Young hearts can go their way
Can’t put it off another day
I don’t care what others say
They say we don’t listen anyway
Time has come today”
Lyrics by the Chamber Brothers
Tick Tock Tick Tock…
On July 11th, 2011 I came to close to meeting my 100% Kosher Maker. Apparently it wasn’t my time, although my estimated 15-30 minutes of unconsciousness seemed so heavenly peaceful.
While I was convalescing from the eleven broken vertebrae and a busted sternum, family, friends and acquaintances reached out to me. Texts, emails and yes even phone calls and flowers poured in. Most folks wished me a speedy recovery, while some asked if I required any help. I experienced genuine feelings of concern for my welfare.
Then one day, I got a call from an Old Flame. As usual she got straight to the point. “Now maybe you will take your own mortality more seriously.” (There’s a reason she was an Old Flame). After a few more awkward minutes, we hung up. Of course I thought about what she said, Of course I knew how wrong she was.
Anyone involved in emergency services are experts in the intricacies of mortality. That is unless you spent an entire career doing nothing more than getting cats out of trees, writing citations for littering or applying bandaids to paper cuts.
As a firefighter/EMT I quickly discovered how Doctor Death can appear suddenly, unannounced and without warning. No one is immune. Certainly not me.
This made it more miraculous that somehow I survived a bicyclist (me) vs. inattentive driver in a speeding sedan rear-end collision. Since July 11th, 2011, I’ve become more risk adverse. I slipped out of the bony grasp of the Grim Reaper once. My personal WD-40 might not be as efficient a second time around. From that moment on I’ve dodged most major physical pitfalls and owwies.
My health was on cruise control until…
July 3rd, 2023 when I had a near syncope (feinting) episode while hiking. Since then I’ve experienced four more. Sure I sought medical advice. A two week heart monitor application. Results? Nothing conclusive. Two EKGs. Results? Nothing conclusive. Two blood tests? Results? Nothing conclusive. I did my own doctoring and figured out it was dehydration related. So I drank more water. Which made me go potty more. A LOT MORE! Then came the diagnosis of BPH. Benign Prostate Hyperplasia. In non-medical terms. A BIGLY prostate.
This led me to try an outpatient procedure to shrink my Texas-sized prostate. It’s named PAE or Prostate Arterial Embolization. (Why can’t Doctors just speak English?) Google it. To say it’s similar to science fiction would be an understatement. I’ll briefly describe what it was like.
After a dose of versed, (which helps you sleep or relax before a medical procedure) I was placed on an operating table. In my right arm was an IV to inject fluids and dyes. In my left arm was a “working” IV. I came around once and glanced over my left shoulder. The Doctor was staring intensely at a TV screen displaying my pelvic girdle and the gray blobs of my organs. In his left hand was a tube. In his right hand was a thin wire, which he was ramming into the tube which was leading into MY BODY! At that point I decided it was best to go back to sleep.
It’s been almost four weeks, and the my potty breaks are like an RTD bus schedule. Every hour on the hour. Maybe the Doc thought I said, “I’m a competitor. I want an Alaskan-sized prostate over a pipsqueak Texas-sized one.”
Oh yeah and my high blood pressure issue hasn’t been resolved either.
Plus I now haul an extra liter of water to stave off hitting the deck in an unexpected manner.
So once again I’m pondering my mortality. But now the Barbarians at the Gate seem to be internal instead of evil external forces. I’m aging and not like a fine wine (whine).
Now as the medical bills pour in like the summer monsoons, my mental lightbulb (which can be a bit dim) has come on. I’m going to run out of time before I run out of things to do. If you haven’t figured it out by now, it’s the movement that makes me happy. 😃
With this in mind, I’ll be on a mission of wandering, wondering and exploration from now until late October. (Full on camping and hiking seasons).
Photos and blogs will be coming forthwith.
The clock is ticking, can’t stop now.
Tick Tock. Tick Tock.
Cheers and stay young.
Keep moving!
Jeff
