Rich Z (WebSlave)

[Lucille]

You yourself have said the instructions seemed contradictory. You might call your health team if you have questions, and call your insurance company to see whether they will pay for home assistance if your health team tells you to be careful of certain activities. If they give you the green light to do anything, fine. If they don't, listen to them.

 

[WebSlave]

You yourself have said the instructions seemed contradictory. You might call your health team if you have questions, and call your insurance company to see whether they will pay for home assistance if your health team tells you to be careful of certain activities. If they give you the green light to do anything, fine. If they don't, listen to them.

I would bet that everyone I talked to would give a different answer. We have gone through that many times when Connie has called to ask about clarification of something concerning her situation.

My interpretation of the facts I have seen is everyone is just guessing.

So my stance is to do as much as I would normally, just favor my right arm as best I can. At least as much as I can without getting into an argument with Connie over it, anyway. She is way over protective of me.

 

[Insomniac101]

So my stance is to do as much as I would normally, just favor my right arm as best I can.

When I had my spinal fusions (I know, not the same thing, but still surgery), they were very specific with weight limits: 5 pounds. So, no gallon of milk, bags of rodent feed,
reticulated pythons, etc.

I guess it also depends on how you feel. Are you in pain, dizzy, lightheaded, or bleeding? Pain is the body's way of stopping people from doing stupid things. As we discussed before, the stents are allowing much better blood flow, and should make you feel a lot better. You still have to allow time to heal though.

 

[WebSlave]

My blood oxygen content actually is higher than before. Blood pressure and pulse rate are green across the board.

I feel fine.

Except, of course, when I think of what Connie is going through, or see her obviously not feeling too well. That is definitely a flaming blade right through my heart. Not at "valium level" lately, but mostly because I am trying harder not to allow my mind to wander into darker areas of the possible future.

 

[WebSlave]

I had to go over to the garage for a few things, and while I was there I happened to glance at the little hand held metal detector I had sitting on a shelf. Hmmm.... So I put a battery in it, tested it to make sure it was still working, and put it up to my heart area. Nothing. For some reason I was vaguely disappointed. I have the larger one with the disk end on it in the garage too, but I would have to load up the battery pack for it and figure out how to use it again before I could test with that.

Maybe they just put some cheap Chinese plastic stents into my heart. Probably comes with a lifetime warranty, though.

 

[Caryl]

I had to go over to the garage for a few things, and while I was there I happened to glance at the little hand held metal detector I had sitting on a shelf. Hmmm....



...Maybe they just put some cheap Chinese plastic stents into my heart. Probably comes with a lifetime warranty, though.

I remember the look on my son's face when he passed a metal detector over my abdomen and it beeped. That was fun.

I've also set off TSA metal detectors on occasion. That can be less fun. Once I had to strip down completely, which was annoying andworrisome and cold. Not only did I make the detector beep, I was wearing an abdominal/ back support band. I hadn't thought about that item looking like a wearable bomb, but TSA did. They took it away and tested it for explosives residue. Nada, naturally. Almost missed my flight because I'm one suspicious-looking grandma type. Lol

My point is, be glad your stent didn't register. And the "lifetime warranty" cracked me up! [emoji1787] Glass you are mostly feeling like yourself!

Sent from my SM-A716U1 using Tapatalk

 

[AbsoluteApril]

Would you allow your spouse, who has cancer, to pick up all the slack?

you can hire help for things around the house and the yard work




Just try to take it easy a bit, all the strain physically and emotionally can be a lot even if you feel 'fine'. just trying to look out for ya is all

 

[WebSlave]

you can hire help for things around the house and the yard work

I know that sounds like an easy solution. I don't know what it is like in your area but around here it is extremely rare to hire someone to do something who doesn't wind up damaging something else in the process. It must be a local law. When I am working clearing brush and weeds, I am constantly working around plants (palms, hollies, or anything unusual), so someone else certainly wouldn't do that. We have a friend with a tractor who has offered to come over and work maintaining the property for us, but EVERYTHING would go that way, and we just don't want it done that way. So it just has to wait until I am able.

