Tobacco is the culprit. Decades of pipe tobacco finally caused the platelets in the blood supply to go berserk and create a clot which went to the heart. Doctor says next one will be fatal.
Boy, I love smoking but I like riding motorcycles more so to the dump goes my monster pipe and tobacco accessory collection.
I was released today and on the way home saw the route I took once I turned around to try and get home. I went a good mile while blacked out and jumped 4' down into that corn field and ripped right through that and up a hill and finally toppled over in front of the fence to a power station. Judging by the amount of corn stalks I dragged along and the shape of my helmet I had the throttle pegged in one of the upper gears in a race to get home before I collapsed. I remember hitting second and next thing I'm on the ground. Broken face shield, all vents and stuff ripped off of the Arai helmet, scratches galore, what a mess. Vanson and Fox Creek leathers came through okay!
Steve, Save a sample of your favorite backy and one nice pipe. You will always have a smoke you don't want. I still have a cigarette I don't want from 1984. It stops you from going out and buying a mistake.
Nicotine sure is addictive and it doesn't even give you a buzz. Bike fared much better than the helmet did although the bike smells like popcorn! Windscreen, head lights, front turn signals, one bar end mirror is MIA and tail light lens. It could have been MUCH worse.
The thread has been focused on the heart attack and follow up, now that you've had some time to move around are there any, (hopefully none), other injuries you found after the cardiologist left the room?
Nothing unexpected, I knew I bruised my ribs in the fall but they must have had me on some kind of pain killer.
They really stressed not lifting more than 10 pounds for a bit and the catheter going up by the groin so watch that. I'm trying to be good, went for a gentle ride on the Useless and one on what's left of (!) the Tiger. I think I'll rename that Triumph. I hereby dub thee Corn Popper!
My stent went in by the leg route too. You don't want to pop the plug, so no football for a bit, eh?
They told me mine was made of seaweed, and the eight hours they made me lay still with a sandbag on my leg were painful. Not from the hole, but my back on the uncomfortable bed & position.
My buddy had his installed through the wrist, different doctor and hospital.
Just like the plug, the ribs will take a while. But it won't be long before you're back to "normal", and I'm happy you will.
I can't think of any particular words of wisdom other than to try and avoid getting old if at all possible.
Glad you made it! Not getting old usually results in tragic circumstances, though.
quote:
And why is it Growing Old when it seems like mostly ear hairs that grow?
I never feel sexier than when I've just plucked my ear hairs.
I'm still young enough to be commonly confused for a much younger person, but old enough to suffer some from some savage arthritis and blood pressure that rises inexplicably.
My mom was cancer and my dad's heart exploded. Since I don't chain smoke like my mother I suppose I'll be dealing with the latter at some point. Both my parents made it several years when told they had only months. I don't think any other news could sober a person up like that...though my mother never quit smoking. I guess there's not much else to lose at that point. Hopefully my girlfriend doesn't follow the same path. That song says that only the good die young, so there's hope yet
My aunt has had a pacemaker since they were quite an unrefined device and is still going strong. A spirit like that is not easily broken.
RD, that was fun... good idea for funnin' is you have a riding buddy with an open pipe like that, and everyone takes their time warming/suiting up... pre-ride snack!! Not sure about the nutritional value or chance of cancer from eating that popcorn. Maybe a diesel running Willie's fuel??
I'd eat some 2smoke castor oil popcorn. Loves me some 2smokes.
So far so good, Rick? "A spirit like that is not easily broken." Sounds like you come from good stock.
Can't complain too much. I'm teetering between hypertension stages one and two.
A while back the girlfriend and I hobbled out of a car while on a road trip. An elderly woman exclaimed, "you give me hope!" Hope for what? Our bodies are broken and you're not getting any younger.
FWIW, my 85 YO stepdad got married again yesterday. After my mom passed over 10 years ago, he sold the house and got a nice condo- got pretty lonely. His sister had a condo a couple of doors down from his, but a few years ago she developed Alzheimer's and her son moved her out to CA. (He was in at the ground level when Google started, $$$.)
So, about a year ago my stepdad moved to another condo complex where most of his old work and camping friends lived. It's only been a couple of months that he's known his new bride. I guess at 85ish, one might as well run with it if you find love, right?
Wow! Riding at night when suddenly the lights go out! How it feels anyway.
