Prayers and bit of hope.....

by John Meeker , AR-somethin' question..., Monday, April 09, 2012, 23:10 (4611 days ago) @ Otony

Some years ago my right leg artery went South, with blockages, clots, and a serious hospital immobilization to keep the first clot from breaking loose and 'turning me off like a light switch', as the Doc put it. [PAD - peripheral artery disease]

Well, I didn't heed the guy's advice, went diabetic, and thought I was a fine fellow at 240+. That's not your case, but what followed in due time was a much more serious clot, a completely blocked lower femoral, a new synthetic artery, and then a MERSA infection. Back into ER and another try at the artery, a bad throw of the operating dice, lost most of my natural blood, and the Doc predicted amputation shortly. In the ensuing days in Critical care, I died.

For a while, anyway. It was an interesting interlude, and I assure anyone who reads this that there was no white light or horde of greeting relatives. There was, however, a period of space and time and connectedness to the spiritual unity of Living Life, that lets me assure anyone who asks -- that there is nothing to fear in Death -- it becomes far more Life than ever imagined. I balanced on that knowlwdge for some time, knowing that I had a choice to expand that awareness or return. I decided that there were things I had left undone. Weeks later, weighing barely 150 lbs, I walked out of there. The Doc called it a "miracle leg".

Recovery was slow, but being a thick-head, I back-slid to 220lb+: diabetic, cholesterol, circulatory and other numbers weren't good. "NONCOMPLIANT", said my Sugar Doc. So, I started to walk with the dogs: walk hard until that damn leg hurt like a MF'r, stop, and then walk some more. My wife and I worked hard on eating healthy and watching portions. And, I began riding my old bike. I'd been a bike mechanic and commuter decades ago, so I remembered how, y'know.

Going on three years later, I stay at 180 to 175 on a six-foot frame, lightly lift weights for upper body tone, spend an hour a day biking back and forth to work with interval sprints to liven things up, and still don't walk enough. My numbers are those of much younger person: pulse of high 40's to low 50's, BP 100 over 42, cholesterol well withing a good range and sugar steady in low numbers.

But there are no promises: all three arteries in the right leg are now plugged. The reason I still have it, is because collateral vessels have been forced to take up the slack, from sustained physical exertion. The left leg has it's own probs, too. The bill is due someday, but the regained fitness and sense of well-being from real, sweaty, hard, painful work has been worth every bit of it. I surely appreciate my days.

This is a lot more than I've written on-line for a long time, and I did this for those of us, who like Otony, face serious health questions and consequences. We can most surprisingly survive severe health declines, and recover from them far better than our family, docs, and ourselves ever suspected. And yes, we will worry about the effects of all this upon those we love: because we are good folk.

Yet, should our bodies fail, I say with complete faith and certitude that it is not the end, but the beginning. As I looked down upon planet Earth from far above, and saw it's smallest details and it's totality at the same time, I knew that no matter what, it was OK to stay and okay to return, for I was in good hands forever.

So may it be for us all, when it comes to that.
And not too soon, either, Thank You!! ;~`)
Best wishes for health, and a good outcome.