The "Grabber" Update

I've had a couple days at home now after the "grabber" to be able to digest everything. First thing - it's a great day to be alive. Secondly, it's good to have friends and family.

In retrospect, some of the chest problems I've been having for the last couple of years might have been angina pain. It went in reverse of what you would think, however. When I exercised I would develop some initial pain but it would disappear after I warmed up and then I felt fine. Regardless, no doubt about the heart attack pain - all the classic symptoms: pain in the chest, later up my neck and into my jaw, sweating.

The angioplasty/stent thing was smooth as glass. The Doctor and his team were all aces. They all had to get out of bed and come in to work on me. They showed up and went right to work. Might not have saved my life with their speedy response but damn sure saved my heart from a lot of damage. Skilled craftsmen - my kind of people. Actually one of the people on the team (nurse/technician?) found out I was a welding teacher and we talked a little shop after the procedure. Can't say enough good things about the bunch of them. That includes everyone else at the hospital as well.

I go see the Dr. in a couple of weeks and will find out the extent of the damage and what the future holds then. I also start rehab about the same time. In the meantime I'm in the don't lift anything heavier than ten pounds or use your left hand limbo. That is going to require a lot more work from the Missus, both doing my chores and also worrying that I'm going to over do it. I've already pledged to be a model patient but I'm a definite Type A. She doesn't need any more worries. She's lived with me for 41 years. You know that's already taken a pretty heavy toll on her.

It looks like I'll probably be gone the remainder of the school year. I hate to leave the boys short but I really didn't plan on having this thing come on. It's interesting to note that the reason I got the job there in the first place was because the previous teacher died while on the table having heart surgery. Initially I was a little pissed about this. I exercise and have a pretty decent diet. My dad smoked and had bacon and eggs every morning for 50 years before he had his heart attack. You would of thought I could have at least made it until the age of 64 like he did. I'm not the first guy to go through this, however, and there's no sense in bitchin' about it. I'll make the best of it, change the diet and swallow all the pills I'm supposed to. I normally try and do everything myself but I'm going to have to get some help in the future. I've already received lots of offers. In fact, Coach Ernie and his son came by and tilled up the garden and cut the grass for me. I think I'm going to just put his son on retainer. There'll be lots more to do.

So I'm in good hands and as soon as I can resume work on a few things, I'll be able to start posting progress on the projects. Putting the positive spin on the whole thing, I'm able to start my summer vacation a little early and I'm going to be able to get caught up on my reading. I've got a really good support team and I feel just fine. I've got a balsa wood plane model that I've been wanting to start on and the Missus bought me a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle with a scene from Portofino, Italy to keep me busy. All things considered, I'm just ducky.

Ya'll take care now and have a good week.