SIGforum
Dear Diary....

This topic can be found at:
https://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/320601935/m/5190037174

June 29, 2020, 10:57 PM
VictimNoMore
Dear Diary....
quote:
Originally posted by parabellum:
BRB I'ma go cut the yard. Where's my flashlight?


Slow down, champ.
It's the first day of the rest of your life.
June 29, 2020, 11:00 PM
mr kablammo
Good news indeed! Enjoy your re-birth with the wonder of the newly born. The divine surrounds. Do lots of endearments and indulgences with Mrs. Para.

My step-grandmother had a heart condition and she prolonged her life for years by riding an exscercycle for two miles a day. Just something to consider, not medical advice.


"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye". The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, pilot and author, lost on mission, July 1944, Med Theatre.
June 29, 2020, 11:15 PM
Modern Day Savage
Para, although from a cardiac standpoint our individual issues were different, it is uncanny how your description of your symptoms matched my own, not to mention the circumstances surrounding our decision not to seek treatment earlier.

Although I worked with some mostly amazing people, there were enough back-stabbers and incompetent supervisors that I quit my physically and mentally stressful job. Feeling poorly, I was certain that a change in job and schedule was all that I needed...ignoring the fact that I knew about some of my ongoing health issues, but others I was completely ignorant of, as well as how serious they had become.

I was waiting for open season to begin to buy health insurance, but my condition deteriorated so rapidly that I ended up in the Emergency Room when one of my brothers shanhai'd me for a weeks long stay. The hospital would only agree to release me if I stayed with others, and luckily, another brother and his family took me in for a couple months to help with my home care. I stayed with the program for a few months and continued with the follow-up visits and meds which managed my condition but did nothing to fix it. When I felt well enough I returned home, but by this time I had hit so many snags while navigating my health care that I eventually just gave up and when my multiple prescriptions ran out I didn't return to renew them.

Without the meds or follow-on care my condition rapidly deteriorated and within 5 months I was in desperate straits. One of my brothers reached out to help me and used his connections to get me into a brand new clinic with a new primary care doctor. It was obvious from my very first visit that he was deeply concerned about my condition and, based on the meds I was taking previously, he agreed to write several of the same prescriptions. By this time I was so bad off that one of the prescriptions I had just started I had an adverse reaction to, almost passed out, and while I was talking on the phone with my brother he called 911. The local FD showed up, hooked me up to their EKG, and were not happy with the results and wanted to transport me to the Emergency Room that night. Knowing that I was going to meet with my doctor the next morning and that we had just started a new prescription I said "nope" and signed the FD waiver declining the ride.

I met with my doctor the next day and he was increasingly concerned, and later that afternoon he called me and asked me to go to the Emergency Room again. I finally relented and went.

IVs, EKGs, Remote Telemetry, pills, injections, the whole enchilada. One day, after the usual early morning doctor visits, one of my cardiologists, Dr. Evilsizer, came in, grabbed a chair and sat down, and proceeded to ream me out for ignoring medical advice and denying the FD transport. He spent a good 15 minutes bitching me out. I manned up and took my ass-chewing for as long as I could, but apparently he didn't realize that I had just been given my IV lasix and that stuff kicks in FAST! I did the potty dance as long as I could while being bitched-out, but finally had to excuse myself and make a mad dash for the bathroom. Big Grin

I had years more of doctor visits to various doctors, multiple meds, multiple procedures, and it was a long road.

I've accepted that the damage is done and I'll never be a %100 like before...but I've also learned that it is possible to make great improvements and that I don't have to live with the level of disability that I once had.

I'm guessing that your doctor(s) will want you to make changes...changes that won't be easy. As long as you trust your doctors, take the meds and follow their advice.

There may be set-backs, but they can be overcome.

You have grit...which is good, because grit is what it's going to take.

quote:
Originally posted by parabellum:
"You just don't know how bad you feel until you don't feel bad any more." Well, I understand what he meant, but the difference for me is that I did know that I was miserable. Each and every day for the last month, I was depressed as I could be because I couldn't move without hurting and felt as if I could die at any moment. I felt like crap all the time.


Truer words rarely spoken.

As good as you feel now I hope you continue to feel better and take the long journey to a healthier stronger you.

For the next time you, or anyone else, sees death.




Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_AIcVMStCg
June 29, 2020, 11:22 PM
parabellum
quote:
Originally posted by VictimNoMore:
quote:
Originally posted by parabellum:
BRB I'ma go cut the yard. Where's my flashlight?
Slow down, champ.
It's the first day of the rest of your life.
It would probably just piss off the neighbors anyway.

Like I can do anything to stop the grass from growing. Unreasonable bastards...


____________________________________________________

"I am your retribution." - Donald Trump, speech at CPAC, March 4, 2023
June 29, 2020, 11:33 PM
parabellum
Oh, watch out. Gigantic eagle coming through.


June 29, 2020, 11:56 PM
SigSauerP226
Damn glad you caught in time and still with us! And a hearty thank you to sjtill! Scary stuff but glad all is well for now. As a younger member (33 now, 20 when I joined) I often wonder what this place will look in 10, 20, 30 years. Hopefully you're still around in 30 years Big Grin




...Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel, is just a freight train coming your way...
June 30, 2020, 01:23 AM
charlie12
Well I'm glad you got the help you needed and for your wife too.


_______________________________________________________
And no, junior not being able to hold still for 5 seconds is not a disability.



June 30, 2020, 08:14 AM
OldMick
Wow! Talk about “dodging a bullet”! Glad to hear you’re on the mend Para.
June 30, 2020, 08:31 AM
Woodman
quote:
Originally posted by parabellum:
It would probably just piss off the neighbors anyway.
Not as much as a gas-powered leaf blower during a barbecue, though.

Physical books? When there are so many Patrick Tull narrations to enjoy?

Tull is the first of only two people – the other being Simon Vance – to have recorded the entire Aubrey-Maturin series of nautical historical novels by Patrick O'Brian in complete and unabridged form. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Tull
June 30, 2020, 09:18 AM
Sig2340
quote:
Originally posted by Woodman:
quote:
Originally posted by parabellum:
It would probably just piss off the neighbors anyway.

Not as much as a gas-powered leaf blower during a barbecue, though.


< FUNNY STORY THREAD DRIFT >

Gents I can do one better than midnight mowing or leaf blowering a barbecue.

A few years back a buddy and I drove out of the Commonwealth to get some decent fireworks. I went mostly for the ride, and to get two big pre-packed sets for the price of one.

Standing in the checkout line I see a package wrapper saying “Utter Chaos.” "With Report."

Yeah, the name alone got me to buy a pack or three, each containing half-a-dozen of the little devils.

When I bought them I had no idea what they did, other than the label saying "Emits a shower of sparks." It could have been a fountain or a stick of dynamite. I learned from experience that the Utter Chaos with Report is a 2” tall, 1” diameter spin-stabilized rocket that goes "bang" really loudly.

They live up to their name.

So on the 4th I went to launch some of these babies. We had a small concrete pad in the yard that we use to shoot fireworks of types that may or may not be legal here in the Commonwealth.

I placed the first one, base down on the concrete pad and applied a flame from my Bernz-o-matic torch to the fuse.

It ignites, and begins spinning and screaming. I’d guess it reached about 1,000 rpm (no shit, it was spinning like a dervish), screeching like mad, then the main propulsion charge kicked in.

Holy Mother of God.

With a screech like a million fingernails on a blackboard it roars (and I mean ROARS!) into the sky. It was astonishing that so much fury and noise could be packed into such a small cardboard container.

Now after expending its propelling charge, it blows up, with the remaining confetti simply fluttering down to earth. Or it doesn't explode and becomes a hard ballistic object falling from about 100 feet.

It looked like this:



Daughter-san, who was about 14 at the time, sitting on the hammock with friends screams at the top of her lungs “DO THAT ONE AGAIN!”

So I do.

That was my second mistake. What was the first? I'll explain later.

I place the second one on the concrete pad, apply the flame and hastily step back about 10 steps.

The start was just like the first one, spinning and screaming. Then the propulsion charge kicked in.

Did you know that in physics “chaos” is defined as “Behavior so unpredictable as to appear random, owing to great sensitivity to small changes in conditions”? I got one hell of a demonstration of chaos.

It lifts off about four feet, then turns almost 90 degrees from upright and roars past me, missing my noggin by just a foot or two. In doing so, it gave me no time to react, and scared the ever-living shit out of me.

Daughter-san, now joined by the voices of several of her friends who were present in the peanut gallery, screams “DO ANOTHER!”

