Joe Bauer Posted September 29, 2022 Share Posted September 29, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, Richard Price said: Joe, I am so sorry to hear of your recent severe health problems. I hope you have good doctors, consistent improvement and no further complications. Best wishes and I hope we continue to hear from you. As a side note, at nearly 67 and overweight by at least 25 lbs, I am in your same boat to some degree. While I am now retired (USPS), which helped alleviate stress substantially, I have finally learned to not hold things in and to accept the many things I cannot change and that has also helped. I now try my best to live by a rule I should have followed years ago: Luke 12:25 (NIV) Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life[a]? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? My best wishes for prolonged good health and happiness to you. Richard ...thank you. I will take your kind empathy and thoughful spiritual advice to heart. You know my USPS delivery lady is a hero. If not for her I would fainted "in the street" and with my wife not even knowing I was out there. "Jennifer" abandoned her super tight time frame route to help me for 20 minutes. My wife froze and could only stand and stare in shock while Jennifer ( who called 911 ) got on her knees and tended to me with reassuring calming caring talk and holding my arms and hands until the EMT's arrived. She even stayed the extra 10 minutes it took for them to stabilize me before taking me to the hospital. I am going to write to my local and larger district USPS offices to share with them this life and death situation heroism on the part of their carrier. I don't know how to share this true life heroism USPS carrier story on social media but I need to find a way. I know for a fact some things about our carrier that she is going through some incredible stresses in her own life. Just one: She can't afford to live here. She must commute over two hours a day ( over mountain passes!) from her home area because it's the only place she can afford rent. Anyway...thanks again. My apologies to any of our members feeling a posting like this to be too personal and inappropriate for the forum. Edited September 29, 2022 by Joe Bauer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Allison Posted September 29, 2022 Share Posted September 29, 2022 I wish you all the best in your recovery, Joe. Glad you are alive and kicking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W. Niederhut Posted September 29, 2022 Share Posted September 29, 2022 Sorry to hear about this, Joe. The cardiac issues and syncopal episode sound worrisome. If your blood pressure is stable, the syncope could be related to a cardiac arrythmia. Not to second guess your aftercare plan, but you should probably wear a Holter monitor for a week or two to check for arrythmias. The technology has evolved since my days as a medical intern 40 years ago, and they now have small Holter type monitors that they tape to your chest for two weeks. Make sure that your doctor knows about the fainting episode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bulman Posted September 29, 2022 Share Posted September 29, 2022 This all sounds pretty scary Joe. Modern medical advances are amazing in some cases. Here's hoping for a speedy and full, better than ever recovery. Best regards, Ron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Caddy Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 Joe: Because you are a great writer, each of us personally can identify with the traumatic events you just went through. I have coffee four times a week with guys my age, 84, or close to it. Half our time is talking about current events and half about our health problems. No two of us have the same health problems. But what we discuss about heath pales in contrast to what you have just gone through. Thank goodness the postal mail lady was there and helped you and then summoned emergency personnel. Your life changed immediately when this occurred just as the lives of several million people in Florida just had their lives changed overnight by hurricane IAN. Many of these lost everything and are seniors in every sense of the word. They, as you, must begin life anew. Medicare should shoulder most of the cost of your recovery, which will include rehab in skilled facilities, and from what I have read the State of California has its own medical plan that may supplement Medicare. You have the prayers of all of us that you will bounce back and recover quickly. The forum needs the commonsense and wisdom that you always impart to whatever the topic is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Caddy Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 9 hours ago, Joe Bauer said: MIGHT? Ron, I just had both myself! 9 days ago I suffered a heart attack. Instant incredible pain in left upper arm, radiating across my left upper chest and shoulder and up into the left part of my neck. I was hospitalized for 4 days. Lots of CT tests and had an angiogram and ultra sound exam as well. I was discharged last Friday at 12:PM. My wife picked me up and 10 minutes later we arrived home. The mail lady was at our mail box which is across the street from our home. I got out to greet " Jennifer " and get the mail. My wife drove on down our driveway as I did and went inside our home with my belongings. I stood talking to Jennifer for 5 minutes, telling her what happened to me and all of a sudden I was overcome with sweat breaking weakness. Jennifer could see my distress. I turned pale as a white sheet, so she offered to help me walk across the street to our driveway. I was getting weaker by the second. She helped me get to the back of our car where I couldn't go any farther and all I could do was lean over the trunk. Jennifer ran to get my wife. As they came out the front door I completely fainted and they saw me drop off the car. They said they then heard a "crack" sound. Not a "thud" sound. I hit my head and was unconscious with my eyes rolled back in my head when they got to me. A minute or two later I came to enough to open my eyes. For two minutes nothing made sense to me. I couldn't move or speak. Jennifer called 911. Ten minutes later they loaded me up in the ambulance and I was back at our same hospital just 35 minutes after my earlier discharge. I was now afflicted with a concussion and an extreme case of vertigo as well. I was just discharged yesterday and am now at home. Much dizziness continues. My life has changed instantly. Huge changes. I cannot drive a car and no doctor will tell me when I can drive again. I can only walk using a walker. I will need more therapy for the head injuries. I need to lose 40 lbs ( from 215 lbs to 175 lbs ) due to my overall health stressed conditions including my heart and sleep apnea. Huge dietary changes. So, let me tell you. You bet there is extreme PTSD involved in such physical injury trauma. People involved in bad life and death car accidents all have this the rest of their lives. At 71, it's even harder to go through traumas like this. Not crying about it, just recounting my recent experience objectively to illuminate it's power and effect relative to what you posted above about it. God, what an awful sequence of events, Joe. I sincerely hope your recovery is as speedy as possible. 😞 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 Regardless of political views, on a personal level I wish everyone health and happiness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Gallaway Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 Doug's right, you get older and more of your talk with your friends is about your health problems and you see everyone's got different problems. I've always dreaded a day when I would get a wake up call, because you never know when it could happen. It sounds like you've gotten a double wake up call. Please do what you need to do to have a lasting recovery because we want you here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Doudna Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 Hope you recover well Joe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 6 hours ago, Matt Allison said: I wish you all the best in your recovery, Joe. Glad you are alive and kicking! Thank you Matt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 3 minutes ago, Greg Doudna said: Hope you recover well Joe! Thank you Greg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 11 minutes ago, Kirk Gallaway said: Doug's right, you get older and more of your talk with your friends is about your health problems and you see everyone's got different problems. I've always dreaded a day when I would get a wake up call, because you never know when it could happen. It sounds like you've gotten a double wake up call. Please do what you need to do to have a lasting recovery because we want you here! Thank you Kirk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 55 minutes ago, Benjamin Cole said: Regardless of political views, on a personal level I wish everyone health and happiness. Thank you BC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 6 hours ago, W. Niederhut said: Sorry to hear about this, Joe. The cardiac issues and syncopal episode sound worrisome. If your blood pressure is stable, the syncope could be related to a cardiac arrythmia. Not to second guess your aftercare plan, but you should probably wear a Holter monitor for a week or two to check for arrythmias. The technology has evolved since my days as a medical intern 40 years ago, and they now have small Holter type monitors that they tape to your chest for two weeks. Make sure that your doctor knows about the fainting episode. WN, thanks for the well wishes. All my doctors know about the fainting issues. Treatment is debated at this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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