Had a BIG SCARE.....

Ernie Swanson said:
Wow is right.

Take care of yourself (I know I dont, but should)
I am glad to hear you are doing ok.
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Ernie,
That's the same mentality that I had, the only problem with that is that the first warning could, very well be your last! I was extremely fortunate, my Doc said that if I had ignored the signs that night, I may not have made it. I think now that it's about constant vigilance, getting in some exercise, eating right, in order to work off ALL the extra weight I've been carrying for years. Coming out of the Marines I was 15 to 20 pounds heavier than I was in high school, that weight I know was muscle, having destroyed my knee and being medically discharged, exercise was impossible for a long time, running was out and I used to love to run. I eventually did get back in the gym for a while, but as work and family responsibilities increased, my gym time decreased and my diet started to slip. Don't think eating healthy is easy or cheap, Mickey D's food would be outrageously expensive if it was healthy! I'm resolved to the fact that for the rest of my life I'll be eating a
pseudo-vegetarian diet. Lots of fish, veggies and fruit, believe it or not, it's pretty good! My wife has gotten pretty good at looking up recipes and as usual I'll eat just about anything, last week she grilled some Portabella mushrooms, marinated them in Lea and Perins Worcestershire sauce, after grilling them she sliced them up real thin, added some Sweet Baby Ray's Bar B Que sauce, and put it on a whole wheat bun, it was friggin AWESOME!!! I think attitude is important, and mine is right for all the changes I need to make, besides I don't want another hair cut like I got last week!!!! That is INCENTIVE!!! Think about it Ernie, if you do nothing at all, do get your Cholesterol checked! That by itself is the biggest indicator and getting on meds to and diet to reduce it is huge, Think about it Bro', we all want the pink lunch box around for a while! Rex
 
McClellan Made Blades said:
Ernie,
That's the same mentality that I had, the only problem with that is that the first warning could, very well be your last! I was extremely fortunate, my Doc said that if I had ignored the signs that night, I may not have made it. I think now that it's about constant vigilance, getting in some exercise, eating right, in order to work off ALL the extra weight I've been carrying for years. Coming out of the Marines I was 15 to 20 pounds heavier than I was in high school, that weight I know was muscle, having destroyed my knee and being medically discharged, exercise was impossible for a long time, running was out and I used to love to run. I eventually did get back in the gym for a while, but as work and family responsibilities increased, my gym time decreased and my diet started to slip. Don't think eating healthy is easy or cheap, Mickey D's food would be outrageously expensive if it was healthy! I'm resolved to the fact that for the rest of my life I'll be eating a
pseudo-vegetarian diet. Lots of fish, veggies and fruit, believe it or not, it's pretty good! My wife has gotten pretty good at looking up recipes and as usual I'll eat just about anything, last week she grilled some Portabella mushrooms, marinated them in Lea and Perins Worcestershire sauce, after grilling them she sliced them up real thin, added some Sweet Baby Ray's Bar B Que sauce, and put it on a whole wheat bun, it was friggin AWESOME!!! I think attitude is important, and mine is right for all the changes I need to make, besides I don't want another hair cut like I got last week!!!! That is INCENTIVE!!! Think about it Ernie, if you do nothing at all, do get your Cholesterol checked! That by itself is the biggest indicator and getting on meds to and diet to reduce it is huge, Think about it Bro', we all want the pink lunch box around for a while! Rex
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Rex, I hear you bro!!!

I do get checked for all the normal stuff atleast once a year. I have a good chance for diabeties and heart problems so I get them checked Plus being a truck driver I get to do the wonderful DOT Physical.
Thats also a reason why I like flatbedding, I get some exercise when I strap and tarp.
 
Rex glad to hear you are doing ok. Two of my younger brothers got the same problem, touch wood I am still ok but need to check regularly, same problem as Ernie also high risk for diabeties.
 
Rex I'm happy to hear you are doing ok. The reason I haven't been on here for the last few months is because it happened to me. I was life flighted from my shop after laying on the floor for hours. The damage was extensive and has taken months to be able to function somewhat. I use an electric scooter to get around now.

Thank God you faired as well as you did. Once you are healed you should feel better than you have in a long time. Take care brother.

Larry
 
LR Adkins said:
Rex I'm happy to hear you are doing ok. The reason I haven't been on here for the last few months is because it happened to me. I was life flighted from my shop after laying on the floor for hours. The damage was extensive and has taken months to be able to function somewhat. I use an electric scooter to get around now.

