Happy Thanksgiving dear reader! It’s been a while and that is a good thing – means I have been busy and busy means things are good! Yesterday marked five months since my bypass surgery and I celebrated with a hike – a wonderful 12.9 mile ramble through our beautiful woods. It was great exercise for my body and my soul; I always give thanks when I hike as the woods are sacred to me. But yesterday was more so due to the celebration of the five-month mark.

I am feeling better each week. I still have discomfort in my left pectoral muscle and to a lesser extent, in my arm harvest site. Part of the process is the slow regeneration of nerves that were cut during surgery. They tend to come back in stages beginning with numbness, then a tingling almost hypersensitivity, and then discomfort until the process is complete. With my chest, it began in the centerline along the sternum incision and has slowly progressed outward across my chest towards my left arm. It still has a long way to go but that’s just all part of the process.

I went through a stretch of irregular heartbeats again a couple of weeks ago but that seems to have quieted down again – hopefully for good this time! I still have open issues with which to attend: the two lesions on my left kidney will be reexamined in February and the latest is abnormal bloodwork from my liver – likely due to the statin I am taking. I’ll redo the bloodwork in a couple of weeks and see where we go from there. Never think aging is a graceful time of your life dear reader! It is definitely not for the faint of heart!!

Another “new” post-op issue is my hands. They’ve always been somewhat cold sensitive but manageable. But since the surgery I find them quite intolerant of the cold. I hiked the other day with temps in the upper 40’s and a light rain falling. Between the temperature and being wet, my hands got extremely cold and my fingers actually became useless – it took my five to ten minutes to pull my truck keys from my front pants pocket. And I find the left hand to be more susceptible to this than the right which I attribute to the sacrifice (harvested as a donor artery for my heart) of one of the two arteries that supply the hand.

Speaking of cold, I am definitely not ready for winter. Prior to retirement I hated getting up at 4AM and heading to work in the cold and snow and ice. But after I retired, I began to look forward to the semi-hibernation of winter – a good fire and binge watching something on TV. However, I have embraced a new habit of walking in between hikes. Before we went back to babysitting two days a week, I would walk almost every day unless I was hiking. It is always at least four miles, sometimes five or six. And it did wonders in helping me rehab my heart; remember that the heart is a muscle and it responds wonderfully to exercise. But as the weather deteriorates, and as darkness encroaches, walking becomes more difficult. In the summer and early fall I could go out for a walk as late as 7PM but now with it getting dark before 5PM it is difficult. And yes – I could walk in the dark but since much of my walking is on roads without sidewalks, it is not a desirable prospect.

Since beginning this post, I’ve gotten out two more times, most recently yesterday. And of late, I have been choosing hikes I’ve completed in the last year – not just the trail in general, but trying to retrace my previous route as closely as possible. And I am seeing a definite improvement in my split time and overall times. And of course, that is great news and I am thrilled. But I temper that joy with the fact that I continue to struggle at times. To my point, Sunday’s hike felt almost effortless while yesterday’s hike was really quite difficult at times, despite some decent splits. I am uncertain on the “why” but still hope that it is merely my cardiovascular system readjusting to its new reality. I guess time will tell.

I am, of course, about to turn 69 years old I suspect I may have my head stuck into the ground, ignoring the rather significant effect that age has on a body. I know I am less limber, my reflexes are slower, and that overall I am not – and never again will be – the athlete I was once. But I tell you this dear deader – I will not go gentle into that good night – I will absolutely have to go, but I will do so kicking and clawing and fighting the entire way!

A final pre-post note here: I do “this” periodically with this blog – get stuck on a subject and like a dog with a bone, won’t let go. And I do realize that I am doing that once again with my endless drivel about my heart. But in this case, I have a goal.

I began this blog to play with thoughts and ideas and concepts that I hoped might catch the attention of people and ignite thinking and contemplation and reflection. But over and over I tend to drift into a monologue of my life and my hikes and my day-to-day life. And that is more of a journal or diary than a thought-provoking blog, and for that, I apologize.

But in the case of my heart, I view that differently. I hope this blog can help others who encounter heart disease and who are frightened and anxious and who require medical intervention – to be the one who walked before them so they can understand at least a little of what to expect and to know that there is absolutely an excellent chance for a massive improvement in their life; that there are many future sunrises awaiting them. That life is not over! Stay well dear reader!!