Britbike forum Forums General discussion The Rod and Tappet Took a real butt-kicking ....

.... in the form of open-heart surgery, a quintuple bypass done with veins from both legs. Surgery last Wednesday morning, post-op Wednesday evening, cardiac ICU Thursday Friday Saturday morning, to a regular room Saturday evening, Sunday, Monday, and home last night.

Weak as a BSA Beagle with retarded timing, taking five steps gets me winded, I'm on 12 pills, exercise legs and lungs 20 times a day, careful how I move, get help in and out of chairs, no driving ... feel like an old man dribbling oatmeal down his shirt front.

Shirt off, I look like I lost a fight with a charging Japanese with a sword and an Arisaka machine gun, it's a mess.

So that's my combined status update and daily moan. I was reading about everyone going to Barbour and realized that I'm not riding any bikes until the spring, so even though I'm ecstatic that this medical skill and technology exists so I can keep on keeping on, it ain't easy or quick to fix. Beware those Full English Breakfasts, although I suppose that Brits are immune to them.

Moral of the story - Old Men, get yourself checked. I was feeling fine, no chest pains or anything, doing most of what I wanted to do, but went and got catheterized because of my family history and age, and the test showed that all my important arteries were 90% blocked or more, amazing that I could still toddle around.

I'll follow everyone else's riding and fettling stories vicariously ...... !!

Lannis

Glad to hear your on the mend Lannis. That’s what they did to me…(5)…they kept saying “You’ll feel like a new man”……..that never happened.

I’ve got no real advice…..except it’ll get better. Jerking those veins out took awhile to stop being sensitive.

DO NOT go to you tube and find the videos that show an operation like yours….trust me on that one.

Oh…….when I was still in the hospital a nurse asked me how I was feeling…..I told her my chest was sore. She said “ Honey it ought to be……I carried your heart across the room yesterday so they could work on it”

Amazing……bless those folks that chose to do that for a living.

Rest……walk….do that funny little breath thing like your supposed to.

When you feel like……give Fay and the kids a big hug from me……been rough on them too.

lannis hope you perk up fast only a few blokes like you left around

Jeez Lannis!
Good thing you went in to get checked! Glad you got thru the surgery OK, now the work comes!

I recently made my first (regular family doctor) doctors appt in many years. Normally I just wait til they roll me into the emergency room on a stretcher… which seems to happen with some regularity! But now I’m paying for insurance (Medicare) so might as well make sure I’m OK… feeling pretty darn good n stuff but we all know how THAT goes!

But enough about me, you take care and heal up well… you might try to wean yourself offa all those meds tho, and that’s as much “advice” as I can offer. More a suggestion, I guess but hey best luck with it all!

Get Well !!!!

Get well , Lannis . you have places to go and people to see.

dang it lannis. last chat with fay all was pretty well. shows to go ya what you dont know till you get a through look see. get well soon.

At least your still this side of the surface...........any of us that are are the lucky ones!!
You should start improving now....best wishes.
I hate big ops, and anaesthetic...but its a necessary evil.

Lannis,

Glad that you had a successful operation and may you have a speedy recovery. Hopefully, you have a good selection of movie comedies to get you through the taking it easy time!

Watching my favorite movie series at the moment....."The Matrix"......

Jeez Louise Lannis dude, SEE I KNEW you shouldn't have sold that A10, best cardio y'all can get kicking one onto life....

Take it easy my man, get back to health nice and slow...👍

Kick starting bikes f#cked my hip.........that's why I'm presently on crutches [and hate anaesthetic]..........so....shaun no, just nnnnoooo!!!

Wowzer.

Glad you are able to post here, that means the likelihood is high that you'll be back to "normal" (for an old guy whose had his heart on the other side of the same room as his body) soon enough.

God bless ya, laddie.

Picture this - Her Majesty tapping both shoulders with her broadsword, then saying, "Arise, Sir Lannis, you're not dead yet"

WOW-I never would have guessed you had such issues Lannis. Heal well and feel better! Looking forward to seeing you in Shady Valley next spring.

