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Well tick tick tick....


Obviously not that I have anything to do except lie there and not die, the thought of this Friday’s surgery is REALLY starting to stick in my head.

I am off the Advil (or whatever painkillers I can find) along with the aspirin since last Thursday, based on Doctor's orders. Aspirin I take after all of my heart stuff in 2006, but need to be off of both because of the blood thinning qualities. I also take Lisnopril, which I have to take to keep my heart strength up (again from bad things that happened in 2006), mostly because between the Lisnopril and my other meds  and athlete (well not much since November/December); I have to go off of it starting tomorrow as the combination lowers my blood pressure and the anesthesiologist wants to keep that higher. My blood pressure normally runs around 90 over 60, which is borderline low I guess.  They tell me they want the first number over 100.  So no meds and I have to drink lots of water - yuck!!

I went to my pre-Op last Friday and realized VERY QUICKLY that there is a lot of info out there that I really don’t need to know all of the details about. I mean did you know that when you were under, that some of the stuff the anesthesiologist gives you is actually a paralytic. That when given actually stops you from breathing and hence the breathing tube so you…well don’t die. I never did and I have had my fair share of that crap over my 47 years.  Ignorance is bliss, or it was anyway.

So it's now Tuesday afternoon; work tomorrow and Thursday. Then Nancy and I are going to stay here in Boston at the Doubletree Hotel on Washington Street across from Tufts New England Medical Center. And yes I am the General Manager of the Midtown Hotel in downtown Boston and could stay here; but the GM, Stephen Pole, over at the Doubletree was able to give me a great rate so we went for it. THANK YOU BIG TIME STEPHEN, a huge help during a stressful time.  Mostly doing it so that after I go in at 6am on Friday, Nancy can just go back to the hotel and relax for the 2 1/2 ~ 3 hours while they are doing the surgery.   And then can come over afterwards and not have to worry about driving, parking, etc...

Once the surgery is over and I leave the holding room (or whatever they call the room you come out of "sleepy land") then; up to a room for the night. They tell me that I will be going home the next day, and I hope they are right. 3 weeks in a hard collar, and no driving. I am going to take 2 weeks off of work and go back half days on the 25th and 26th and take it as it goes.

Going back to my old running and triathlon days, I have a tendency to not wait till I am fully recovered. But I learned (or hopefully so) NOT to do that anymore since 2006, when I had all the complications from the heart procedures. Tough to teach an old dog new tricks, but I'll just have to be smarter than when I was younger and "bullet-proof".

They say 6 weeks until resuming normal activities, so that will keep me on a May 1st deadline. Not sure if that will give me enough time to do the Timberman with Nancy, but I will at least be able to train with her and cheer her on in August.

I will be posting, probably more to relieve the boredom of sitting at home and for the therapeutic benefits a lot of the next few days going into and weeks as I sit at home. So if you’re bored, feel free to come along for the ride. Although I am very nervous I am very hopeful that it will be a huge success.

Be well - Sank