Many Rivers To Cross

 Many Rivers To Cross

I haven't been feeling great physically for the past six months, but what should I expect from an eighty year old with a bad back and a blood disorder called CLL. The CLL alone can give you a day of feeling tired.

Three weeks ago, I met with my CLL doctor to go over my three month blood tests. We agreed that my CLL had progressed to a point that medication was in order. I started on the medication and POW - I got all the negative side affects. The worst was feeling light headed and dizzy.

By the fifth night, I got out of bed feeling dizzy and fell down in the bathroom breaking four ribs. The family ER sent me to the hospital where they discovered I had major heart problems. The diagnosis was three clogged arteries and my heart was running at 20 percent (50 percent is normal for my age).

Since I've never experienced heart problems before, I found out that a small percentage of people never get chest pains or major shortness of breath before they have a heart attack. My luck, was I was one of them. On the other hand, I was lucky that the CLL medication got me to fall down and break four ribs so they could discover my heart problems. 

When the heart surgeon told me I had a 20 percent chance of not making it through the surgery, I told her I was focused on the 80 percent. I was right and the surgery went great. I'm home now with a few complications. My heart is getting better. We are shooting for 40 percent in the next three months. However, everything tastes like crap (I've lost over 10 pounds) and sleeping is difficult.

The things I've taken away from this experience is I never wavered regarding if I was going to be OK. Also and much to my surprised, I never got angary or depressed. Just the opposite. Before the surgery, I was still looking forward to my birthday trip in December to spend time with two great guys we met on our cruise. Also, I was looking forward to our river cruise in May. Many Rivers To Cross.

Now, I'm looking forward to seeing John Fogarty in March, my tastebuds coming back and gaining all my weight back and (as always) spending time with my wonderful Joyce. I hope you all understand how precious life is. I hope you all understand that shit happens. I hope you all understand that we all have Many Rivers To Cross before we go out to the Universe.