Just try to take it easy a bit, all the strain physically and emotionally can be a lot even if you feel 'fine'. just trying to look out for ya is all

Actually I am taking it easy. I really need to try to stay on top of the woods moving back in, but it is just going to have to wait. I gave the first stent procedure about a month before I was out using the extended hedge trimmer to cut some weeds in the front yard, so I will likely do the same with this last stent. I think that should be enough of a healing process. Personally, I think just laying around without getting any substantial exercise will be bad for me in the long run anyway. I think at my age being inactive for too long could possibly put me in a decline of strength and stamina that would be difficult to recover from.

Of course, Connie isn't going to let me do too much anyway. That heart attack episode I had really unnerved her, so if I am out of sight for too long she gets REALLY worried that maybe I had another one and am lying somewhere unconscious. Or dead. I was out in my shooting blind yesterday morning for 2 hours trying to pop a squirrel that the cameras spotted in one of the Asian pear trees and I thought SHE was going to have a heart attack worrying about me. It is not hard work just sitting there, but she couldn't keep an eye on me. And she yelled at me when I happened to pick up the rifle with my right arm.

So, not a chance I am going to overdo things for a while unless I feel like getting into a fight with my wife over it.

But thanks for the concern. I realize I now have two pieces of metal bracing in my heart's arteries, and that is enough for me to understand I am no longer as invulnerable as I thought I was. Or at least wanted to be.

 

[WebSlave]

Well, a perfect example presented itself today to underscore what I have been saying.

Our submersible well pump died. I did all the diagnostics to rule out everything else, but no go for an easy fix. Bad pump by ruling out everything else. The tank and the well casing going into the ground are quite distant from the house, because it was pre-existing when we bought the property. Which was 30 some years ago. So now it is pretty much in the woods. Fortunately I did clear some brush away from some areas close by, over the last couple of years, but still a lot to do when I got a round tuit. Got a guy coming out tomorrow to replace the pump, but he says he needs to be able to get his crane within 5 to 8 ft. of the well. Otherwise he just can't do the job. That is going to be a big problem with how it is right now, unless his crane is on a tank or a monster 4 wheeler. There is NO path accessible via truck to that water pump right now.

I asked a friend to bring a tractor over tomorrow early AM, to bushhog a path from our driveway back to the pump. I also have to be manning the pole saw because a lot of yaupon saplings along with grape vines are overhanging the pump and there is no way the guy would be able to get to the crane to drop straight down to pull out that pump straight up out of the ground. So I have to be manning the pole saw and the chainsaw to cut all that overhanging mess away. Not sure what my cardiologist would say about me doing this sort of activity less than a week from the surgery, but I really don't have any choice. Hopefully I won't end up in the ER tomorrow with another heart incident but these are the cards I was dealt today. Connie sure as hell can't be doing it, so I'm the guy holding the short straw. And she is pretty much having a kitten about me going out there doing that kind of work right now. But what are my choices? We have no running water right now.

Weather forecast is saying rain after 2pm, so hopefully they aren't wrong and I wind up doing that work in the rain too. They say that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I am flipping a coin on this one. Could go either way. Or could be it will be both if I die and am pretty strong smelling because I didn't get that shower I was planning on tonight. Probably not the optimum thing to be doing for my recovery period. Are know you are all telling me I need to relax, but how can I when stuff like this pops up? It's not like I have a lot of choices in the matter. Connie sure as heck can't be out there helping me, because I sure don't want her being bitten by mosquitoes, and chances are she would get cut from the saplings and branches and as a result subject to possible infections. So yeah, I am IT.

