Wednesday, October 24, 2012

A Wussy Day

I wussed out of my Cardiac Rehab exercises this morning. A chronic muscle/ skeletal problem which has nothing to do with my heart rears its ugly head from time to time. This was one of those days.  I am not a believer in the "no pain, no gain" philosophy. At my age, if it hurts, I don't move it any more than absolutely necessary.

I will spend the day is less strenuous pursuits, one of which is preparing for my annual Christmas card Stamp-a-Stack that will take place this coming Saturday afternoon. I think I can cut paper and tie ribbon knots without too much physical stress. (You didn't think my having a heart attack would keep me from stamping, did you?)

It's a beautiful Fall day here, with temperatures expected to be in the low 80's.  I've opened the back door so the cats can go in and out, an activity they enjoy a great deal.  They don't stay out very long at a time, coming back and forth to check on me.  Missy has already returned and is currently sitting on my lap, purring her favorite melody.

I now have only two cats.  Squeak. my loving 12 year old male, developed  non-operable lymphoma earlier this year and quickly wasted away.  He died  in May, and is buried in one of his favorite spots in my back yard.  Missy and Sweetie Pie took his absence fairly well, although they looked for him for several days.  They also completely quit eating the canned cat food which they had previously shared with Squeak.  As long as he was eating it, they couldn't wolf it down fast enough. The morning after he died, they would have nothing to do with it --- Nada. I had to throw away an entire can of food.  I gave the rest of my cat food stash to Gardening Daughter who supports a herd of cats that will eat almost anything.   Ah, well.  It saves me a little money not having to buy both dry and canned food.

That's about it from this part of the world.

Tomorrow is also a day.



Friday, October 19, 2012

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to....

It's time for a new look, and a new beginning.  

Thank you, all those who inquired about my dropping off the face of the blogging world. For reasons that have become more clear in the past month or so, I simply did not have the psychic or physical energy to compose anything I thought would be of interest (did I ever?), so I just stopped.  I went "private" for a while posting tidbits of my life for my family, but I have removed those few posts and what you see, if you're interested, is for public consumption.

The funny (not ha-ha) thing that happened was that, in mid-September while I was in the office of an otolaryngologist having my vocal chords examined, I began to experience some rather frightening symptoms.  The good doctor told me he thought I might be having a heart attack and insisted that I allow one of his wonderful assistants to drive  me to the ER of a large hospital less than a half-mile away.  

Tests confirmed that I had, indeed, suffered a severe heart attack, and in the wee small hours of the next morning, a cardiologist inserted stents into two almost completely blocked arteries within my heart.  I spent the next three days in the CCU and another five days as an inpatient, under the watchful care of not only hospital staff, but my children, who came from far and near to be with me. 

I'm happy to report that the executor of my estate will have to wait a while to exercise his or her duties.  

I am enrolled in a Cardiac Rehabilitation program at a nearby hospital.  I exercise three days a week, and have lost nine pounds, so far.  Being on a low-sodium/low-fat diet hasn't hurt anything but my taste buds.  

I encourage those readers who may be of the female gender to familiarize yourselves and be alert to the warning signs of heart attack in women.  (Men... if you have wives, you should study these, also.) The symptoms may be totally unlike those of heart attack in men; mine were. Had I not been in the office of a trained professional, and this had happened to me at home, I very likely would have sat in my chair thinking I was having an esophageal spasm.  I don't know whether I would have survived.

Given all the circumstances, I am convinced that the Good Lord is not through with me, yet.

Tomorrow is also a day, thanks be to God.