Wow. Best of luck on a full recovery. My brother-in-law, who is a trim very active guy, had the same thing a few years back. No symptoms till one day he was feeling woozy and tired and it didn't go away. Went to the doctor who sent him to the emergency room where the docs' eyes got big. Triple bypass and all that stuff. Two years later he was able to do all of the same things physically that he was doing before. He does watch what he eats now. I tell him it took 70 years to clog up the first time, so what's the issue, but he doesn't look at it that way. Anyway, do what they tell you and I am sure we will be seeing you at Mid-Ohio or Ohio Valley BSA or York next year or the one after!

Ed from NJ

Wow Lannis….glad they caught it and you got your plumbing fixed.

Get well and see you somewhere!

I never guessed it either. No symptoms, just went and got checked because my dad and brother had heart attacks early in life, and I'm getting to a certain age.

The scan comes back with 3 90% and 2 70% blockages, don't even know how I was walking up the stairs to the bedroom, much less riding bikes out to western Kentucky and swinging chainsaws. Caught it before a heart attack scarred things up, though..... Six months before pushing motorcycles around and riding , so April's my bogie for recovery....

Lannis

Geez Lannis! Just saw this and hope you get through the rest of the process with positive steps! Man, I wonder how many other walking time bombs are here…….. Your story may wake some of us up! Keep on posting!!

Don't forget to tell younger people that an escaping alien caused the chest scars, but you got better.

Dang Lannis...the things that sneak up on us when we're not looking!
Unfortunately, it happens a lot to people in our age group. Everything appears copacetic when all of a sudden "WHAM" reality sends us a punch we didn't see coming.
My family has always been prone to heart issues (with only one stent so far, I'm considered the family slacker.)
It may serve as a small form of comfort for you to know that my dad (WWII marine, type "A" guy) had two of those very same procedures and still soldiered on to the ripe old age of 94... based on his experience, the future bodes well for you methinks!

To paraphrase an old, fabled Timex commercial:
"You took a lickin' & kept on tickin'...!"

All the best for a full and speedy recovery,

Phil

Very sorry that you have been ill and hope you are better soon. Sometimes I feel a bit ill with some very minor man flu or something and come on here and think that everyone else is ok and riding bikes! I had no idea. Puts things into perspective.

Dave

Lannis……I had been having heart attacks for years…..but didn’t know what they were. The cardiologist called them “stingers”. I thought if you had one….you just grabbed your chest and hit the ground.

I finally got to the point where my heart was “ hurting” and I figured something was up. Put it off three or four more weeks until I got a Will sorted and then went to urgent care……because up till that point I didn’t have a primary care physician.

That’s when the [***] hit the fan………next day I was under the knife.

Urgent Care said I was having a heart attack……I told them no….it was actually worst a few days ago…..made me go straight to the ER…..wanted me to take an ambulance ride….hell no I drove here so I can drive to the ER…. Had to sign a waiver to be able to walk out of the building.

Get to the ER……they freaked out and were running all around doing things to me. I explained to the ER doctor I wasn’t hurting but he didn’t believe me…..finally the doctor screamed ( literally) “This is bad!!!!”

Had to take an ambulance ride to Baptist in Winston…..where a cardiologist was waiting……put the camera in and said “Your not having a heart attack!” When I heard that I thought I was walking out of there. Then he said…….you’ve already had several heart attacks and started pointing them out……like I knew what I was looking at.

So they took my heart out of my body……worked on it for a couple of hours then plopped it back in my chest and hit me with the paddles.

Just giving you something to read to pass the time……hang in there…..you’ll get better, it’s just gona take a bit. I bet Ms Fay is a GREAT nurse…….you NEED one.

Lannis lad, I could tell you it is fun getting old! but you already know the truth on that one, but I am glad you are on the mend, I am now at the six month period following my last op, and the full round of hospital visits, for blood, scans, consultations etc etc. Where they seem to rejoice in telling me how I should be dead?? and that they never expected to see me again.

But here I am. but I am getting more grumpy in full old person mode every day.

These experiences and good wishes are all great and helping me get my mind right. One thing about sickness, surgery, and recovery is that it makes you very inward-looking and very self-centered, and you have to struggle past that and stay engaged. Fay is a fantastic nurse and that's helping a lot.....

Lannis

“Weak as a BSA Beagle with retarded timing...”

LOL! I see your sense of humor has not been adversely affected.

I’m glad you got the issue fixed and hope for your full recovery.