 

[WebSlave]

My friend with the tractor showed up a little after 6:00am. He had been planning on showing up around 8:30, but he knew I would be out there working to clear that path before he got there so he wouldn't be yelling at ME to take it easy after the heart stuff I've been through, and he wanted to try to head ME off. I had been planning on getting out there around 7:00am. So yeah, he knew what I was thinking. I didn't sleep much anyway, and was actually awake when the driveway alarm went off.

Honestly, no way I could have gotten that done without his help. At least not in less than a week. I was cutting vines, but honestly, holding that extended hedge trimmer over my head was pretty taxing work. I had to take frequent breaks. My stamina just isn't what is used to be.

The well repair guys got there around 11:00 or so, and their name "Lightning Quick" really seems to suit them. They didn't waste any time. Come to find out that the pump was actually OK. What had happened was that the pipe from the well head down to the pump was made of PVC and apparently over the past 10 years since that pump was put in, had been flexing enough from the torque from the pump motor to actually break a wire going to the pump. They testing the pump itself and the windings were about dead center in the specs, so they recommended just to keep on using that pump, since it is an excellent brand known to continue working 20 years or more. They replaced the PVC piping with metal pipe and new did new wiring. Working like a champ right now. I drained both legs of the water lines for an hour each to clear out all the gunk from the water being disturbed. It was quite muddy when the guy started the pump and just had the water shooting out onto the ground.

Oh yeah, good thing they were "Lightning Quick" because they got done right before the skies opened up and it poured like hell. I got soaked getting the check for them, and then helping my friend (Rickey) back out of the driveway with that trailer with his tractor on it. Actually, had I had a bar of soap with me then, I wouldn't be needing a shower tonight.

Anyway, I had "resumed normal activity" for me, and so far I haven't dropped over dead. Of course, tomorrow morning might be another story. But I'll be going with Connie to her chemo treatment, so if my heart acts up, she can just drop me off at the ER on the way.

So as I have mentioned before, sure, I would like to be able to take it easy for a month of so after the heart surgery, but sometimes it just is not possible to do. Sometimes things just HAVE to be done, with no other options available. I am just lucky that Rickey is retired too, and was able to come right over to help with his tractor. Otherwise I would have had to be working a lot harder for a lot longer to do what needed to be done.

Aren't these "Golden Years" I have reached just the best ever?

 

[bcr229]

Glad it all worked out!

Now take it easy and recover tomorrow. Please.

 

[WebSlave]

Glad it all worked out!

Now take it easy and recover tomorrow. Please.

I'll try to. Only thing on the agenda is to take Connie to her chemo treatment. Normally I drop her off in the morning, stay with her till the blood work checks out, then head back home. Then run back late in the afternoon after treatment is done to pick her up.

Oh yeah. The light switch in the kitchen range hood broke and I was going to try to figure out if I could fix it while she wasn't around worrying about me.

The hood is 30 years old, so no telling if we even kept the install instructions, much less where they may be. Nothing I could find online was any help. I don't much like doing "hunt and peck" sorts of repairs, because many times you have to break it in order to figure out how it was designed to come apart. Been there, done that...

Or I could just give Connie one of my head mounted lamps and she can wear that when working on the stove.

 

[bcr229]

Or I could just give Connie one of my head mounted lamps and she can wear that when working on the stove.

Or figure out how to mount a little LED battery-powered light up there.

 

[WebSlave]

Or figure out how to mount a little LED battery-powered light up there.

Funny you should mention that. She wants to hang a strand of Christmas lights there.

 

[Lucille]

I have a plug in strand of LED lights over the bathroom mirror that I leave on all the time, good light for pennies a year.

 

[WebSlave]

Well, I didn't have another heart attack this morning, so I guess I didn't push myself too hard yesterday clearing around the well pump.

I think I have had enough of seeing emergency rooms and hospital rooms for a while. And hoping Connie can stay out of those places too. She had chemo today, and appears to be feeling OK. Got to take her back in tomorrow for another shot for the blood cell booster she is getting after each chemo treatment. Hopefully that won't be bad on her.

