Yes, the healing is coming. If you are a new reader and want to know something of the physical trials I’ve been going through, this post will tell you what I expected to happen, this post will tell you something about the curve ball that came, and this post will give you some idea of where I was a week or so ago. I won’t call it a thrilling path I’ve been walking on. Maybe interesting, or truly a trial is a better description.
Since my post last Friday, the healing in my right leg has accelerated. By yesterday morning, I felt no pain in my leg at all—except the ongoing pain in my right knee that was way before my July 15 freak home accident. I went to the orthopedic doctor yesterday. He was pleased with my healing, crediting it to a combo of the steroid shot, and staying off it as much as I could to allow natural healing to take place. I suspect he’s right.
So yesterday I stopped by our Wal-Mart pharmacy on the way home to pick up a couple of prescriptions. I was feeling so good I decided I would go in without my walker. I had just told the doctor I was still using the walker when out and about, and he said that was a good idea until I could sense complete healing had arrived. But I wanted to give it a try. I made it in fine, had almost no wait, and so was back to where I parked in a handicapped area with the minimum possible steps in the minimum possible time. But, in fact my leg hurt a little by the time I got to the car. So, I guess I do need the walker a while longer.
But the healing in my right leg is on the right trajectory. I suspect that in a week I’ll be ready to tell the heart surgeon that I’m ready for the valve replacement.
Alas, for my left shoulder, hurt in a different freak home accident around July 18 or 19, there is less healing. I have no improvement in strength, no lessening of pain when moving it, no increase in the activities I can do. While we are waiting on the results of the MRI on Monday, he’s pretty sure surgery will be required. But that injury is not holding up my heart surgery. I’ll get through the heart hospitalization and recuperation, including whatever rehab I’ll have, then see about my shoulder probably sometime in 2025.
That’s the health news. Hopefully I’ll have writing news in the next couple of posts.
The first hematoma, before gravity pulled the blood down all the way down my forearm.
I wrote a post on July 8 about my upcoming heart surgery. At that time I thought it would probably be on July 22. Alas, as I posted on July 18, I injured my leg while lifting a heavy object at home. My surgeon didn’t want me dealing with two traumas at once. At first he put the surgery off to July 29, then, when I had little if any healing happening, but it off indefinitely, with us to touch base every two or three weeks. We did that early this week, and agreed I’m still not healed enough to set a surgery date.
The second hematoma, before gravity had its say on were the blood would go.
But actually, I have another trauma from another freak home accident. I reinjured my left shoulder on (I think) July 18. I reached my arms up to make a big stretch, and something big popped in my upper arm or shoulder. I both felt and heard the pop. This was the same shoulder that I injured when walking Nuisance, my son-in-law’s big dog. It never quite healed, even going through physical therapy. But, anyway, this pop happened. That day, while having blood drawn to recheck some enzymes that were high after my first accident, the guy that drew my blood put a tourniquet right over the place where the pop was. Iin a few days, my whole upper arm was one big subdural hematoma the kept growing for days.
For that second injury, and for the first, I went to an orthopedic doctor. He took some more x-rays, gave me a steroid shot in the groin, told me to take it easy, and not start the exercises the people at the orthopedic ER gave me. And come back in 2 to 3 weeks. His thoughts are that I have a badly torn rotator cuff, whereas the urgent care doc thought it was a torn deltoid muscle. Whatever it is, a second subdural hematoma had appeared (still growing), and I have almost no use of my left arm. Provided I can get it on a keyboard I can type, but have almost no range of motion, no strength. When my arm is still there’s no pain, but try to move it more than a couple of inches….
We are now in that period. I go to see him on 8/22. Meanwhile my regular doctor ordered an MRI of my left shoulder, currently scheduled for 8/26. Hopefully that will give some answers. I suspect an MRI of my right hip/leg/groin is also in my future.
As is my heart valve replacement surgery. Sometime. I suspect the earliest it can be is Sept 30. I say that because I am experiencing a little healing in my leg. The pain is not so intense. And I can now get my leg in positions where there’s no pain while at rest. I can cross my legs, with either one on top, and not have pain in my groin or thigh. The day is coming, I believe, when the healing will be enough for me to lie flat on a bed or stand fully upright without the pain coming. I’m not quite there yet, but that day is coming.
