It's been an interesting year. We got back from spending last winter in the South and everything went down the tubes, and any and all riding along w/ it! It started w/ a scheduled annual visit w/ the vascular doc and we knew he was planning to schedule bypass surgeries for aneurysms behind my knees. Sure enough, the right one was ripe so the surgery was scheduled... that had been expected. That afternoon the cardiology office called and said, "We see you haven't had a cardiology appointment in a long, long time, what are you doing tomorrow morning?" I go to that appointment and they seem happy. That afternoon they call me again and say, "We see you haven't had a stress test in a long time, what are you doing tomorrow?" "Well, tomorrow I'm going to Cleveland Clinic for a follow up w/ my cornea specialist." Oh, OK, what about the day after?" I go in for that, they do a bunch of tests, and, again, they seemed happy. That afternoon they called and said, "We heard something odd, we want to have you in for a heart cath."
(Oh shit!) A week later I'm in for that and when it's over that doc says, "Well, you have a 20%, a 30%, and a 70% blockage. No worries, I don't usually fix anything until it's 80% or greater." I, of course, said,
HUH??? Later that day my vascular doc says to the cardiologist, "No, no, I want that 70% blockage fixed if I'm going to operate on his legs." So they call me back and schedule ANOTHER heart cath!
(Oh shit!!) Of course this time the procedure includes putting in a stent. And through all of this the VA (Veteran's healthcare system) calls and
insists they want me to have a colonoscopy!
(Oh shit!!! [literally]) That went fine, and then I moved on to the leg bypass. All went well there but included five days in the hospital and all the fun n games involved w/ that. The recovery generally went good but was somewhat brutal because of all the numbness and nerve pain, some of which still lingers and could take as much as a year to clear up. The best news is that in a follow up appointment the vascular guy has decided the other leg hasn't gotten worse so that one is being put off and we'll go there someday when it's necessary.
Yay!
Anyway, because of all this there has been no riding! The last couple of weeks I've had the shop all torn up to put down some insulation and flooring planks so ol Rocinante needed to be moved. I'm pleased to say it started and ran w/ little fuss or hassle and this afternoon I even got in a short ride around town. It sure felt good to be on two wheels and hear all those distinctive airhead sounds coming up at me!
, what’s the point of having all this stuff around us if we don’t take care of ourselves?