The Doctor saw Nothing Critical

                               The Doctor saw Nothing Critical


 I called the doctor this morning to try and get the report on my CAT scan of my heart that I had last Tuesday.  The nurse told me that he had been out of town last week but she said the report is here and he will read it today. I had a little anxiety but not much. I guess I used it all up waiting for my report.

 I stayed home all day waiting for his call. I didn't want to miss it. Around 4:30 this afternoon the nurse called me. I was glad to her it was the nurse instead of the doctor. That meant it couldn't be all that bad of a report.  Here is what she said. I wrote down notes right after she hung up because I knew I would forget everything she told me.

 Report:
"He saw an old heart attack." (Well I knew that much from when I had one back in 1995.)

"Nothing much has changed," the nurse told me.

"The test wasn't perfect but the doctor knew that going in." ( I knew from my by-pass that the artery in the back of my heart was still 50% clogged. They didn't fix it because it has to be 70% or more before they will do anything about it.)

"He saw nothing Critical," she said.

 "Continue on your present management." (Thank goodness, now I can go back to cardiac rehab and do my exercises again. That always makes me feel so much better)

"The doctor didn't schedule any new doctor visits or new tests."

 Then I asked the nurse, "Can I go on vacation?" "Sure she said. (I was thinking about the Tunica Trip coming up. So I'm good to go at least health wise. Gotta work out more of the trip details yet.

No News is Good News

July 25th 2012

                         NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS


Well, I went in to the hospital and had my CT Angiogram of my heart yesterday morning. Believe me I was scared. Not of the test itself but what the results might show. Like I said before, I don't want to have to go through another by-pass operation again but on the other hand I don't want to die either. So the only choice I would have would be to have another by-pass.


 The nurse that gave me the test was super-great and answered all of my concerns. The test itself is nothing. I was laying on a slab that takes you through this big ring. That's how they take the pictures of your heart.  It doesn't bother me to get stuck with a needle so when she put the IV in me, I didn't even feel it. I had to get my heart rate down below 60 bets per minutes so I had already taken a double dose of my heart medicine that morning. My heart wasn't slow enough, probably because I was scared so she gave me another dose of my heart medicine and a nitroglycerin pill to put under my tongue. The nitroglycerin pill was to open my arteries so she could get a good picture of my heart. She told me that on the last picture they would inject this dye into the IV. The dye makes all of your arteries show up on the pictures. She said, "You will feel your body start to get warm as the dye goes through you. You will feel like you are urinating."


 The test went fairly quick. After it was over with I asked the nurse, "When will I find out anything?" She told me, "The doctor has to read the test and if he sees anything that will require you to have an Angiogram and a stint put in, then we will call you within 24 hours, more likely sooner than that. The longer it takes to hear
from the doctor, the better. In other words, No News is Good News." I had so much medicine in me that I went home and went back to sleep. Then the phone rang. I jumped up out of bed expecting the worse. I said, "Hello," but nobody answered it. I looked down at my Caller ID and it turned out to be one of those junk calls. I was so pissed. Needless to say I couldn't go back to sleep. At the time of this writing, it has been a little over 24 hours since I had the test. But each time the phone rings I shutter. Half of the calls were junk calls and the other half were friends calling to see how my test went.  So I have been on pins and needles for the past 24 hours. The nurse told me that your doctor will recieve the results of your test in 5 - 7 days. Well that's how it's going for me right now. I hope everthing turns out the way I want it too.

I Don't Understand, I Feel Fine

It was only 82 degrees today and I wasn't about to spend it waiting around this dumb apartment thinking about my CAT Scan coming up Tuesday. So I grabbed my camera and headed off to my nature preserve. Since they won't let me go to Cardiac Rehab anymore until they find out what's up with my heart, I went out and did my own exercise by walking in the woods.

I'm always taking pictures of nature so this this time I made it a point to take some pictures of myself for a change.

 Hey, I don't look so bad. It might have been in the low 80's today but it was really getting humid. So I decided to head back. I stopped at the farm on my way back and took some pictures of the animals.

   This is Prince. He is one of the two horses on the farm. As soon as I set up my tripod to take some  pictures, he came right over to me and put his nose up to my tripod and felt it. I guess he wanted to know what is was. I explained to Prince that it was a camera and then I asked him if I could take a picture of him. So he stepped back and stood there and I got this shoot of him.

  The other horse named Duke was further out in the field eating some grass.
         
After talking to the horses, I went over to pen where all these little pigs were sound asleep. 