If there’s any good news through all of this, I’ve lost 12 pounds in just 24 days. I attribute it to being unable to easily access snacks in the house, or buy some at the grocery store. That puts me within 13 pounds of my target weight. Also, that puts my total loss from my peak weight (in 2006) of 102 pounds.
Dateline: 8 July 2024, 06:10 a.m., for posting on 29 July 2024
Saw eight deer the morning of this post. They are regular visitors this time of year.
This morning the temperature was lower, in the upper 60s instead of the upper 70s. The remnants of Hurricane Beryl will hit us later today and tomorrow. The relative coolness is nice.
The first thing I see when I reach the street from the driveway are,,,two deer, one a buck that looks full grown, not forty feet from me. They came out from behind my first row of my blackberries bushes, making me wonder if they’ve been eating them. We stared at each other as I kept walking to them, then they quickly dashed off.
Up the hill I went, to the next road and then the next, where I saw a group of four deer dash across the road and into the woods. I turned right and went up the next hill, a gentle one, from which I could see the dam and the large lake it impounds. Over the hill just a little way to the loop at the first side road. Off to my right was yet one more deer. Around the loop, a short turnout on another side road, and then retrace my steps. This leg is mostly downhill, but gradual.
I continued on, in the other direction from out street, up another fairly gentle slope. A third of a mile in this other direction is another loop, downhill then uphill. Once again retrace my steps, turn at the right place and I’m home.
A week ago, in preparation for my surgery, I resumed walking. I’ve never totally quit walking, but last year, when I experienced angina every time I walked uphill (and it’s impossible to walk near our house without going uphill), I had to cut back on frequency, distance, and exertion. Then, during our two trips, regular walking was difficult to achieve due to the fullness of activities and responsibilities.
But I figured I’d better do something to improve my muscle tone and stamina pre-surgery. I began with one mile on Monday and increased the distance a tenth of two every day until I went 1.8 miles on Saturday. The goal today was 2 miles, which would then be the distance for the rest of my prep period. And I made the 2 miles, pushing myself to do so with a good time.
By the time you read this, I will have had my surgery. Hopefully I’ll still be alive and kicking, with a new, properly configured valve in place and working well. With a new physical life ahead of me, and a heart that is still strong.
As I’ve mentioned before, it won’t be long until I have heart valve replacement surgery. I’ve been expecting it to happen the week of July 22nd.
But I got a twist suddenly. While lifting a heavy box I threw out my back. Except it wasn’t my back. It’s the muscles in my right leg, especially the groin. It’s at the point where I can’t stand fully upright, for pain in the groin prevents it. I’m walking hunched over, using a walker.
I saw the surgeon on Tuesday. He put the heart operation off until July 29 to give my leg time to heal, saying he doesn’t want me fighting two traumas at once. Then later that day I saw my PCP. She ordered x-rays, CT scan, and ultra sound to rule out a skeletal cause of my pain. All is done except the ultra sound.
Meanwhile, I’m in bad pain that is getting worse, with back pain added due to being hunched over. Right now, with no improvement in my leg muscles or relief of pain, I’m wondering if the heart surgery will be put off longer than that. I’ll keep people posted from a combination of this blog and Facebook.
I found lots of illustrations on-line for the type of valve I have.
A little late getting today’s post up, but here it is. In several recent posts I’ve alluded to surgery that I’m going to have soon, but haven’t given specific info. It will be open-heart surgery.
Now, before everyone freaks out, they surgeon and others tell me this is the least risky, least invasive type of open-heart surgery you could have. That sounds strange, I know. but here are the details.
I was born with an abnormal aortic valve. A normal heart valve has three leaves that move together, opening to allow flow and closing to block flow. My aortic valve, however, has only two leaves (cusps is the medics call them). I normally say genetically defective valve, but that’s probably unfair to the valve. It has served me well for 72+ years, but my cardiologist thinks it’s time to replace the two-cusp wonder, and the surgeons who normally do this kind of surgery agree.