Honestly, going to that place and seeing so many people taking chemo treatments for their cancers is rather unnerving. I really REALLY hate that Connie has to go to a place like that. The people there try to be upbeat, but still.... It is a place that NO one would ever want to have to go to.

 

[WebSlave]

Oh yeah. The light switch in the kitchen range hood broke and I was going to try to figure out if I could fix it while she wasn't around worrying about me.

Oh yeah, about that kitchen range hood. I decided to just take a nap instead.

 

[WebSlave]

Well, I am still alive...

Got an appointment to see my cardiologist this week, but not sure what he will do beyond just listening to my heart beat and asking me how I am doing. I am planning on trying to take it easy (relatively speaking) for a month after that last surgery, but honestly I REALLY have to be getting outside and doing some yard work. With the rain we have been having, the jungle is trying to take over. But I am trying to be good.

I did have to climb up into the attic early this week to replace a UV element in the AC air handler. It was out, and I wanted that thing working to help keep the air as clean as possible in the house. I have six air purifiers running too. I figure with all that going on, any pathogens that sneak into the house don't have a chance at getting at Connie.

I do get to walk down to the mailbox about every day, and deal with hauling the trash receptacles down to the end of the driveway every week. Picked some fruits off of a couple of the Asian pear trees before the varmints could eat them all. So yeah, I really am trying to be sedate for this month.

Been reading a book, but honestly after about a half hour of that, my eyes get heavy and I wind up taking a nap. Can't keep this up for too long or I am just going to get lazy. I have already gained a couple of pounds, being up to 154 this morning. I guess when I finally can get out to do yard work, my muscles are going to be yelping like crazy afterwards. So I will have to slide into it gradually and not get to carried away at first.

Oh, I ordered a set of walkie-talkies the other day. When I am outside working, I want to be able to have Connie get a hold of me if she needs to in a hurry. Even inside the house, with these air purifiers going, I really can't hear her from one side of the house to the other. So they will come in handy.

As for my mental state, well, life seems pretty ugly to me. I don't like looking into the future, so I try real hard not to. Long term to me now is like maybe two days in the future. Beyond that just doesn't exist for me. That period where either Connie or myself was going through some health crisis or another burned out my long term view of things. I actually really appreciate looking back and thinking that neither one of us had to go to the hospital or the ER in the past week or so. Of course, Connie still has her weekly visits to the oncology center. The last time I was there I had the weirdest feeling come over me. I found myself wishing that I just had the power to heal all of those people there. No one deserves cancer. I really wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Ah, going into rambling mode now. Rich Z, out...

 

[JColt]

Glad you and Connie doing OK. I just got back from doctors and they want to run more stuff. I told him he's running out of places to put his fingers. Nurse giggled a bit. He mentioned my bp was higher than last time but nothing crazy. I said that may have to do with getting here at 10:50 for 11:00 appointment and then waiting in a room by myself till 11:45.

 

[WebSlave]

Glad you and Connie doing OK. I just got back from doctors and they want to run more stuff. I told him he's running out of places to put his fingers. Nurse giggled a bit. He mentioned my bp was higher than last time but nothing crazy. I said that may have to do with getting here at 10:50 for 11:00 appointment and then waiting in a room by myself till 11:45.

Yeah, apparently cardiologists do this all of the time. Generates business for them, I guess. The longer they make you wait, the higher your blood pressure is going to get.

Let's see how long I sit in the waiting room tomorrow.....

Connie and I are both compiling logs of our blood pressure results for each day. Numbers are all over the place. She takes multiple readings per day, but I settle for just one. Yet you go to the doctor's office and already being rather apprehensive being there, your blood pressure registers as being high and they are ready to jump on giving you a prescription for blood pressure meds.

Must be a LOT of money in the commissions for prescribing medications, I guess.