Thank God you faired as well as you did. Once you are healed you should feel better than you have in a long time. Take care brother.
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Thanks Larry,
Recovery.....hmmmm, don't know what that is just yet, I haven't been in the shop but one or 2 times since it happened, once I get home from work, I piddle around the house a little, laundry,dishes, ->MAYBE<-, most of the time I hit the bed soon as I get home, the fatigue is like nothing I've ever experienced.

Definitley doing better, and everyone tells me it takes time, at this point I've missed Batsons, and Blade is almost definitely, not going to happen for us this year. This kids are bummed, they love going to Blade, it is about the closest thing we do for a vacation, but I know I wouldn't be able to keep up the pace needed with the crowds. Hate it more than anything, since my first one, I knew I never wanted to miss one, but this years just doesn't look good.

Yes, I was EXTREMELY lucky, mostly that I recognizd there was a problem, secondly the Doc at the E.R. decided to run one more test, which came back with "elevated numbers", so they ran it like 5 more times, waiting an hour between each stick of the needle, after the
5th test they decided to call the Cardiologist, and after he saw me, he decided an Emergency Heart Cath was needed, if the doc hadn't of ran that last test, they were going to send me home, with 2 arteries 90% blocked! Yeah Buddy, I got real lucky!

I'm trying to work my way back into the shop, the bug that drives me to make knives is starting to bite harder and harder, just getting everything back in order will be a huge accomplishment, my shop is still torn apart from the restoration work I was in the middle of when it all started. Just another hill to climb, I may have a HUGE incentive coming, if everything works out right, I might be getting a power hammer, and THAT WILL GET ME MOVING!!!

Glad you're still with us, hang in there, and keep on keeping on, it's the only thing left to do! Hey.......maybe the reason I'm so tired is from the "Rabbit Diet" I'm on, yeah I gave up fried food and all meat except fish and lean turkey occasionally, attempting to exercise, meaning walking, started off pretty good, but I'm so tired now once I get home, I can barely do what I need to do there, but I am slowly making all the necessary changes, I've lost 10 pounds so far, with only another 40 to go!!! I'll find a way to get it done, just like I'll find away to get back in the shop and make another knife, as long as I am alive, I will somehow make knives, production will be limited but it's not so much about the journey as it is the destination! While the journey is what I love the most, if the end result gets praise from anyone, especially my comrades here on KD, it is the ultimate high for me. Take care, and Thanks Rex
 
Rex glad you were thinking , most people try to tuff it out sorta speak thinking its heart burn . The first one usually is one of the worst ones, I know lots about it my grampa had over 15 major heart attacks and finally passed last oct at the age of 92 , he was in need of a 5 way bypass but was to weak for a operation. He lived a long life and still at home I was glad to have spent so much time with him .Kellyw
 
HELLGAP said:
Rex glad you were thinking , most people try to tuff it out sorta speak thinking its heart burn . The first one usually is one of the worst ones, I know lots about it my grampa had over 15 major heart attacks and finally passed last oct at the age of 92 , he was in need of a 5 way bypass but was to weak for a operation. He lived a long life and still at home I was glad to have spent so much time with him .Kellyw
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Kelly it is actually unlike me, but after surviving brain surgery, I finaly figured out I wasn't 10' tall and bullet proof! I started listening to my body a lot more, still a little less likely to go, but the way this one presented itself, it was a no-brainer, <-- that was a pun, on brain surgery! HAA!> Really when this kind of too serious stuff happens to me, I deal with it all with humor, probaly not funny to everyone, but it beats sitting in the corner crying and slobering!!! I simply chose to laugh about it, same with the heart attack, well that and some big time changes in my diet, exercise, and a couple of old habits. At first I did "think" it was heartburn, then the pain hit me in my arm pits, never had heart burn there!!!! That made me take action!

Thanks, I appreciate the thoughts and sharing your experiences, living to 92 is huge in my world, most men in my family don't make it to 70! You got to spend a lot of time with your G-Daddy, nothing can ever replace that, you are very fortunate to have had that! Thanks Buddy, Rex
 
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Heart problems are no fun. You're lucky you made it through those heart attacks. My family doctor asked me when I had my last stress test and when I told him it was when I retired from the military in 1979 he sent me for a nuclear stress test, because I have to walk with forearm crutches from all the fun I've had. Next thing I knew I was in the Univ. of Alabama Medical Center and had four bypasses, six weeks in a rehab facility and six weeks of home health care. I was laying in cardiac ICU and my surgeon told me I would have been dead in a year, I would have just hit the floor. The point I'm trying to make is that we need regular checkups and don't ignore signs. I'm glad to hear you're doing good.
 
