You may well be right. Other than being short of breath, I still was working darn hard every day prior to the procedure. In fact, my bosses at work tell me often that they count on me due to my work ethic and effort.

I am now scheduled for cardiac rehab, which I am going to assume is a course on proper diet and exercise. Now, I am not an expert in either field, but trust me when I write that my diet is watched with a very careful and discerning eye by both my wife and I. My diet is excellent, and has been for some time, except one meal a week with "the boys", which was usually a Rubin with a salad (man of habit, I can see that Rubin every freaking day). My downfall was a little too much bread and rice, but that has been curbed 99%.

I do need more exercise, that is an unfortunate truth, but am also determined to get it. The bike is off the rack, and I am tuning it for neighborhood jaunts again. My old walking partner is raring to go, so I have no excuses.

Don't want to appear as though I am making light of all this, I am not. This was certainly a wake-up call, but not a surprise.

It has not been all beer and skittles, I might add. My docs explained my right artery was clogged so badly (it received three of my four stents) that if I had had a heart attack I would not likely have survived. THAT was a real eye opener.

And the groin pain I have mentioned? Well, there was a hematoma that developed during the procedure. This is not too uncommon from what I have been told and read. Thankfully I didn't have any further internal bleeding, but it sure didn't help when the d@mn thing broke and bled into my leg this weekend. Talk about ugly, painful, and frightening! That too has passed, thank goodness, but my right thigh appears to have been beaten with a meat tenderizer!

No old maid here, but I will try to be a bit more careful...