The valve has a condition that’s called stenosis, a build-up of calcium (and maybe other stuff) on it. It’s opening and closing fine, and not leaking, but with the degree of buildup on it, it’s only a matter of time until it won’t work properly, or some of the calcium will slough off and cause a problem in my lungs or elsewhere. So the doc says it’s time to replace it, while I’m still “young” and not a very big risk for surgery. Based on tests, they say I’m low risk.
They aren’t saying the valve was the cause of my mini-stroke in January—it most likely wasn’t. But with that health scare, and with their knowledge of how these things go as a man ages, they strongly recommended I have the procedure done now. That was back in mid-February. The surgery will be, most likely, the week of July 22.
Why so long a wait? Well, it isn’t an emergency. My heart is strong. Tests show my arteries are not blocked (“widely patent” is medical speak for a clear artery, and tests show almost all mine are “widely patent”). I have a good ejection fraction, a measure of the squeezing function of the heart. I have no symptoms of heart disease—no angina (thought I did have some last year) and no shortness of breath. Everything is fine except for my genetically defective valve, which is stenotic, calcifies, and perhaps ossified, petrified, and mummified.
With the wonders of modern medicine, most of these valve replacements, maybe 80 percent of them, are done through the groin. That requires one or two days in the hospital and a seven-to-ten-day recovery period. Back in February they thought mine would be done through-the-groin, and they began running the tests needed to know for sure. Well, it turns out that my two-cusp wonder is quite elongated rather than circular. The two manufacturers of the through-the-groin valves cannot guarantee that their valves will fit and lodge properly, with no leakage or looseness.
Hence, they gotta do mine the old-fashioned way. Put me to sleep; switch my breathing to a heart-lung machine; stop my heart; open my chest to expose the heart; detach the aorta; cut out the bad valve; possibly reshape the valve opening; insert and stabilize the new valve; sew me back up; restart the heart; and wake me up. I’ll then have a week or maybe ten days in the hospital, followed by two months of at home recovery. Easy-peasy. Seems almost ridiculous seeing as I have no symptoms. But the tests don’t lie.
One good thing about doing this via open heart is that in ten years, when my replacement valve wears out and I need another valve, presumably I’ll be less strong to withstand another surgery but they will be able to do it through the groin. To every cloud there is a silver lining, even if you have to wait ten years to see it.
But, with every surgery there are risks. What is my heart doesn’t want to re-start when it’s over? What if some calcium decides to slough off during the surgery? What if the anesthesia is at the wrong level? What if my otherwise strong heart is damaged during the surgery?
I’ll have some posts written ahead of time for when I’m in the hospital. Meanwhile, if you’re interested in this kind of condition, you can find quite a few reputable websites that discuss it.
I’m late with my Friday morning post. Chalk it up to busyness.
I won’t say all that’s going on that made the days busy, but here’s a little of it.
Monday I went to the hospital for a test, only to find out the test was no longer needed because a test they did back on April 15 covered the same area. $20 miles of expense just getting there, and about two hours I would never get back.
Wednesday I went back to the same hospital for a different test, an MRI to take a closer look at a small mass of “neoplasm” found in the April 15 test. While the final report isn’t complete, it appears to be just a cyst on my kidney. Nothing to worry about.
We had painters at the house Monday-Wednesday, finishing the work needed after repairs from water damage to the house. I think I’ve blogged about that before.
Yardwork continues, though I’m pretty much on top of it and need to do only a little every day. I hope to get in an hour today.
We are slowly putting everything back in place from the house repairs. Got some done last night.
We continue to sell a few things in our dis-accumulation efforts. Sold two items this week, and brought a bookshelf to the garage for work to strengthen and repurpose it.
I’ve been writing this week. Today I wrote the last two sections of Chapter 2 of Volume 2 of A Walk Through Holy Week. I feel good about the progress.
I’ve had several items of correspondence this week with other writers—some for our critique group and some just for pleasure.
Yesterday I finished transcribing letters from or years in Saudi Arabia. I still have a travel journal to transcribe, then I’ll start putting them in a book for family. No hurry on this project.
I have made great progress with scanning/formatting/e-filing the poetry critiques I did from 2001-2010, which I had printed and saved. I’m down to less than thirty still to do. No hurry on this project either.