Did you know that one definition of “insanity” is doing the same stupid thing over and over expecting a different result? Well color me insane. The way I figured it, the second one was defective. God knows the Chinese fireworks factory where they are made would never sell a completely unpredictable firework.

So, in what should have been against my better judgment, Utter Chaos Three goes on the launch pad, and again I apply a flame to the fuse.

The start was just like the first two, spinning and screaming.

Then the propulsion charge kicked in.

Just as it fell over.

This time it doesn’t leave the pad in a vertical direction. Instead it roars off in terrain-hugging mode in the direction of my neighbor’s deck, where they are holding their annual “Come watch the nutcase rednecks try to blow themselves up” shindig.

Mind you, the neighbors house is easily 200 feet away, so I never anticipated anything we did would leave our property, much less go that far.

So, screeching like a thousand banshees, it tears through the air and crash lands directly in a bowl of potato salad. Thankfully, it did not explode. To say they were shocked and angry is an understatement. I can only envision my end at the hands of a lynch mob had it blown potato salad all over the place.

I calmed them down and saved the day be agreeing to stop shooting things that flew, which wasn’t a sacrifice, since by that point I’d enough chaos in my life.

Utter Chaos. If you’ve never lit one, you will never truly appreciate the meaning of that phrase.

Have a Happy Fourth of July! Buy some Utter Chaos and have at it!!!





Nice is overrated

"It's every freedom-loving individual's duty to lie to the government."
Airsoftguy, June 29, 2018
June 30, 2020, 12:11 PM
dewhorse
Damn Para....I had the same a couple years ago.

Once they put a stint I was up and about in a couple days and ever since have tried to watch my diet and exercise.

Very glad you made it through it....and trust me it's better after, pretty sure I had been suffering due to the blockage (100% once i got to the hospital) for several years and I just figured I was out of shape.

Anyway glad your stubbornness was not permanent
June 30, 2020, 12:56 PM
straightshooter1
I'm very thankful you are okay now. The beginning of the OP took me back to 1964, a dark night trying to stop my 56 VW which seemed to be flying towards a crash on the highway ahead of me. Thankfully, standing on the brakes, it stopped just short of the carnage ahead.

I was fortunate, too, My Cardiologist sent me down for an immediate heart cath and the docs sent me right off to another hospital for open heart surgery, telling me they couldn't fix it (them) with stents. I feel so much better 18 months later.

I hope you enjoy your new lease on life and I think we are very blessed to have members like the doc here on this board.

Bob
June 30, 2020, 01:09 PM
np149
Wow. Glad to hear you got treatment in time. Having been dragged to the ER a couple of times for various crap after talking myself out of going for help, I've learned not to listen to me anymore! Wink

Get well!
June 30, 2020, 01:18 PM
Bob RI
Powerful story- glad to hear you are feeling much better. I’m sure you sharing this story will help others!
June 30, 2020, 02:11 PM
benny6
Glad you avoided this disaster. Stay healthy, my friend.

Tony.


Owner, TonyBen, LLC, Type-07 FFL
www.tonybenm14.com (Site under construction).
e-mail: tonyben@tonybenm14.com
June 30, 2020, 02:17 PM
HRK
quote:
Originally posted by parabellum:
quote:
Originally posted by VictimNoMore:
quote:
Originally posted by parabellum:
BRB I'ma go cut the yard. Where's my flashlight?
Slow down, champ.
It's the first day of the rest of your life.
It would probably just piss off the neighbors anyway.

Like I can do anything to stop the grass from growing. Unreasonable bastards...


Electric self propelled lawn mower, although yer gonna need one of those led lights mounted on a sweat band.....



June 30, 2020, 04:19 PM
wingfoot
Incredible story, glad you saw the light and are now on the mend.
June 30, 2020, 07:00 PM
TexasScrub
So glad you're on the mend!!! Stay well, friend!


___________________________
He looked like an accountant or a serial-killer type. Definitely one of the service industries.
July 01, 2020, 03:33 AM
dlcchp
Take care Parabellum.
Glad your on the mend!!!
♡♡♡
July 01, 2020, 05:46 AM
r0gue
I am so very glad you are well now my friend!

That is one hell of a story, and it has one hell of an ending. I missed this thread until just now after reading the other thread, and so... this wasn't the ending, was it?.. Which makes it even more amazing, and illustrates what we already knew. That you are a truly unique individual. And I for one, along with so many others, are so very glad to have found your little corner of the Internet.