-=> Quoting Jeff Smith to Nancy Backus on 07-Jan-2016 15:57 <=-

 NB>> Sounds like that got caught just in time....!  Pain isn't the only
 NB>> symptom that one should be paying attention, just the most likely to
 NB>> be an attention-grabber... unless one has been dealing with chronic
 NB>> pain all along... ;0

 JS> To be honest I was at first tempted not to go to the hospital. I
 JS> pretty much have some degree of pain all the time. For me it's a
 JS> combination of migraines, damaged knees, arthritis in most joints, bad
 JS> back, among other things.

I can certainly relate to that... 

 JS> But, I have never been one to let my physical situation(s) to
 JS> limit what I want to accomplish. The reality though is that it is
 JS> getting harder to keep that attitude. It's pretty much a matter of
 JS> having a 30's mind stuck in a 60's body. 

Yeah... I don't pay a lot of attention to the stuff that should be
keeping me from doing things, but I am slowed down some by the
limitations... And I've learned which things to abide by and which to
ignore...  ;)  Pain is rarely one of the things that slows me much...

 JS> I think myself self aware enough that I sensed that it wasn't just a
 JS> matter of being in pain. Which I wasn't really. My chest didn't hurt
 JS> much at all. It was more a combination of new sensations that suggested
 JS> something else might be amiss.

Listening to the body is a good thing...  my doctors tend to let me do
pretty much what I want, since they know that I really do listen to my
body... and talk back to it where necessary...  
 
 NB>>> I've long felt that it's important to have a doctor that listens
 NB>>> to you, and that accepts you as an equal partner in your care...
 NB>>> I've been fortunate over the last couple of decades to have all
 NB>>> my doctors be that way... it makes the thought of going to see
 NB>>> them a lot less onerous.. :)
 JS>> The doctor that I had seemed to be nice. He seemd to be someone
 JS>> that a patient could actually hold a conversation with.
 NB>> Did you get to follow up with that doctor, or was he just a
 NB>> hospitalist...?

 JS> A follow up? Yes, but not with the same doctor. The other doctor was a
 JS> tad less comunicative but was ok

Hopefully you'll be able to get a good working relationship established
with the ongoing doctor...  :)

 JS> Well, I couldn't get any sleep the first 36 hours laying in the bed.
 JS> Trying to leave the bed was an major issue with the collection of wires
 JS> and tubes involved. The bed actually had an air matress that everytime
 JS> I would slightly change positions. The compressor would start up to
 JS> change the pressure. With a resultant werrr... WERRR... werr... I
 JS> finally told the nurse to turn the thing off. The bed was more firm but
 JS> at least tollerable. 
 
They worry about bedsores...  ;)   And the first day or so, they don't
want you going anywhere unattended anyway...  ;)   "Call, Don't Fall"

 JS>> Im doing ok but can't handle stairs or hills very well. Guess my
 JS>> plans to be a mountain climber are shelved.
 NB>> Glad you've come through it ok...  maybe with some good cardiac rehab
 NB>> you'll be able to at least manage hills... or even a small mountain or
 NB>> two...  ;)  I'm not good on stairs either, though... but my problem is
 NB>> mostly my ankles and knees... broke the one ankle (back in 2005), had
 NB>> to stay off it for 10 weeks so damaged the other knee... and then the
 NB>> opposite ones tried to compensate, to their detriment as well... ;)

 JS> Same thing here with knees. Some years ago I unwisely tried to make my
 JS> knee bend sideways. I ended up tearing the menicus which doesn't heal
 JS> once dammaged. As a result of babbying the knee for a time the other
 JS> knee suffered. 

Ouch...  And I know how that is... the body tends to compensate, often
not very wisely but often way too well...  

 JS>> The sad thing to me was being a dad and having none of my kids
 JS>> showing up or at least calling. I did get a glad your ok msg
 JS>> after I got back home from one though.
 NB>> At least one of them cared enough to let you know...

 JS> I have been far from a pefect father. And I know and acknowledge and
 JS> take responsibility for the mistakes that I have made. But I love all
 JS> my kids very much. I have come to accept that for some
"Family" means
 JS> something differant. It hurts to hear from one of your children that
 JS> you love that "I don't need you". That doesn't change or
diminish my
 JS> love. It just makes me sad.

Yeah... It isn't even easy when the kid has a good relationship with
you, but needs to do his own thing that doesn't include you... and/or
that keeps him far away...  

ttyl      neb

... SANITY.SYS corrupt. MIND lost.

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