After the pigs I saw this old wagon.

 I stopped along this wooden fence to take another picture of myself. I can't seem to get enough of those today, chuckle chuckle.

I tried out a new setting on my camera that I didn't know I had. It makes panoramic pictures. Cool!

When I got to the barn I saw this little cow resting against the fence. I'm not into cows but this little guy was kinda cute.

Of course Mom and Pop were close by watching over their calf.

 I felt good except that it was getting too humid. It was time to go home. But I just wanted to try and get a picture of this rooster that I saw when I first got here. He looked kind of cool. He was new on the farm and he sure was strutting around showing off his body to all the other chicks. I'm pretty sure he's going get laid tonight or whatever chickens do.

 I'm so glad I went out today it got my mind off of things.

I Failed the Stress Test

                                              I Failed the Stress Test


When ever I have problems I write them down. Since I live by myself that's my way of dealing with them. I'm going to try to let you know what is going through my mind as I write this. I'm Scared.

Thursday
July 19th, 2012


 Usually I get a stress test every year but my Cardiologist  didn't give one last year. Opting to give me a full body scan instead. I always did great on the treadmill every year. I have been going to my Cardiac Rehab 3 times a week for the past 17 years ever since my Heart Attack in 1995. I didn't want to die and I never wanted
to go through that open heart surgery again so that's why I kept going. As of June 6th, 2012 my Cholesterol is down to

 Cholesterol 84
LDL...............33
HDL...............33
Tri..................90

 So I totally freaked out when the nurse called Wednesday morning to give me the results of my treadmill test that I had taken 2 days before on Monday June 16th 2012. I had stayed on the treadmill for 10 minutes and 15 seconds. I thought I had done great like I always do. But when the nurse called me she said, "There is a certain part of your heart that isn't getting enough oxygen which is a indication that there is a blockage." I couldn't believe what she had just told me. On top of that Rick's wake was that same day. So all of this is going through my mind. I immediately called my daughter and told her. I got very emotional and started crying. She asked me, "What can I do?" "Nothing," I said. "I just need someone to talk too."  Of course my daughter tried to calm me down and told me not to get ahead of myself and take it one step at a time. She wanted to know what the next step was. I told her, "They are going to give me a CTA scan of my heart and look for any blockage.They're going to call me to set up the CTA scan."

 I went to Rick's wake later that Wednesday afternoon. It was terrible to see him laying there. I couldn't believe he was gone. As I sat there looking at Rick, I couldn't help thinking, "Am I going to be lying there soon?" I know what you are going to tell me, "Don't go there. Take it one step at a time and see what the tests say." I know what your saying. But, I'm trying to write down what is going through my mind right now. 
  I went through this the last time I had a heart attack and by-pass surgery. I really didn't expect to wake up. I remember very vividly laying there in the operating room just before they injected me to put me under. I looked around this room and thought, "This is going to be the last thing I will ever see and I'll never get to see my kids again. I wonder what its like being dead," I thought to myself. At that point I accepted the fact that I would never wake up and I was calm. I'll try to describe to you how it felt to me. "Remember when you were young and Mom would call you to come home because it was getting late?" Well that's the feeling that went through me. "I didn't want to go home, I wanted to stay out and play but I knew that it was time to go home." That's the feeling I had.

 There was no sense of time passing by and in a flash I saw all the doctors and nurses around me pulling this breathing tube out of my throat. I was weak and had this feeling that I was going to die at any moment. All of a sudden I started getting upset thinking to myself, "Why couldn't I have just died while I was under?" I was scared.

 After Rick's Funeral Thursday, I went home to see if the nurse had called yet telling me when my Cat Scan would be. It wasn't long after when the phone rang. The girl at the other end told me that my Cat Scan will be on Tuesday the 24th of this month at 10:40 am. I'm anxious about this test and what it will reveal, so I asked her, "What if they find something? Will they keep me in the hospital?" She didn't know. I don't even think she was a nurse. She was probably just the one who sets up the CT Schedules. She told me, "A nurse will call you the day before and the morning of the test. You can ask her when she calls," the girl told me.

 They have to slow my heart rate down between 50 and 60 beats per minute in order to take the pictures of my heart. So the day before and the day of the test, I have to double the dose of my heart medicine. My blood pressure is already on the low side so I hope I don't past out after taking my pills. Well that's where I stand as of this Friday morning. It's a nice Day today so I'm going to take my camera with me and take a walk in the nature preserve. It's very peaceful in there.  

