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Good news is I will have some time to build models


russosborne

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My wife actually suggested that I start building again, she can be smart when she wants to be.

Why I now have the time follows.

The bad news is---

(BTW, I copied the below (with a couple of additions) from a post I made on a Mustang forum I am a member of. I don't have the energy to keep rewriting this, plus that makes me more depressed)

Not even sure where to start. Been working at Honeywell in Phoenix (old Allied Signal plant) on jet engine APUs. Not the greatest job, but great people, great pay, and even though it wasn't electronics I was getting ok at it. 8 full weeks of work. The longest time I have worked in almost two years. We were just getting back on our feet financially. We were even going to pay rent for the first time in almost a year and a half. It's a good thing my landlord (my brother) seems to love me I guess.

Well, I just had to give the job up due to medical issues. Turns out I have 3 blocked arteries, one was known about from a long time ago, the other two are fairly recent. I am probably going to have to have bypass surgery, although still hoping that stents are possible, but this surgeon said no. I need to ask him why.
This was all found out Monday/Tuesday of this week when I went to the hospital thinking I was having another heart attack. Same symptoms as 4 years ago, so I didn't want to risk it, although now I am wishing I had just ignored it. At least I could have kept an income coming in.

I recently had to move my Ranchero into the back yard. The front end went bad and ate a tire back in April. I bought all new mostly poly parts for it and got it apart. Then I found out that the floor pans were extremely rusted out and needed replaced. Everything was too much for me with the heat and all. May even have been the blockages causing issues, I was/am very tired and get wore out quickly, but I was just thinking old age and out of shape.
So I had to move it to get the 89 Mustang I have been trying to get in driving shape from the back to the front so I had a place for the Ranchero the last two weeks. Got a zoning violation warning about the Ranchero, which is why it had to be moved. Guess someone got tired of seeing it on jackstands for 6 months.

The Mustang is probably a good weekend's worth of work (if I was fully healthy) to get on the road if nothing I don't know about shows up. At least good enough as an emergency vehicle, but now that I am not working we don't really need it right now. But I do want to get it running/titled/emissioned/registered. So I can sell it quickly if I have to at least.
And the Pinto is still waiting for me to get back on it. The Mustang was supposed to be a quick fix and get driving car, the Ranchero was NEVER supposed to be a project. sigh.

I am not able to do any sort of lifting/bending/etc for another 6 days due to the groin cardiac cathertization thing they did to find the blockages. Hoping to get to the Mustang after that, to at least make some good out of all of this. I was actually working on it Saturday. And I enjoyed being out there and messing with it.

Don't know when the bypass will be yet, I have a couple of other medical things they want cleared up before they do that. Hoping fairly soon, but probably will be December best case. I should be able to get a lot done around the house as long as no money is required. Only good thing about this really. If I have the energy to do anything.

My wife is having a heart procedure first friday of November. She has Afib and this is some sort of go in and electrically kill nerves in the heart. She said it is called Ablation. She had gastric bypass done last December, had lost a total of 140 pounds. But had complications from that, and then she had her gall bladder removed a couple of months ago and again had complications, so I am a tad worried about her heart being worked on.

I have to take care of her. She can't take care of me the way that would be required if I do have the bypass. Which adds up to more stress, just what I need on top of all the other stress right now.

And to make this all worse, I am not handling this well. I am depressed at the best of times, and this isn't the best. Feeling like a failure for losing another job just when things were looking promising. Can't even take the garbage out right now even. sigh.

Thanks,
Russ

Edited by russosborne
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I understand your pain. Hang in there. Things will get better.

I had the RF Ablation procedure for afib 6 weeks ago. Knock on wood, the afib is gone, and staying gone. The discomfort wasn't that bad, and I recovered quickly. The great thing is she'll feel better immediately, get back to a much better level within a few weeks, then get off the drugs in a few months and back to her normal energy level. Assuming no complications, but the complication rate for this procedure is only 1 in 200.

I wish you the best of luck.

 

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When I read the title of this thread, I knew there would be a down side.

Wishing you and your wife the very best.  Do not exert yourself until you get past your bypass and are cleared by your doctor!  You don't want to damage your heart further (or kill yourself) when the remedy is so clear!    

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Thanks guys.

I am really not handling this well. Trying really hard to keep my head in the sand. My dad had a bypass in 1999, and I know how bad the recovery was for him.

I need to call the surgeon to ask some important questions, such as why can't he do stents instead, but I am waiting for next week, the mood I am in right now would probably just p.o. him. Also waiting to hear if I get approved for the insurance.

Dave, thanks for the personal experience information on the ablation thing. Sounds like it will be a good thing for my wife.

Trying to get the energy to clean up my "work space" :( to do some building. I've got a tv tray type thing. My wife took over my bench when I thought I was done, and I don't want to take it back in the hope that she will get back to doing her crafts once she feels better.

Edited by russosborne
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  • 2 weeks later...

A followup.

I got insurance and saw the cardiologist today. I don't get a double bypass. I get to have a quadruple. Joy. As of right now, it will be done close to Christmas.

Arteries are too far gone for stents. Next week I have to get my leg veins checked out.

Wife is doing better though. Her procedure went well.

Thanks,

Russ

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A followup.

I got insurance and saw the cardiologist today. I don't get a double bypass. I get to have a quadruple. Joy. As of right now, it will be done close to Christmas.

Arteries are too far gone for stents. Next week I have to get my leg veins checked out.

Wife is doing better though. Her procedure went well.