Tom Militano said:
Heart problems are no fun. You're lucky you made it through those heart attacks. My family doctor asked me when I had my last stress test and when I told him it was when I retired from the military in 1979 he sent me for a nuclear stress test, because I have to walk with forearm crutches from all the fun I've had. Next thing I knew I was in the Univ. of Alabama Medical Center and had four bypasses, six weeks in a rehab facility and six weeks of home health care. I was laying in cardiac ICU and my surgeon told me I would have been dead in a year, I would have just hit the floor. The point I'm trying to make is that we need regular checkups and don't ignore signs. I'm glad to hear you're doing good.
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WOW! Tom,
By the sounds of it you have been having way TOO MUCH FUN! One of the things my Cardic Surgeon told me was that because it is so easy to fix the problem I had, a lot of people DON'T heed the warning, because it isn't as traumatic an experience as it once was. He said if folks would still have to spend a week in the hospital, then a month in re-hab, then go home with more care, more of them would make the changes they know are needed, he told me that within 10 years I would be back to get, "cracked open", his words. I told him that I would make the changes I needed to make, lose the weight, and get more active, diet, the whole 9 yards, and I have! I wasn't all the big on fried foods to begin with, ice cream is a different story! I think before I had mine, I had a steak one time in the last year...maybe! Red meat was not a big thing for me either, when he checked my Cholesterol, he was shocked, it was 205, I wasn't on meds for it, the number they want to see is under 200, and my last one was 199, it has hoovered around that spot for the last several years, my Docs didn't know if they should put me on the meds or not. Trying to fix it with diet, the whole time I kept asking what it was that I was eating that was making it high? But then my next count would come back 195, the next month 204, it was always right in that area, he told me he was expecting mine to be in the 300 to 400 range. I was also under the misconception that by working in the shop on knives all night was my "exercise", WRONG! As he told me, "Work is work and exercise is exercise, don't try to blur the line! He asked me how many knives could I make on a treadmill? I said ...errr, none? He says, " and that is the same benefit your heart gets from you working", although he did encourage me to continue making knives, as a stress reliever. Now I just need to get my insurance co. to believe I need to make knives for health reasons and I can go ahed and build my DREAM SHOP, power hammer included!! Fat chance of that happening, it was nice to dream though!

Tom, I see your in Alabama, we need to get together when ever you come down around Prattville. Do you ever get down this way? I live about 6 miles off I-65, give me some time to get my shop back together and your welcome to come visit anytime!!! We'll see if I can still make a knife!

I was piddling last night and found the last knife I was working on, I actually impressed myself, really didn't recognize it as mine at first, was wondering where it came from! I hope to get the shop back together real soon and get back to making, I do have one bench almost done, once I get it up and the top made for another one, I think I'll start moving equipment over! Start setting it all back up!

Tom, Thanks for sharing your experiences, I do know how fortunate I am, I appreciate everything I have just a little....err no, I appreciate every second and everyone I have now A LOT more, than what I was. Knowing it can be gone in a second, doesn't and won't settle in your mind until you see it in your wifes eyes, then you realize how important the really impotant things are, that being family, and how everything else is just decorations! I let everyone I know (that matters), how much they mean to me, and how much I appreciate them, life is great, when it's not, that's not life, that's decorations!

And by the way, I do APPRECIATE ALL YOU KNIFE DOGS!!!!! This is the best collection of human beings, in one spot, on this planet! Knowing that, I was a bit apprehensive calling myself a knife maker, not knowing if I was a good enough a person to step up to the bar, that is set so high. I have never seen more successful people in their given expertise be so humble, so giving of more than their knowledge, probably their most important asset, TIME. Yet they give it freely, NEVER asking for anything in return, that is so freakin AWESOME, not just anyone can be that way sincerely, and here on KD, EVERYONE of you are. Simply amazing! Thanks again Tom, and everyone else, words can't describe what you all mean to me, well, I did say it before, when I said that KD is like my "extended family", I should have just said, "FAMILY"! You guys (and girls) are the BEST of the BEST! Oh and Tracy, thanks for allowing me to be apart of what I feel like will be a big part of your legacy, KNIFE DOGS!!!
Rex
 
I just came back from a EKG and a checkup with my cardiologist and he said he doesn't know what I've been doing, but keep it up. He took me off all the heart medicine I was taking. See, clean living, no smoking, no drinking and no swearing pay off. I don't smoke and I lied about taking a drink, good single malt scotch is good for you and I can swear fluently in five languages, but try not to. I didn't tell my doctor that though.
 
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