 

Invited to Dinner

 I wrote this story a couple of years ago. It was a dinner party with all the people I have grown up with. I wanted to capture that present moment because I knew right then while taking these pictures that things would change, just like it always does. We are all getting older and I knew someday one of us wouldn't be around anymore. Little did I know the first person would be my friend from my teenage years who happen to marry my sister. "Rest in Peace Rick."

See You Later
Bill 

                                                 INVITED TO DINNER 



I didn’t know what to expect as I was driving to my cousin’s house today. He had invited me to dinner because his older brother, who is the same age as I am, was coming into town for a visit. I haven’t seen him in a long time. When I arrived, I was pleasantly surprise that he had also invited all of the guys and their wives that I had grown up with. It wasn’t going to be just a small dinner party nor was there going to be so many people there that you could start your own Mardi Gras with. There were no kids there either, thank god. I don’t know why that entered my mine because were all to old know for that kind of stuff. I guess it’s because he has a Christmas party at his house every year and I associated his house why a ton of kids and all the noise that goes with it.

It was great to sit around and talk with all the guys that I grew up with. As I sat down at the island in the kitchen, my first question to my cousin was “ Well, what are you doing now?” “ Oh, I’m retired,” he replied. I was so surprised, I still thought that he was working. Then I asked another friend the same question. “I retired 3 months ago,” he said. That’s when everybody started talking about work and how they don’t do that anymore. Holy cow, I couldn’t believe it. I said, “Does anybody here work anymore?” Only one of my friends answered yes. I guess that’s when it dawned on me how old we are all getting. Looking around the room, I can still picture us having this same party way back when, still laughing and having a good time. Of course we all don’t look quite the same as we used too. Back then all the guys were studs and all the girls were foxes, ah hell, we still are! It’s just that we’re bigger studs and foxes now with a couple of well placed wrinkles.

I remember sitting around playing board games with these guys and then everybody seemed to get married all around the same time. Once everybody was married they didn’t waste anytime having kids and lots of them. Oh, the stages of life we’ve been through so far. Our kids start getting married and unfortunately our own parents start passing away leaving us to take their place. Now we are the Elders. I can see the cycle of life as I snap another picture of everybody around the dinner party tonight. I know what lies ahead but I’d rather not think about that just now, I want to enjoy my friends tonight.

My daughter’s favorite saying;
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift! That's why they call it the present! Enjoy everyday cause you'll never get it back”

Town Hall meeting at the Schaumburg Library 

Today I went to a Town Hall meeting at the Schaumburg Library where I live. This was the first time I had ever met republican Congressman Joe Walsh of the 8th congressional district here in Illinois. I was surprised at all the people that showed up. I was able to sit in the front row but soon there was standing room only in this meeting room that we were in. I had seen him being interview on TV a couple of times but I never actually knew his views on anything. That was my fault but I'm learning and trying to get involved. I just can't sit back and see President Obama get reelected. I feel that I have to do something so that doesn't happen. As I listen to congressman Joe Walsh, I found that I agreed with most everything he said today. I really liked him. 

 

He talks kind of loud, he's funny at times but very serious about what he is doing and he knows how to control a meeting. There was this one lady who's cell phone rang as he was standing in front of her. Joe Walsh looked as she got the phone to stop ringing. She put it back in her purse and a few seconds later it rang again. This time the lady answered it and said, "I'll call you right back," and put it back in her purse. Joe Walsh stood there laughing along with the rest of the people in the meeting room. Then this lady's phone rang again a few seconds later for the third time. All this time Joe Walsh was trying to talk to the people. When it rang for the third time the lady got up and started to go outside. "Yes Go," Joe Walsh said. He and everybody in the room laughed. "This is the first time I have ever told somebody to leave one of my Town Hall meetings," he said smiling in a joking way. The lady did came back a few minutes later and Joe Walsh continued to talk about the problems facing this country. Would I vote for Congressman Joe Walsh in November? Yes. 

Happy 4th of July

                                          HAPPY 4th of JULY


 It would be fun to go on a picnic or go boating with friends but it's going to be 100 degrees here today and recently I can't take that kind of heat. So it looks like I will get out the watermelon I bought yesterday and sit in front of the TV with the air conditioning going. I'll have to see how hot it will be tonight. If it's cooled down a little I might go to the fireworks show and photograph some of the sky rockets exploding in the air. Other than that it looks like it will be a quiet holiday for me.