I’m working on plans for three special events over the next two weeks. Not going to say much about them now, but will likely blog about it later.
So with all this to do, I sort of forgot about my regular Friday post. Still, I’m not terribly late with it. And I won’t be late with my Monday post, for it’s already written and scheduled.
Perhaps harder than cutting with scissors right-handed is taking a picture of cutting with scissors right-handed.
Tuesday night, after a quiet afternoon and evening, while the TV was running, more for background noise than anything, I had a need to cut something and grabbed scissors from the drawer in the end table between my wife’s and my reading chairs. Except only my wife’s chair is there at present. I was sitting in it. My chair hasn’t yet been returned to its normal spot after it was moved for two months while water damage remediation was going on in our house. I don’t know if the chair would know how to act if it was moved back now.
The chair doesn’t actually enter into the story. I just thought of it. Anyhow, I took the scissors out of the drawer and prepared to do some snipping. But I remembered the problem with scissors. Ninety-five percent of you won’t know what the problem is. Not that they are sharp and moderately dangerous, but that they are made for a right-handed person.
Two features of the scissors make them righthanded. One is the holes the fingers go in. Most scissors have holes that fit fingers on the right hand but not on the left. A right-handed person doesn’t know this, but a lefthander does from years of having the fingers of the left hand in those uncomfortable scissor holes. Cut long enough and the fingers hurt.
Some scissors have “neutral” holes that are the same left-handed or right-handed, but they are rarer. But even with neutral holes, you still have the problem that the sharp edges are made for a right-handed person. The left-hander, after putting his fingers in the backwards holes, learns that you have to squeeze the two part of the scissors in a way that is unnatural in order for them to cut.
Yet you learn to do it. All through grade school you cut things with the handicap of backwards scissors. At some point you learn that they make left-handed scissors. Maybe you find a pair somewhere and try them. While the holes may feel more natural, you find you can’t cut with them even though the sharp edges are, in theory, just right for you. So you keep using the right-handed scissors uncomfortably and somehow get the job done.
But what happens if you ever have to cut something using your right hand? What would make you do this? Maybe if you’re wearing a jacket with buttoned sleeves and see a thread hanging on the left sleeve. You grab the scissors on your desk, snag the errant thread, and cut. Except you can’t cut with your right hand. Though the scissors are made for that hand, you’re too used to squeezing them the other way. You can’t cut even a simple little thread without taking the jacket off and cutting with your left hand.
I suppose that is all incidental to the main story. On Tuesday, the day I reached for the scissors, I intended to use them right-handed. Why? Not for a hanging thread, but to cut three bands off my left wrist. Why did I have them there? Because Tuesday morning, I had a heart catheterization as an outpatient. You see, I have a genetically abnormal aortic valve. I’ve lived with it just fine for 72 years. But now my cardiologist believes it’s time to replace it. So last month I had a trans-esophageal-echocardiogram, and Tuesday the heart cath. The purpose of the tests was to see if everything needed is present to do the valve swap-out in the least invasive way, through the groin.
The way things are these days, I had the results almost immediately through the patient portal. While they are not in English (but rather in medicalese), they are supplemented by what the cardiologist told Lynda. He feels that it’s not very clear that they can go through the groin and I will need open heart surgery. But I must undergo more appointments and see other doctors before we make that decision. And however it’s done, it likely won’t happen until July.
But back to the scissors. I could not get the bands cut with my right hand. I tried and tried, but those scissors sharp sides just wouldn’t cut the bands. I twisted them first one way then the other. No dice, no cut. Should I call my wife and have her do it? I decided to keep trying it. On about the tenth try, I was able to stretch the band to the right place and squeeze the scissors just right, and the first band snapped.
The other two bands cut a little easier. For maybe the first time in my life I successfully used scissors in my right hand. A small life triumph.
Now, as to the heart surgery, I don’t expect it to be easier than cutting three flimsy bands right-handed. But if it must be open-heart, then so be it. I just hope the heart surgeon has the right scissors for whatever handed he/she is.
Now, I have a thread hanging from my left sleeve that needs to be separated from its source.
