Time Catches Up

When I'm Sixty-Four

The Beatles

When I get older losing my hair
Many years from now
Will you still be sending me a Valentine
Birthday greetings bottle of wine

If I'd been out till quarter to three
Would you lock the door
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four

You'll be older too
And if you say the word
I could stay with you

I could be handy, mending a fuse
When your lights have gone
You can knit a sweater by the fireside
Sunday mornings go for a ride
Doing the garden, digging the weeds
Who could ask for more

Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four

Every summer we can rent a cottage
In the Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear
We shall…

Every summer we can rent a cottage
In the Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear
We shall scrimp and save
Grandchildren on your knee
Vera, Chuck and Dave

Send me a postcard, drop me a line
Stating point of view
Indicate precisely what you mean to say
Yours sincerely, wasting away

Give me your answer, fill in a form
Mine for evermore
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCTunqv1Xt4

Binge Watching Therapy

Shoyu on Rice part two:  As the news of my current condition continues to sink in, well I start wondering.  How lucky was I to not have another heart attack, the timing of the angiogram, a wife that has no problems taking me off at ER at odd hours and her gradual acceptance of my unusualness.  And of course, why me.

As I think about those possibilities and wait for the late night infusion of streaming typing, I decided to watch the Kaminsky Method.  Alan Arkin and Michael  Douglass star in a dramedy series on friendship and life in the elder years of life.  For some reason it made me laugh out loud.  I was on the     fringe of gloom and doom when I started to watch episode one.

The series forced me to identify with a lot of the attitudes and issues they lived.  The prostrate issue was hilarious for us old guys, but the difficulty in accepting friendship and the effects of friendship that are not necessarily the sweet and kind results of the Hallmark channel.  Things you that are at the tip of your tongue but are reluctant to release upon the world, especially in today's oppressive fear of offending anyone.  There exists a cruelty of friendship, and how we endure the joy in torturing each other.  The difficulty in admitting wrong when we can easily get away with things by just being old.

Ok, It's time to move beyond the bypass, cancer, missing colon, chemo brain, neuropathy, stents, endless prescriptions,  stiffness, pending medicare, but not ignore that they exist or have occurred .  The disturbing thought is that it is getting easier to see why people give up.  I will be OK as long as I don't end up in a nursing home where they put shoyu on my rice.

Shoyu on Rice

There are bad combinations in life.  We don't drive a vehicle while drunk, you don't pour shoyu ( soy sauce) on your rice and you don't binge watch Netflix after visiting the cardiologist.  Let me explain.

Today was the follow up to my angiogram last week.  Wait, you may recall my sneaking out of the hospital after my blood pressure spike during the holidays, the Dr. scheduled an angiogram as a precaution.   That is the procedure where they insert a catheter into your artery through your groin to see  if there are any obstructions in your heart.

If you go back far enough, you may recall I had quadruple bypass in 2016.  I had passed my treadmill stress test, EKG and echocardiogram six months prior to my heart attack.  It was described as unusual.  Remember that term.  I had a follow up treadmill stress test and echocardiogram 6 months ago with no issues but I was feeling fatigued.   I attributed the tiredness to the residual effects of the chemotherapy (you might have to read previous posts).  So my cardiologist scheduled the angiogram just in case.  Ahh those precautionary procedures just in case........

The procedure was scheduled the day after New Years, at a hospital further away (not within walking distance) and warnings that I had to have a ride home.   I kind of suspected someone warned the hospital of my adventure down Hawthorne Blvd.  It wasn't Gayle as I had previously booked her travel to Texas to see the grandsons and their new sister on New Years day.  She was not happy with my scheduling, but my economical cheapness won out as I didn't want to forfeit the cost of airline tickets.

My logic and argument was that it was just a simple quick outpatient procedure that will go smoothly and the likely hood of them finding any blockage was slim due to my passing all the previous tests.  I'm used to getting that look of doubt plus I was warned to send her prepared.  It was in the 30s in Dallas with a threat of snow  The first grand daughter and her crazy brothers won over gut feelings.

Angiogram result:  two major blockages and two stents inserted in the left anterior descending (LAD) artery, otherwise known as the widow maker, and yes, it was one of the bypassed arteries.  The only problem Is how do I inform Gayle without her freaking out or yelling.   Simple, you FaceTime her with the grandkids.   Evil.  I know, but it didn't quite work out as I planned as the phone call after the grandkids were preoccupied with a Pokemon film was a little more harsh.  And yes, Jared picked me up from the hospital.  Torrance Memorial was a little more prison like in their release procedures.

Today's follow up visit was simple.  Yes there was complete blockage in two spots,  I could have easily had a heart attack, which was probably avoided by the development of collateral arteries.  Two stents were inserted, but wait, if it clogged in the graft after 7 years, does this mean that it will again in another 7?  According to the Doc, the answer was no, but he did admit that it is unusual for this to occur in the LAD.  If I hear that term unusual again, I'm updating my will and planning my funeral (are we seeing a trend in the description as "unusual"?).

Shoyu on rice?  Tonight I binged The Kaminsky Method on Netflix.  Two old guys dealing with old age.  More on that later.  Go to go make my sandwich for tomorrow's lunch.