464

It’s been a while since I’ve written about myself and what’s going on with me and not focusing on Kiddo, but today I’m here to catch y’all up on a few things.

In the last few months, I’ve been struggling with my health.  I broke a toe in Vietnam and then after that I strained a shoulder muscle.  This lead to a breakout of shingles and let me tell you; that is NOT fun.  Come early September I can get the vax for that and believe you me, I can’t wait for that day, because anything to lower the chances of that happening again.  Ugggg.  The muscle weakness and nerve pain were much.

That, however, lead to the doctors wondering why I had such high blood pressure.  It was a trend.  In the last 6 months, my low had been 140/90, but I had seen the doc for illnesses and the like.  I, and the doctor I saw for my flu vax, wrote it off to anxiety for seeing a Chinese doctor.  In BKK, I needed to go in about every 75 days to get my ADHD meds and they took BP each time.  One of the nurses there had amazing English and had done schooling in America, so she had phenomenal English.  She also knew some of the colloquialisms and jokes and she would joke that I was there to test the machine to make it accurate.  120/80 was a bet she would make with the other nurses.  I was 124/78 one day and she joked that she would call emergency.  Seriously, my BP was on the dot.  So, of course I was fine and it was anxiety and nerves.  Otherwise, I had a respiratory infection, a broken toe, a pulled lat muscle, shingles…. All these could cause my BP to get irregular.  I was sick.  In pain.  

Well, the doc pushed.  Wanted to 24 hour monitor.  That sucked, having a BP cuff on for 24 hours and going off 3-5 times an hour.  J made me sleep on the couch, not that I got much sleep with the cuff on.  However, it showed a bad trend.  Let’s be safe and get me from internal to cardiac medicine and do a work up.  Also, meet my new friend Amlodipine/Valsartan.  It’s a low dose, but I got a BP machine for home.  A month on the med and I was 122/81 this morning.  119/84 last night.  So, back in check.  

Let’s check cholesterol and do a stress test, but also, lets get a contrast CT of the heart.  Sure.  Why not.  Let’s do the whole work up.  We’ve got good insurance and even then, the copay for ALL of it is 806 RMB.  That’s $100.  For blood, 24 hour BP, CT scan with contrast, stress test, meds, et al.  $100, all in.  Sure.  Do the work up.  Who cares. 

Well, I went in yesterday and got the scare of my life.  LDL should be 1.7-2.6ish.  I’m at 5.1.  Stress test was bad, showed the heart is working much to hard.  However, that is because the LAD (left descending artery) is at 85ish% stenosis.  That means blocked.  85% blockage.  Here’s the thing, the LAD carries approximately 50% of the Oxygen to the heart.  A heart attack there is called “The widow maker” and has a 95% fatality rate.

The doc showed me all of this and told me, “If not doing tests and see this, you are not likely to meet your 50th birthday.”  

That’s 464 days from today.  A year and 3 months, roughly.  

So, we have started a buttload of meds.  Some blood thinners, cholesterol meds, and I’ve got a daily check list of heart attack symptoms and the like that if I see or feel, I need to get to hospital ASAP.  We are also waiting on the insurance to approve angioplasty and a stent placement.  We should hear tomorrow or next (Wednesday or Thursday) and then I will go in Sunday for the procedure.  

The good news is we caught it.  The other good news is that with insurance the meds and all came to $15 for the copay.  So, it’s not back breaking to go this route.  Also, the copay for the angioplasty and stent will be less than $100.  All in, China saved my life for less than $250.  To my AmeriKKKan readers…. Socialized Medicine folks.  Socialized medicine!

That’s catching you all up on me and what’s been going on here.  The days of steak and butter poached potatoes and all the things like that are gone.  More fish and tofu will be on the menu.  Snacking at night is out, unless it’s fruit.  Morning peanut butter is bad, again, fruit and a poached egg are better.  The doc tells me I should also try to lose 5kg by years end, after the procedure of course.  I agree and will target double that.  

It shocked me.  I’m not a guy who just sits around eating fast food and deep fried things all day long.  I cook and, in the last 5 years especially, I’ve eaten much cleaner and a lot of that is air fried with little to no oil.  A lot of greens.  The cardiologist things that when I had my colostomy and reversal and then the hernia surgery is when it all started and it’s just been getting worse as it was unchecked.  Multiple surgeries in a short time frame, with the body slowing and stopping, then with bed rest, and all that, the body can build fats as it is not moving.  When I brought up that I walked a ton during Covid, that I biked, that I’ve been walking in China and biking as well…. She told me that if it started and wasn’t checked, that it is unstoppable and like a pebble on a hill; it will roll and it will make other rolling also, and then, soon, it is storm of rocks coming down the mountain.  

It’s wild to think about that my 30s was the only decade (so far, let me find some wood to knock on) that I didn’t need medical intervention to save my life.  In my teen years my WPW was bad enough that it would have caused problems.  In my 20’s I had a bone cancer in my hip and the good oncology team at Stanford go the through that and to remission and clean scans since.  Then there was my diverticulitis and that whole adventure.  Now this.

I’ve said before that I know the odds I’ve beaten.  That I’m an anomaly in a lot of ways.  That, statistically, I should not be alive right now, that I shouldn’t live past 50, but looks like I will.  “Death can have me when it earns me, not before.”  I’m gonna make it damned tough on death, you better believe it.  Maybe when I’m 90 it’ll earn me.  Before that… F you!

Besides, look at this face.  How can I not be here for that face.  For the smile.  For the dress.  For the shirt.  For the attitude and spunk and energy she brings.  For every cool thing I get to experience with her, show her, do with her, and watch her do.  Then there’s J.  She’s my person.  My pigeon.  We need to watch Kiddo graduate.  Get married.  Be a person.  We need to get Kiddo out of the house so we can old people smooch.  We need to still have our own adventures, both with and without Kiddo.  Besides, who else is J going to go to new cafes with, try coffees with, watch new shows with, go out to dinners with, have dates with?  Besides, I don’t know if Kiddo would ever be able to watch a movie again if I’m not around.  I’m pretty sure J doesn’t know how to turn on and off the TV, despite me sending me pics and instructions on multiple occasions.  I jest at that last, but I am tech support for the house.  They’d also starve to death if I were around as J can almost boil water.  Again, I kid, but love you, hunny!

Let’s go, Kiddo…. Sunday is going to be a fun day, as it will be the day I get my life saved (again) and a week until I can start my journey to a healthier Dada.  You’re going to need to help, so that means bike rides, outside times, walking, and all that.  It’s always easier with you and Mumma with me, so let’s all go on a journey to keep me around and get me healthier.  I couldn’t do this without you, but I also need to do it for me.  We’re already toothbrushing buddies, let’s also be health homies.