I did that corn field, at this time of year, deal in 1980. Yamahammer TT 500. Riding at about 90 mph on a dirt field access road. Blew a corner berm, the bike stood up from the lean and proceeded to take me for a ride.
About 10 feet in my hands were blown off the grips, hand brake lever disappeared, the foot brake pedal bent under the peg, so no brakes. Had a stubby clutch lever that missed, so it stayed engaged. Shift lever was gone. The right grip was gone and a stock was wedged in at the top holding it wide open.
I was wearing jeans and a jeans jacket with leather ski gloves. Open face helmet with a 3/4 shield.
I tried to lay it down but the 8' high corn stalks kept it upright. My feet were dragging behind, ass on the seat, finally got both hands on the center of the cross bar. Got my hand to the kill switch, not one like we have now that toggles to off, it had to be held until it quit while hauling ass.
By the time it stopped I was over a quarter mile in. My riding buddy thought I had gone home. He couldn't see, hear me, he had no idea where I went.
My hands and thighs were beat and bruised my chins were bleeding a bit. Never did drop it. Couldn't.
All I could do after I got turned around was to hold in the stubby clutch handle and push it back. Luckily I went in so fast it did not bend all of the corn stalks down.
Corn fields suck even without the heart attack.
Steve. What were your BP numbers like before the attack?
That explains why I didn't crash in the cornfield, then. You can't once you're in there going fast enough.
I have no idea about blood pressure, during the first night at the hospital it bottomed out at 30/60 or 43/72 or some such stuff. I know they were panicked and were driving me crazy. I normally have low blood pressure so wasn't too worried. 80/120 is pretty much steady for me.
I was having one long heart attack, not a series of little ones, which is why they hustled me into the operating room shortly after I got to the hospital.
I stopped smoking, that sucks. If I croak after stopping smoking I'll be really pissed!
Now it's just see if everything goes back to normal or does The Widow Maker hit and that's the end of that? I have been riding a lot in between sleeping so am trying to make the best of things. Wife's right, need two weeks of recovery before sex at my age. Hell getting old, can't even blow out a stent and keel over!
OK man, you gotta make it down here to Suches one day with that sense of humor. Unless you die making love to your honey, might as well die after some Jim's 'cue and enough shits and giggles to break your ribs. Or riding with Charlie. Or...
Ah, the aging process, it sucks donkey dicks! And the medical profession, IMO is right up there with it. I've had a pounding heartbeat, headaches, dizziness, shortness of breath, and insomnia since August of 2018 with no diagnosis. I've been to heart doctors, lung doctors, brain doctors, done all sorts of tests, taken all sorts of drugs, and have "regular" doctor appointments. All for nothing. I still can't sleep, still have constant headaches, and still have a pounding heartbeat in my head. The only thing that stopped it all was the two months I was on pain killers after hitting a deer with my bike last spring. Now that I'm 'almost' healed up the former symptoms are back and I'm almost wishing that I could be back on the pain killers so I could sleep again. The doctors just seem to want to soak up the insurance money and have no interest in trying to diagnose whatever is causing the insomnia or headaches.
Bart, have a good modern chiropractor do their four prong analysis. Physical eyes and hands on inspection, xrays, computer based alignment scan, and thermo analysis.
I had similar issues and more than that, med Drs kept me coming back for years, $$ but no help.
Specialists were going to hack into my lower back again. 30 years after the first time. After the MRI I asked to see what was wrong and what they were going to do. They couldn't tell me. Said they will have it all laid out by the time they cut.
I did the hi tech chiro deal. Found a neck vertebra was about 20 degrees out of alignment. Showed it to me,explained how it must have been like that for decades. Started therapy. Took them six months a couple of days per week. None of the specialists or med Drs ever even looked at my neck.
They fixed 90% of the symptoms that had come on over the past ten to fifteen years. Headaches, numbness, pain leg function, even gut ailments. I found the headaches mostly came from teeth pain. Because of the back pain, leg cramps ,etc I would grit my teeth all night, enough to give me perpetual headaches. Soft plastic tooth trays and orajel over time really helped.
From my 30 year old initial back injury I still have restrictions so I can and do hurt myself by physically overdoing stuff. A trip or two back to the chiro does wonders. Now I'm playing with bone spurs down the front of my spine. They tell me they cannot fix that.
If we could just get the BP under control, ailments and physical restrictions are really messing with my riding.
Pink Floyd's early stuff!
