Hey guys - thanks again. I have just been taking it easy and chewing through the shows on the PVR since I got home. Feeling pretty good overall, but tire easily.

Cheers, Al

 

Good news Al.

I know it is hard, being self-employed, but stay away from the bench until your body tells you the time is right. One of my team had a couple of stents popped in last Thursday and he wanted to come back to work this week. I just told him not to be so bloody stupid because I couldn't afford the time off to go to his funeral - luckily, he took it in the way it was intended.

Now they have re-wound your mainspring, you can look forward to seeing the world through an eyepiece for a good number of years to come.

Best wishes.

Stewart

 

Glad your home Al. Now in the same way we listen to you when you give us mechanical advice, listen to us when we tell you to take your time.

 

Well, take your time you must and refrain from working on somebody else's timer - that heart of your's has got to beat COSC standards now, so give it a chance to respond to the tune up and the service, I look forward to reading and profiting from your erudite contributions again, take good care

 

#%*$# ! Mongrel coincidence! I was 2/3of the way through the book when you posted a 'spoiler'. Now finished it. But I did know that Orwell must have come through the war alive.

 

Great to hear Al

And maybe we need Mrs Al to put a big lock on the workshop for a week or more so that nobody is just tempted to "just have a look".

You need to build up slowly with gentle exercise, anyway, you've received formal medical advice from our forum Doctors, I don't need to repeat it.

I'll have a Redback (or two) for you this weekend

 

That's great news, Al

You're on the right road. Take the slow approach and if you listen to your doctor and your body, you'll know when to kick it into the next gear.

That's great news to start the weekend

 

Just read this today.

Best wishes on a speedy recovery Al.

If I can be of assistance Al, don't hesitate to ask.

I'm not that far away.

Joe G.
Elora, ON

 

Good to know, Al. Go easy on those paczki and take good care of yourself!

 

Paczki...I was watching a episode of "The Blacklist" last night set partially in Poland, and of course they had to show a bakery with Paczki...no more of those for me I think...

We have been going through our pantry looking a sodium content in the foods - it is amazing how much is in some pretty basic prepared foods. We will be doing a pantry purge shortly.

Okay I hope no one here is too squeamish, and if you are you might want to skip the rest of this post....however I find this stuff fascinating from a technical standpoint. My mother had her aorta valve replaced twice (rheumatic fever as a child) and the first time she had it done in 1979, they did a catheterization through her arms for some tests before the actual surgery. She had an incision on the inside of each of her elbows that were a couple of inches long, requiring many stitches. Things have come a long way since then...

They went in my radial artery twice. You are awake for the whole thing, and I could feel the wire going up my arm - very odd feeling! After it's done, they put on this medieval torture device:





It is cranked down hard!



They keep this on for maybe 40 minutes, and then slowly loosen the screw a little bit at a time every 5 minutes or so, and then eventually take it off - it hurts like hell to be honest...

Then they put on a pressure bandage:



It also aches like crazy, and that stays on overnight. Then just down to a band aid, but it still aches. Here you can see the 2 locations they went in after I removed the band aid this morning:



Looks like a vampire bite according to my wife!

And one last photo - been wearing this since I got home - my late father's everyday watch - he passed of a heart attack many years ago. It's just a reminder that I was lucky.



Cheers, Al

 

Now I understand when you said you have sore wrist. You should really take a break and let your body heal fully before work in bench again.
Hope you get fully recovered and healthy as before soon !!!!

 

Al, the torture device replaces the resident or intern who used to stand by the bedside holding down a dressing, waiting for the bleeding to stop (yes, I have done this during training-you get to know lots about a person when you are pressing down on their groin or wrist for a half hr!).
The procedure is done with lots of blood thinners (heparin mostly), and then they start you on oral versions as well. So you really have to wait for a long time to the clot to form. You can take acetaminophen (paracetamol to our friends overseas) for the pain, but avoid ASA and drugs like ibuprofen and naproxen (Aleve), as they also can prevent clot formation.
Nice left handed pics!! Take it easy!!

 

Be well, glad you're home and things are looking up.

 

Only Al would document his stent operation the way he photographs a watch service.... can't be that ill...

 

Looks like a vampire bite!

 

Best wishes for a speedy recovery, Al.

 

Also, for a bit of reading during your recovery, I recommend the following:

http://www.amazon.com/The-China-Study-Comprehensive-Implications/dp/1932100660
http://www.amazon.com/Prevent-Reverse-Heart-Disease-Nutrition-Based/dp/1583333002

Much quackery afoot any time you start mentioning diet and medical conditions, but these two are among the most evidence based and useful IMHO. They also led me to a re-examination of my own lifestyle going back four years, now. So you know my biases.

 

Just a couple of years ago they found I had a congenital heart defect, a hole in my heart from birth that was still open. PFO in medical term. It was at the very, very beginning of the long road to a diagnosis to what would become Parkinson's. Well of course it was closed in the same manner with a cath while awake and all the cool feelings. I happened to have not one but two very attractive nurses that did the groin pressure bonding as it were with me. It hurt like all get out but they were funny as the day is long. My wife was not amused, the stress of the day. At one point saying even if it took two of them to do that which in unison they both responded, "YES"!! I still look back at that event and laugh. She does too. One thing they did find out, it was not my heart that was the problem. LOL!!!

 

Oh yes, I remember those days... My standard line was to chat with the person about what jobs they used to hold, and it was endlessly fascinating to find out what goes on in different jobs. My most memorable tale was from a guy who used to work in an abattoir.