I’m writing this Thursday afternoon, March 28. I’ve had a busy day. Devotions. Stock trading accounting. Writing in my work-in-progress. Stock trading. Writing a letter to my #2 grandson. Weekly trip to Walmart for groceries (mainly). Quick swing through the bank drive-through. Dealing with a minor insurance issue. Working on plans for a trip east. Lots of bits and pieces.
This weekend will be a three-day weekend. Tomorrow, Good Friday, is sort of a holiday. I have my work planned out. Trading accounting. Write 1,200 words in my w-i-p. Some yardwork. Filing of financial papers. Scan/e-file as many genealogy papers as I can; maybe some writing papers. Putting things back in place after the work in the house. Updating the checkbook and budget. Begin doing our personal income taxes. Cook some banana bread. Yes, lots to do.
Next Monday will be my regular post, which, being the 1st of the month, will be my progress and goals report. I will have a special post on Sunday, not a normal posting day. It’s a special 50th anniversary for me that I want to tell you about.
Then, next Tuesday, I will have a heart catheterization, hopefully as an out-patient. This is preparatory for me to have my genetically defective/abnormal aortic valve replaced. I don’t yet know when that will be. The heart cath is needed for the doctors to know if they can replace the valve in a minimally invasive way rather than by open heart surgery.
All of which just talks of the busyness of life. Friday will be busy, as will Saturday. I’m hoping to carve out a little time for Bible reading and prayer. I’ll start the days with that.
Sometimes a partial sun, sometimes darker clouds on my Wednesday walk.
I just got back from an afternoon walk, the first since last Sunday. Various circumstances prevented me from going on Monday and Tuesday. I hoped to get in 1.5 miles, which would be the longest since my stroke.
But before I could walk, I had to figure out how to dress. The temperature was 72º with a 10 mph wind plus gusts. Should I put on a long sleeve shirt over my t-shirt? Change out of the t-shirt into a long sleeve shirt? Or just go as I was? I decided the breeze wasn’t all that strong, and a t-shirt was enough.
Step by step, I made my goal distance.
I didn’t bother with a warm-up since my normal pace these days is really at warm-up speed. Out the front door, up our steep driveway and to the left, uphill to where the flatter roads are. After passing three unbuilt lots on both sides of the street, the first thing I noticed was that my neighbor’s trash can was out, and it had been emptied! I hadn’t put mine out since I figured trash was delayed a day due to the Presidents’ Day holiday on Monday. I obviously didn’t get the memo that the trash company did honor Presidents’ Day.
I made it uphill without any angina. It’s not all that steep, but last summer and fall even a gentle walk up this hill brought the pain on. I checked my speed on my phone app, and it was 2.5 to 2.6 mph. That’s about where I wanted to be so, since there was no angina, I decided to push it just a little. Or at least keep pushing myself at that speed.
Trash day, and I missed it. Next week will be overflowing.
Out onto the main road, I turned west, intending to go to the top of the next hill—a fairly gentle slope—go down a little and around a circle, coming up to the same top of hill. I checked my watch, and was surprised to find a screen showing with my heart rate. This is a new watch, synced to my new phone. My cardiologist suggested I get one that did EKGs and tracked the heart rate. I didn’t realize that if I opened the Samsung walking app the phone heartrate tracker would also open. My heartrate rate 93 at that moment. I decided to keep pushing.
My thoughts wandered to the many things on my to-do list, some fairly major things. It is similar to a storm. Some of those things are:
Keep pushing contractors to finish the water remediation work in three places in our house, and do some repairs in another place that involves some remodeling.
Keep pushing the contractor for our gutter replacement to come back and finish the temporary solution he put in while I was in the hospital because the proposed solution wouldn’t work.
Push my proposed flooring contractor to call back so he can come out and give me an estimate for replacing our 38 year old carpet with flooring. I’m about to go to someone else.
Continue with PT for my injured shoulder from last June. Twice a week at the clinic, every day at home and now added exercises twice a day.
Get ready for a heart valve replacement, probably in July. Hopefully this won’t involve open-heart surgery.
Plan a road trip back east to see our son and do other things. Hopefully it will be before the valve replacement.
Short on sleep for the second night in a row; not sure why.
