As you saw on the front page, I ended up in the hospital for a few days due to a health issue. Here is the details for those who are interested.
Back in October, when Laurie and I were in Las Vegas, I had a lot of pain in my right leg when I was driving. I went to my regular doctor, when I got home. After several tests, it was found that I had arthritis and bone spurs in my right leg. They also found my atrial filtration had resurfaced. When I was in hospital in September 2012, an after effect from my surgery to remove a noncancerous tumor from my left lung I got atrial filtration which I had three sessions. The situation seemed to be resolved with medicine. Now the situation was back.
I went to s cardio specialist and I was placed on a drug to stabilize my heartbeat. One of the side effects is you can gain weight and I got that one gained weight. I gained so much weight that I was out of breath. I was out of breath after walking a very short distance. They switched my medicine, but I was still out of breath. When I went to doctor and after a review of my information., I was advised to go to the hospital.
The next day I went to Emergency Room of the hospital and I was admitted to the ER immediately on a quick review of my situation. After four hours in ER going through same questions with a dozen different doctors, I was admitted into the hospital. Once in the hospital, they immediately start a program to get my heart beat in sync. At that time my heart beat at one moment would be 100 next moment it would be 160 then it would be 90. They also started a program to get the water weight off my body. I did not realize how much water weight, I was carrying. I thought they would get off the fifteen pounds, I did not think they would get forty pounds off! Since I have been home I have lost another twenty pounds.
I am now an out patient and will continue my road to recovery. Some items such as the medicine I am now taking I will be on for a long time. Other steps I need to do have been already in place in my life. With the my condition I have to go on a low sodium diet, which we have been doing for years. I now have to refine it slightly to avoid things such as fast food and certain other foods that are high in sodium.
I feel much better. I can now walk the boys without a shortness of breath. I will start my exercise program that I had planned to start last months. One of my bright spots during this tough period was Laurie. Her support and concern carried me through this rough period. This incident made us stronger. Need to progress from here.
God speed!
Lynn
Thank you
Laurie needs her husband, and your three “boys” need their Dad, so take care of yourself.
Don
Don’t worry IU will take care of myself. I know that the boys and especially Laurie need me I have been fighting weight loss for years and now I have a road to get to a very good weight. One thing I will be telling people cut back on salt. The amount of salt we are getting in our body is too much, I look at one fast food burger it was 1560 mg and the most we should have in a day is 2000.
That’s a success story all around. Get that exercise program going and take charge of this thing! You’re beating it! Special accolades to Laurie. They don’t make many like you, Ma’am.
Paul, Get well soon. The hobby would be a lot less interesting without you. Most of us older collectors are getting up there in age (I just hit 62) and it would be a shame if all of the knowledge that we possess was not passed along to the more recent collectors.
I still have the complete collecton of STADS newsletters and will get back to reposting them someday. Meanwhile, keep doing what you do. Best wishes…Bill
Bill N
Yes the hobby would be less interesting with me. I do not take that as a boast, just as a fact. I am willing to take on the powers to be and push back. We are getting up in age. It is one of the reasons I go to show is to see old friends like Artie Rostel who I met back in the 70’s. It was great to see him at Hackensack. It is great to make new friends as well.
That was quite a run on my sales lists and I did it before the internet. That was quite a labor to get out, but I did it with the help of various people. It is way of communicated we will never see again.
Paul:
So happy to learn you are on the road to recovery and that you have acquired a new hobby: staying fit and eating right. It’s a challenge, but you can do it.
Looking forward to seeing you at the Allentown Spring Thaw or at Merchants Square Toy Show.
Your friend,
Bill
Bill L
Hi Bill
Yes I have a new hobby, but this time I have a goal keeping myself as healthy as I can. I have struggle on weight all my life. The last few years I could not figure why I could not lost any weight. Now I know and I have start down the path to better health. One thing that save me is the way we eat. Laurie had already had us on a low sodium diet. We eat a lot of chicken. The chicken we use, we get from an Amish source to avoid the chemicals.
I just now have to watch what I eat. One thing I have to avoid is fast food. The amount of salt at fast food places in hamburgers etc. is ridiculous.
Hope to see you Bill at the Spring Thaw. (The Spring Thaw is a train show held twice a year at the Allentown Fairgrounds. The next one is February 22 and 23.}
That’s great news.
Sorry to hear about your health problems Paul. I’m not a hobbyist but as a old friend from Cleveland Elementary school I like to read your blog entries. You have a wonderful writing style. Take care of yourself.
Good to hear from an old class mate. I remembered taking figures into third grade class and saying that these figures had been made before. At the time I did not know the figure history ( I was showing Marx Masterpiece and Warriors of the World), I do now. I did not know my love of toy soldiers would lead to a business and friends around the world. Glad you are enjoying the blog, I wonder what some of my old English teachers would think.
Yeah we are all certainly getting older and year after year we fall apart just a little bit more. It seems I have been plagued with health issues since my late 40’s, some serious some just annoying. Most of the people I run into from the hobby I see once or twice a year and I can notice the change in most of their appearances, every year it seems someone comes down with some ailment or someone is missing in action because of some health issue. It’s too bad we can’t find that fountain of youth and keep this little group of hobbyists together forever. Anyway, here’s wishing the best of health to each and every one of you. Well, maybe not one, but he shall remain nameless. Oh heck, even him.
ED
Yes it a shame we can not find a fountain of youth. In the meantime we need to take care of ourselves. We have to watch our diets and cut down the amount of salt we take in a day. Also on smoking stop it right away, I was so surprised how the medical staff at the hospital was happy I did not smoke. Do those check ups to catch cancer before it spreads. Also I would recommend adding turmeric to your diet. Turmeric is Indian spice that is very good in avoiding and fighting cancer.
Glad to hear you are healthy again. Getting old is no fun, but in my case, it still beats the alternative.
George
I would not say I am healthy yet, but I appreciate your kind words. I am much better than I was two weeks ago, but I still have along road ahead. I will be watching my weight so I do not slip back up and will be doing an exercise program both for strength and weight loss. It is no fun getting old but it better than the alternative.