This has been a helluva year for Kay and I, it started out in July of 2024 when we both came down with Covid. We had all of the vaccinations to prevent getting the Covid but we may have waited too long to recharge the system. I got it first and had a difficult time, Kay was not as infected as me but we both survived although not without some dreaded side effects. Kay really didn't have any lasting side effects but I had difficulty catching my breath that seems to have finally gone away but has been replaced with exhaustion and low energy after exhertion
Fifteen months, four doctors, two cat scans, one nuclear stress test and a heart catherization later and my breathing problems are still with me but have changed to a shortness of breath / fatigue. Through all of this I have found out that my lungs are clear and I have a heart that a lot of fifty year olds would love to have. I do have what is now called "Long Covid", the side effects have a name now. I have no doubt that I will survive and the side effects will disappear but after 15 months I'm getting a little tired of it.
During all my health problems, Kay's life has been upside down. In addition to worrying that I was going to drop dead from a heart attack, her brother Bob was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor last fall and given a short time to live. He found a doctor who gave him hope and underwent an extreme radiation therapy schedule. It worked out for a short time but then he was taken to the ER and had an operation to repair a hole in his stomach. Things didn't go as well as expected, Bob remained in the hospital for the next ten weeks, he never went home.
The day after Bob's funeral I underwent my heart catherization, the stress test had revealed that I three arteries blocked and may need open heart surgery, needless to say Kay was worried. As it turned out I have no blocked arteries serious enough to warrant stints much less surgery. I consider this a very good outcome in that it has taken me 78 years to get one artery clogged to 50%, in my way of thinking it's going to take another 78 years to finish me off with heart trouble.
At the suggestion of my doctor we joined a gym and exercise three days a week, so far that's going well but I still have the dreaded "side effects". It's a very nice gym with a helpful staff and a mixture of young and old people. Going to the gym has made me wonder why I do it, three of my grandparents were born in the late 1800's and the other about 1901, they never exercised, they cooked with lard and used bacon grease and yet they lived in to their 80's. A high school classmate would run for miles every day and ran road races one day he went for a run and never came back, he was in his late fifties so I have to wonder if all this exercising is really necessary.
As we checked in the other night I saw two notices on the counter, they had pictures of two members who had recently passed away, one man was 74 the other was 76. All of this got me to thinking. I'm about halfway through my 78th year and in pretty fair condition, my family history indicates the possibility of a long life at least in to my eighties, there are more years behind me than in front of me so what is all of this exercise going to get me, damned if I know. I wouldn't mind being around to see my grand kids go out into the world, I wouldn't mind being around a little longer as long as I'm not a burden on.
The older I get the signs of my aging become more prominent as the days pass, I moan and groan when I move and there seems to be an ache or pain somewhere on my body all the time but I refuse to give in old age. I push myself because I feel like if I accept my plight then then all is lost, I have goals that I have set and intend to at least try to achieve them. I don't know when my last breath is going to come or what will bring it about but I intend to fight for it.
PS, I bought a water ski last year and was going to ride it but Covid got in my way and now winter is coming on so I'll have to wait until next summer, there will be a video.
No comments:
Post a Comment