Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland. Since much of my news these days relates to trying to age gracefully, this series might be called The Geezer Gazette.]
5/31/25
Aloha Everyone!
I'll start with some positive news. Today is the 25th anniversary of the last day of teaching for both Karen and me, and tomorrow will be our first day of retirement anniversary. Amazing it has been so long. Neither of us regrets a minute of retirement, which has allowed us to have so many enriching and enjoyable experiences.
I continued my bird sitting duties this week because my neighbor had even more complications with his ablation procedure. Recall that this was supposed to be a simple, routine operation done on an out-patient
basis. All seemed to go well and he and his wife were preparing to return to Kona when his heart suddenly started beating very fast. They quickly returned to the hospital's ER, where his heart stopped altogether. They jump-started him, admitted him to the hospital, put in a temporary pace-maker and then in a few days a permanent one to keep his heart from stopping again. His high heart rate was controlled by heavy-duty drugs that can restore a normal rate and rhythm. So far so good, He was ready to be discharged a week ago today. However, they did one final test to make sure the pacemaker was working ok. This is called a stress test, and compares your normal heart function to what happens when you exercise or do something that puts a burden on your heart. The results suggested massive blockage in one or more arteries, with a survival rate of 1-2 years! The treatment for this is usually to install stents in the arteries or even open heart surgery to fix the problem. The stent procedure involves running a catheter with a camera on it into the heart and directly examining the blood vessels. This is called an "angiogram" in medical jargon, the definitive test for determining blockage. He had to wait in the hospital for 3 days until this could be scheduled. It showed....Nothing. No blockage at all. No stents needed, no open heart surgery. No dropping dead in the next two years. In short, the stress test result was a false positive, which apparently is not that uncommon. Indeed, another friend of mine who lives here had a clean angiogram last week after a stress test had suggested blockage. Anyway, my neighbor finally escaped from the hospital on Wednesday and is now back home after a 10-day stay.
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basis. All seemed to go well and he and his wife were preparing to return to Kona when his heart suddenly started beating very fast. They quickly returned to the hospital's ER, where his heart stopped altogether. They jump-started him, admitted him to the hospital, put in a temporary pace-maker and then in a few days a permanent one to keep his heart from stopping again. His high heart rate was controlled by heavy-duty drugs that can restore a normal rate and rhythm. So far so good, He was ready to be discharged a week ago today. However, they did one final test to make sure the pacemaker was working ok. This is called a stress test, and compares your normal heart function to what happens when you exercise or do something that puts a burden on your heart. The results suggested massive blockage in one or more arteries, with a survival rate of 1-2 years! The treatment for this is usually to install stents in the arteries or even open heart surgery to fix the problem. The stent procedure involves running a catheter with a camera on it into the heart and directly examining the blood vessels. This is called an "angiogram" in medical jargon, the definitive test for determining blockage. He had to wait in the hospital for 3 days until this could be scheduled. It showed....Nothing. No blockage at all. No stents needed, no open heart surgery. No dropping dead in the next two years. In short, the stress test result was a false positive, which apparently is not that uncommon. Indeed, another friend of mine who lives here had a clean angiogram last week after a stress test had suggested blockage. Anyway, my neighbor finally escaped from the hospital on Wednesday and is now back home after a 10-day stay.
Having two friends within a week who experienced nasty outcomes from a stress test got me a wee bit uptight about my own test, which happened on Thursday. Being the wimp that I am, I was getting very worried that this would lead to a round of unpleasant tests that might delay my hernia surgery. Now that I've decided to go through with it, I want to get it done! I was greatly relieved when my ticker passed with flying colors!! No problems at all. The test was done on a treadmill with me wired up to a very fancy ECG machine which also tracked my blood pressure. The goal was to get my heart rate up to about 85% of my age-adjusted maximum, which for me is 120 bpm. This didn't take very long to achieve, thanks in part to my emphysema. My cardiologist didn't spot anything problematic, much to my delight. Yippee! I celebrated with a quick dip in the pool, lunch, and a nice deep nap.
That's all the Geezer Gazette news this week, but of course there will be more next time. Carpe Vita.
4 comments:
Thank goodness you are okay. Glad to hear that you two are enjoying 25 years of retirement even as I start my own.
I am glad to hear your good news, Dick. I am continually amazed and grateful for the medical advances which not only keep us alive but allow many of us to lead happier and more active lives than our ancestors. I wish I had more confidence in that continuing. The funding cuts, the anti-science attitudes in our country, and the probable brain drain concern me. I was reminded recently that my grandmother died about 2 months after her 70th birthday, unexpectedly, which is almost where I am now.
Yes, medical technology is advancing rapidly and it is amazing to me how far we've come in such a short time -- it wasn't long ago that surgical instruments weren't sterilized and there was no treatment at all for several of my current ailments. Coleen, I sympathize with the strange feeling of outliving your parents. My father died at 65, and I had a lot of trepidation when I approached and then surpassed that age. I'm also about the outlive my mother.
Congrats on retirement! However, I've found you can take the professor out of the university, but you can't take the university out of the professor.....
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