Ta

I'm finally upright again. I ended up being the later case yesterday as Dr. R had to do an angiogram on a baby. Apparently, babies can't fast as long as adults for procedures. They took me to the cath lab around 11:30 and let Monica follow me into the lab up until they started to intubate me. I asked them if they were going to make me curl up on one of the little pediatric tables and thanked them for sending me the pre-op packet that said I could bring my favorite bottle and stuffed toy.

I told them my favorite bottle came with salt and lime. The anesthesiologist injected something into my IV. Monica told me later what I said. Of course, I have no recollection. I only remember taking off my glasses and handing them to the nurse because I was feeling woozy. She said I asked her, "Is it normal to have yellow spots all over your face?" Then I said, "Wooah, what did they give me? I think it was LSD." I don't remember Monica kissing me or anything. I did wake up and felt them taking the ET tube out and coughing a lot. They said, "Everything went great." I thought that meant they didn't find anything. When I got to recovery Monica and my mom were there and they told me that both my stents were almost completely closed down, but Dr. R. managed to balloon them open again. In fact, they are now more open than they were when he initially put my stents in. In 2000 he opened my artery up to 8mm. At this angio it was closed to 2.8mm and now they are 9.2mm open. My mom and Monica got to see the film where he ballooned open the artery and saw all the blood rush into my lung where it hadn't gone before. I was only getting a little blood into the upper lobe and now I'm filling the lower lobe as well. I can't wait to see the film. Dr. R is going to send me my own copy. Hopefully, I can get it online to show you.

I have an interesting new haircut...ahem and my groin feels like it's been pummeled a bit with a sledge hammer. I took off the pressure dressing this afternoon. I had to spend the night in the hospital because I kept puking after the procedure. That is the worst part of all this. I hate to throw up. At 10:30 they called Dr. R who ordered some Phenergan IV and I was out for the night. I think my mom and Monica were relieved because they'd worry about my groin bleeding in the middle of the night and they'd have no way to get me back to the hospital except to call an ambulance.

I woke up at 6am and felt much better. I even managed to eat breakfast. Dr. R came in and released me this morning and I was out by 9am. He said I should be feeling much better, have less shortness of breath and be able to do much more. I am actually glad they found something to fix and I realize my lack of stamina and fatigue are not my imagination. The only bad thing is that I have to go have an angiogram every 2 years now because the tissue I grew in my stents is not typical and could be caused by my disease process. As Dr. R put it, I'm a "tissue grower." I think everyone was surprised the stents had closed down so much.

Thanks so much for all your kind words and support!

On Monday night before the procedure we went to see Cirque du Soleil's "LOVE." It was fantastic. If you get a chance, especially if you're a Beatles fan, go and see it.

Try your own name and leave the interesting ones in a comment to me at the bottom of this post.

These are anagrams of my full name:

Meat Jar Oinks
Join: Take Arms----------I should be a minuteman?
Eat Major's Kin-----------who is Major?
Eat major skin-----------egads, see below

These are anagrams of my name without the middle name:

Retain Mask---after I've been trying to remove it all this time?
Stain Maker---yes, this could be
Saint maker----------if only...
Mania Treks---could this be the title of my life?
Skin me a Rat---oh, yes, please
Karma set in---oh, yes it does
Marine Task---should I go to the beach?
Inmates Ark
Make Trains---choo choo
Satin Maker
Main Streak
Take Rams in---the football team?
Take Mars in----What about Pluto?
TAke ram sin
Take Arms in----uh oh
At Risk. Amen-----yes, indeed
smear at Ink-----------occasionally, I do
Same Rat Kin-----------different day
Meat is rank-------------PETA would agree
A Man Strike---------this is the funniest
mark it sane---------yes, please
Am neat risk-----------but a stainmaker, nevertheless
Earskin Mat---------in front of the fireplace
Kin eats arm-----------cannibals
Kin eats ram-----------more appropriately
arm eats kin----------OH MY GOD!
ram eats kin---------turnabout if fair play
Mars ate kin-------------OH NO!!! Don't take Mars in

Monica and I decided to have a lovely day together and check out a place in the Santa Ynez valley called Red Rock, a somewhat remote recreation area where people go to swim. We left around 10:00 and picked up a nice picnic lunch of a turkey, brie and cranberry sandwiches, orzo salad, and iced tea from the Los Olivos Grocery. We got to the National Forest and paid our day fee. When I looked at the road ahead, I saw that the road was covered with water. No big deal. I'd been through shallow water before. The odd little Mexican lady told us that motorcycles go through there all the time. I asked, "Is that the only crossing?"

"Oh, no, you'll have to go through five of them," she answered.

Great OK, no biggie. I'd gone thorough lots of water before. The first one was a piece of cake. A couple were dry across the road and one was barely wet. They wouldn't be so bad if some genius hadn't thought to change the pavement to smooth cement at the crossings.

We came to the last one. From a distance it looked innocuous. I thought it would be easy. Slow and steady. No problem. The water was probably 2-3 inches at the most. I got a couple feet across and the next thing I knew I was under the bike. I was flat on my back, soaking wet, watching the bike continue to spin, coming toward me. I heard Monica yell and, to my amazement, she was still on the back seat, facing me. My first thought was, I shouldn't be facing her. My second thought was "damn, I'm really wet" and "I must be hurt because Monica's screaming, but I don't feel any pain." The nice thing about the Goldwing is that it has rollbars that keep the bike from going completely over. It lands at more of a 45 degree angle. From Monica's vantage point, it looked as if the bike was crushing me underneath. The bike stopped moving after it did a complete 180 degree turn and I managed to get to my feet after inspecting to make sure all my parts were intact. Somehow, I didn't even get a scratch.

Yes, those skidmarks are mine

Fortunately, at the same time we capsized, a young guy showed up right behind us and helped us upright the bike. It was pretty much then I realized the road beneath me was slick with green slimy moss. I was so proud of Monica for staying on the bike, but I have no clue how I fell off. I think the bike just laid me down and I must have rolled off. It happened so fast. There was no impact or feeling of hitting the ground. I was still facing the direction I'd been heading before the wipeout. We were both a little shaken afterward. I was soaked through my underwear.

A lovely windtunnel in which to enjoy a picnic

We got the bike off the road and onto a dry parking lot. We decided to continue with our hike to Red Rock and have our picnic because I had to dry out anyway. We finally found the place and sat on one of the rocks to have our lunch. It was extremely windy. We'd planned for it to be sunny, hot and beautiful, but thus far it was not panning out. I was freezing from the water and the wind. "Geez," I said, "How am I going to tell people I nearly drowned on my motorcycle?" We had a good laugh over that.

We ate our salad for a few minutes and Monica said, "Hmm, what's in this anyway?"

"Well,I don't really know. I thought it was basil." Then the news report from last night--the one about bagged spinach causing E.coli-- went thorough my mind. "It's probably spinach." We laughed even harder.

After I dried out, we headed back out of the park without incident, although Monica refused to ride with me through the waterways again. She "scouted" them for me, but all she really did was make me more nervous. I'd gotten through them before; I could do it again. Once we were out on the highway I said to her, "Weird to think that just a few hours ago I was under this bike. That's one place I'm not eager to be again any time soon.

This is what you see when you run yourself over with your motorcycle