all is well.
c
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
8 Week Anniversary
Yesterday was the eight week anniversary of my heart surgery! Seems like it was a lot longer than that. I know that just over eight weeks ago, I was wondering how I'd be doing at this point. What was it going to be like on the other side of this thing?
I'm happy to report -- better than expected. In the past, when I didn't know what's going to happen, I tended to assume the worst. And it has been hard. But not what I thought it would be. I was riding my bike by June 13th (slowly and painfully), but riding none-the-less. And hiking, and doing a lot of the things that I would normally be doing. The sternum hurts when it breaks. Trust me on this one. If you ever have to choose, do not pick the sternum as the bone that you want to break someday. It sucks. Choose a toe or maybe...well...I can't really think of another good choice.
My heart seems to be healing as well. I'm still experiencing skipped beats (which is very odd), and I can't really push it too much. I think the highest I've gotten it up to was around 160 bpm on a ride. I'm not really allowing myself to go any harder. I'm supposed to keep it at 80% of max, but when you don't know your max, that's rather hard to pull off.
Holy shit -- my friend Kathy Collier had brain surgery! I just found out. So, in the past 8 weeks, of the people I know, there has been one heart surgery and two brain surgeries. WTF?
I'm happy to report -- better than expected. In the past, when I didn't know what's going to happen, I tended to assume the worst. And it has been hard. But not what I thought it would be. I was riding my bike by June 13th (slowly and painfully), but riding none-the-less. And hiking, and doing a lot of the things that I would normally be doing. The sternum hurts when it breaks. Trust me on this one. If you ever have to choose, do not pick the sternum as the bone that you want to break someday. It sucks. Choose a toe or maybe...well...I can't really think of another good choice.
My heart seems to be healing as well. I'm still experiencing skipped beats (which is very odd), and I can't really push it too much. I think the highest I've gotten it up to was around 160 bpm on a ride. I'm not really allowing myself to go any harder. I'm supposed to keep it at 80% of max, but when you don't know your max, that's rather hard to pull off.
Holy shit -- my friend Kathy Collier had brain surgery! I just found out. So, in the past 8 weeks, of the people I know, there has been one heart surgery and two brain surgeries. WTF?
Saturday, July 4, 2009
A little open heart surgery joke
The Mechanic and the Cardiologist
A mechanic was removing a cylinder-head from the motor of a Harley motorcycle when he spotted a well-known cardiologist in his shop. The cardiologist was there waiting for the
service manager to come and take a look at his bike when the mechanic shouted across the Garage, 'Hey Doc, want to take a look at this?'
The cardiologist, a bit surprised, walked over to where the mechanic was working on the
motorcycle. The mechanic straightened up, wiped his hands on a rag and asked, 'So Doc, look at this engine. I open its heart, take the valves out, repair any damage, and then put them back in, and when I finish, it works just like new. So how come I make $39,675 a year and you get the really big bucks ($1,695,759) when you and I are doing basically the same work?' The cardiologist paused, smiled and leaned over, then whispered to the mechanic...
'Try doing it with the engine running.'
A mechanic was removing a cylinder-head from the motor of a Harley motorcycle when he spotted a well-known cardiologist in his shop. The cardiologist was there waiting for the
service manager to come and take a look at his bike when the mechanic shouted across the Garage, 'Hey Doc, want to take a look at this?'
The cardiologist, a bit surprised, walked over to where the mechanic was working on the
motorcycle. The mechanic straightened up, wiped his hands on a rag and asked, 'So Doc, look at this engine. I open its heart, take the valves out, repair any damage, and then put them back in, and when I finish, it works just like new. So how come I make $39,675 a year and you get the really big bucks ($1,695,759) when you and I are doing basically the same work?' The cardiologist paused, smiled and leaned over, then whispered to the mechanic...
'Try doing it with the engine running.'
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