Glad to hear your wife is better. Now it's your turn. Surgical procedures have advanced greatly in the intervening 17 years. You'll have a much easier time than your dad. I swear that my operating room came straight out of a Star Trek set.

I found it useful to start brainstorming and researching build projects while I didn't feel well enough to build. I could visit my stash and think of ways I could kitbash or customize. I wrote them down in a notebook, and if I ever finish my current projects, I'll have some ready sources of inspiration.

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I do that, but I don't write anything down. I need to get a small notebook and start doing that. I get some really good ideas but then I forget them.

I'm not so much worried about the procedure. Honestly, if I die on the table I wouldn't complain. The recovery is what has me stressed. Not being able to do the stuff around the house, much less hold a job, is going to be rough. My wife thinks she will be able to take over things like laundry, garbage, cat box, grocery shopping, etc,  but unless things change drastically she really can't, and will hurt herself trying. Or I'll get upset seeing her try and just do it, and then things will be really bad. I am the type that should be unconscious for the healing period.

Thanks,

Russ

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  • 1 month later...

Update.

The surgery is scheduled for next Wednesday, the 14th. joy.

I had wanted it to be so I would be in the hospital over Christmas. But no, the insurance company didn't even blink an eye and approved it first try. Must be sicker than I thought I was or something.

Hopefully I feel like doing some building, been so depressed about this and having to quit my job I haven't gotten anything done.

The model club I am a member of has it's Christmas meeting tomorrow. Trying to convince myself to go. The last meeting I ended up leaving before the meeting actually started. Depression is so much fun.

Thanks,

Russ

Edited by russosborne
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Update.

The surgery is scheduled for next Wednesday, the 14th. joy.

I had wanted it to be so I would be in the hospital over Christmas. But no, the insurance company didn't even blink an eye and approved it first try. Must be sicker than I thought I was or something.

Hopefully I feel like doing some building, been so depressed about this and having to quit my job I haven't gotten anything done.

The model club I am a member of has it's Christmas meeting tomorrow. Trying to convince myself to go. The last meeting I ended up leaving before the meeting actually started. Depression is so much fun.

Thanks,

Russ

No depression is not fun, and it happens to more people than we realize. There are many reasons for depression and many cures also, of course not all depression is or can be curable either. Hopefully you'll make the Christmas club meeting tomorrow and stay for the whole meeting, and I pray that your surgery goes well on the 14th.

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My mother had a Quad bypass done 5 years ago, she recovered very quickly after having it done. She was a smoker for year's,as long as I could ever remember. That was untill her heart attack a few day's later the quad was done, and after about a month she was back to doing more than she had been able to do for a long time. My Dad had his a year later Found out through a stress test and a day later had the bypass done, Unrelated to it was his rare blood cancer ( likely due to chemical exsposure as a Truck painter For IH). 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Update

Surgery went well according to those who were there. :rolleyes:

Been home a week last night. Not been fun for sure. Slowly getting a bit better, but this took me down a lot more than I had expected. Unrealistic expectations I guess.

Haven't really felt up to doing anything. I am doing some (very little to me, but plenty according to the medical people) walking and just started physical therapy yesterday. Fighting an infection that just started this week,  and serious swelling in my calves and feet that has been an issue since the surgery, right now. I am hoping to start feeling well enough to do some building soon. I get exhausted very fast, which is normal but frustrating. I developed panic attacks mainly while sleeping (waking up in a panic or just starting to doze off) and that is still an issue keeping me from getting much sleep. I see the cardiologist next Tuesday, hoping to get some ideas on that. "Everybody" says that is normal, but they don't really offer any solutions. Have a little bit of prescription drugs for it, but not enough and I am worried about addiction as well. Same with the pain. Which surprisingly isn't as bad as I would have thought. But after my heart attack 4 years ago, my ideas of intense pain have changed. :lol: I am actually being told I still need to take the pain meds by the clock, I was trying to go longer between doses, but apparently I still need to stop the pain from starting according to my primary care Dr and the home health nurse.

My brain on the other hand doesn't seem to be doing well. Probably the drugs, but I am having a hard time remembering stuff and thinking clearly. That is getting better as well, but was an unexpected result of this. As an example, there was something else I wanted to mention along those lines, but I can't remember what it was now. Oh, now I remember. things like remembering to update these posts. :(

Thanks,

Russ

 

 

Edited by russosborne
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Hello Russ,

You've gone through a major attack to your body, and you're not a kid anymore.  These things take time to heal, please take it step by step.  You're the same dude you always have been, just big time attacks take bigger time for adjustments as time moves on.

Great that you're around and that you share your fears, and feelings to us.  I'm touched by your honesty, and feel because your ability to relate is so forward, you'll be on the road to recovery very soon.

I wish you well.

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Seriously dude you gotta relax and give yourself a break. It's only been a week you need to give body tissue time repair itself. Your brain being foggy is from pain medication, it'll cause that and memory problems. You need this medication right now. If you're still on pain meds in six months then worry about addiction. Unless you've had major problems with addiction this shouldn't be worth worrying about.  The panic attacks should subside soon, I wouldn't be too worried about them either.

The foot and calf swelling is something to be concerned about. Do they have inflatable compression boots on your legs? Your body needs help getting that blood and fluid back up to your heart and circulating. That's what I'd be asking of your doctor and home health care nurse.

I know you'll start feeling better soon! Take care.

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Hang in there Russ...been through some very rough times myself...you can do it one step at a time.  Glad your going to be building...its great therapy for you...has been for me.  I went through the depression of being the bread winner of the house...there is only so much you can do.  If you feel the need to talk feel free to PM me anytime. 

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