When life hands you a lemon…..

You make lemonade! I’ve always been a fan of this particular quote (which in itself actually has quite a few variations) and I suppose, if you really think about it, could be interpreted in a few different ways as well, but that would be getting rather picky and trivial so for arguments sake, we’ll go with defined, original intent that is, in a nutshell, “sometimes things don’t go your way, try to look at the bright side and make the most of it”. In other words, the glass is half full! Which brings us to where we were heading with this, last week, yours truly, had that lemon served up and delivered on a platter. Drum roll please….Congestive Heart Failure. Sounds pretty bad, right? I know it did to me, but of course, I was there at the time and clearly still alive and breathing so what does that all mean? Well, basically, in my case, it means I have a bad heart valve that appears to have been passed down through genes and something that has recently decided to make a play for some attention. If you’ve been following Pulpland, you know we like to get heavy into projects (most recently the Pulp Patio project which is 95% hard labor) and other than the occasional cold or not feeling great on a few occasion days, we are pretty much at it 7 days a week, year round. About a year ago, and after recovering from a broken ankle (Yup, Pulp Greenhouse), started easing back into things and noticed that I was getting a bit more winded than I had ever before, which I attributed to the ankle down time and potentially having been exposed to the Covid virus and it’s possible long term effects. Flash forward a year and still having the same issues with getting winded and taking a bit longer to really get “warmed up” as they say. And then the fun hit…shortness of breath, wheezing/coughing up a storm. Day 2, no improvement and lengthy chat with triage nurse and what to do….Go to ER Now! So, off we go, still thinking it to be some sort of lung issue that will readily cure itself with the right dose of antibiotics (which would be great because haven’t gotten a whole lot of sleep since it started and quite tanked at this point). First diagnosis is indeed pneumonia and treatment underway. But there’s this other test that comes back and it indicates something not right. A very wide range test that can mean anything from being pregnant (I wasn’t)! to having blood clots (I didn’t)! You know what that all means right? MORE TESTING. And more testing. And a few days in the hospital waiting on the tests to happen and then be interpreted by the Docs. Late afternoon on day 4 and finally…..the “official” diagnosis (extremely calcified and failing Aortic heart valve) and the options going forward.

Now, by options, I should clarify. There is the “do nothing approach”, which, in reality, is the “probably not make it to the New Year approach”. Let’s scratch that one off the list. Now it’s getting easier. Do you want a mechanical valve or one that is partially made with cow tissue? Again, if you follow Pulpland, you know I am a huge fan of animals so this one is a no brainer (give me the cow). Plus, the mechanical valve requires you to be on blood thinning medicine the rest of your life, which I am just not a fan of, so even easier choice. Surgery scheduled and adjusting to the new “taking it easy” lifestyle which I am mightily struggling with but understand it is what needs to be done right now.

Here comes the lemonade. Being told you only had about 3 months to live on current course and untreated is rather sobering. Had I gotten even an inkling better on that second day at home, I probably would have never gone to the hospital and for sure would have continued doing what I was doing until I eventually keeled over and who knows what the outcome of that would have been. But we did go to the hospital (thumbs up). And they found it (two thumbs up). So here we are. Doc went into detail about the procedure and of more interest to me…the recovery! Apparently, my Aortic heart valve is in such a bad way that replacing it will undoubtedly be a life changing experience. My wind will come back (and then some) as it’s been a slow ride in the wrong direction for some time now. All of my other internal organs will be able to breathe a sigh of relief since they’ve all been over compensating for the slacker valve of late and all in, I will be feeling like the age I pretend to be in my head! Good times to come!

This all said, obviously, Pulp Improvements will be going on temporary holiday. Looks to be a couple months until I can yield the brick leveling mallet once again. On a bright note, Pulpmuzic has been given the green light to go, so playing guitar and recording is on the approved list of things to do. Only soft vocals though, so we’ll be avoiding the arena rock thing for the time being.

Out a little late on this one, hopefully above explains all. See you later this week!