Donate our ancient minivan; it’s no longer road worthy.
Keep pushing forward with my book, which is drawing close to halfway done.
Keep pushing on my two special projects.
Keep pushing on dis-accumulation, which does indeed require constant pushing.
Make a major financial decision that will take some research.
Yes, all these make up a storm. As I walked, I remembered a post here about turning into the storm when the storms of life beset you. That’s what I’m going through, and I decided I would do that when I got home. First thing would be to pull out the vehicle title and call the Salvation Army. Alas, their phone system didn’t work either locally or nationally. I may have to find a different place.
Gotta call that contractor and have this temporary solution changed to a permanent one.
I rounded the circle and made the uphill leg, without stopping for breath. Normally I have to do that, so maybe this indicates I’m in better physical shape than five months ago. Or maybe it’s just that warmer weather brings on the angina more than cold weather.
As I headed up to the next leg of the walk, I heard a loud sound like thunder. Impossible, I thought. The thin clouds all around barely hid the sun, the disc being clearly visible. It must have been one of those empty trash cans blowing over and echoing.
My next thought was how much I love this walk in winter, mainly because I can see through the woods. Houses show on side streets and even across the valley. Hollows are not just opaque with undergrowth, but you can actually see down them. Evergreens are visible scattered within the naked hardwood forest, and how I enjoy seeing them.
On the return leg, just as I passed the street before the street I turn on before I turn onto our street (is that clear?), I heard another thunderclap. No mistaking it this time. It seemed to come from the south, so I made a note to check radar when I got home.
As I walked the homeward leg, every empty trash can laughed at me. The sky continued to belie any thunderstorm approaching, and my watch told me my pulse was 105. I stopped at the mailbox and retrieved one lousy little piece of junk mail that would go straight into recycling.
Just at I turned down the drive my app announced I passed the 1.5 mile mark. Goal met. No angina. Heartrate about where it should be. Just a slight sweat on my t-shirt. Thirteen cars passed me during the walk (yes, I count the cars)—no fourteen. That delivery truck on the street before ours. I have turned into the storm.
Oh, when I got home, the “all clear” report came from the mold specialist. One hurdle in remediation cleared. Now, if only the Salvation Army would either answer their phone or fix their website.
As I mentioned in a very short post on Jan 29, I had a stroke on Jan 27, at 10:08 in the morning. I got to the Urgent Care ER in about 45 minutes, had the clot-buster shot in less than 2 hrs. Was transported to hospital for the mandatory 24 hr observation after receiving the shot.
Here’s the cover for the e-book of “To Jerusalem”.
While in the hospital, my impairment symptoms improved. After the 24 hrs, I passed all the tests, including the final CTscan and physical, occupational, and speech therapy, and they let me go. I spent the rest of that day and the next going from bed to recliner to couch. I slept much. From Saturday morning to Monday I lost 4 pounds as my body fought the trauma. No snacks might have helped too.
As of now, my symptoms are greatly reduced. My speech is back nearly 100%. I can tell I still have a little trouble forming some words. My right hand is much improved. I can now touch-type normally, though not as fast. I’m doing maybe 40 words per minute instead of my normal 60 or so. A sticky keyboard is adding to the difficulty.
And my drooping right eyelids seems better. When people looked at me, they couldn’t see the droop, but it was there. It affected my reading a lot at first. Slowly it’s been better. Yesterday’s reading, of an 11 pt font, I was able to do without much trouble. I can still tell it’s not quite back to normal, however.
Through all of this, my writing tasks have been few. I was within a couple of hours before the stroke hit of publishing To Jerusalem, which is Volume 1 in my A Walk Through Holy Week Bible study series. As my strength, energy, and desire came back, I was able to finally get to the publishing tasks remaining. I published the ebook on Feb 8 and the paperback on Feb 11. So far I have one sale.
I returned to working on another volume in that series, Vol. 8, on Tuesday of this week. It felt good to be back in the saddle. My typing is more or less at the speed my mind is working to put words together. I’m getting less written in a typical writing session than I did before the stroke, but perhaps my productivity will return with a little more time.
So, that’s my story. I have more health items yet to come, but they will be the subject of later posts.
