AUGUST 3. 2011

No one was more surprised to be dead than me. After all, look at the numbers. Cholesterol 130 with the good cholesterol double and the bad exactly where it should be. Blood pressure under control. Walking five miles a day in 70 minutes, same time I have walked it for the last twenty years. Absolutely no symptoms.

But it is hard to rule out humane stupidity and that I had in abundance. I decided it would be a wonderful idea to ignore obvious heat sickness signs and finish “just a bit more mulching.”

Well, long story short, didn’t turn out well, got to spend a brief time on the other side, where sadly there were no bright lights, visits with lost relatives or meaningful messages. Just a very warm, toasty nap.

The first three weeks out of the hospital were fine. They said go home and do what ever you had been doing and I pretty much did. Then, whether the flu, Dressler’s Syndrome , reaction to medication – whatever I spent most of the next few weeks on the couch. By last Thursday my heart rate was 48 and my blood pressure was 190/ 104.

During this period I had no energy, no interest in anything and no desire to eat. This was not a bad thing since one of my goals was to reach a weight of 165. I just didn’t plan to do it in three weeks.

After they cut back on one medicine and included a copy of one I had been on for years, I started to feel better. Then Sunday night I just started to feel like my old self. I actually was enjoying myself again. Enjoyed walking, enjoyed breakfast, enjoyed planning the porch repair. Today I actually picked up my guitar and started practicing again. Sadly, the cat still left the room while I played.

For the first time in weeks I wanted to write something, plan something and get on with life. Being sick sucks, as all too many people lots worse off than I, are aware. God has a wonderful way of showing us how easily the things we take for granted can be lost. If this really is the end of the illness, I will appreciate good health a lot more in the future.