Hi Everybody:
This time, I put your email address in AFTER I creating the message. Here's my second attempt...
It's been three weeks since my last update, and I'll be 8 weeks post-op on Thursday. I've been asked a few questions several times, so I thought I'd answer them for you here:
Q: Did you have a single, double, triple, or quad bypass?
A: Stop asking. I had a double. One was called a LIMA (Left Interior Mammary Artery), and the other a traditional saphenous vein from my leg. I would have got a quadruple, but we have socialized medicine here in Canada so they used the extra veins in my leg for another guy.
Q: How's the scar(s)?
A: The chest scar is actually not too scary. The Dermatix (silicone) I've been using on it has really made a difference. I have two scars on my left leg, though, that are still pretty ugly. Haven't been using Dermatix on these (it's $50 for a 15g tube), but if things don't improve over the next month or two 'll go to Home Depot and buy some bathroom caulking.
Q: So - you did all this lifestyle stuff (vegetarian, runner, wonderful personality, deeply religious) but still got nailed with this. Why not just kick back and eat deep fried Snickers bars?
A: I'm obviously predisposed to building plaque in my arteries. If I didn't do the lifestyle stuff, I might be dead. I'm walking 10-15km at a shot and the only pain I have is when I get hit by a jogger or a baby carriage; I'd hate to think what the recovery would be like if I looked like _____________ and was in the same shape as ____________.
Q: What about pain?
A: OK - so there still is some pain. All in my chest, and mostly when I get up in the morning. When I talked to my doctor about the discomfort he said "get used to it". I tried to go for a run last Friday and it was like I'd never done it before in my life. I could go about 200m before I had to stop - too hard to breathe and too much chest pain (not heart attack pain - broken rib pain). I guess I'll have to wait some more.
Q: What are your cholesterol numbers? What should I be asking my doctor about?
A: I've been monitoring these numbers since 1997 (my dad had bypass surgery in 1996 when he was 60 - so I changed my lifestyle in a big way at that time). I've got all the numbers in a google spreadsheet here. The comments below won't make much sense without seeing the numbers:
The May'06 numbers where pulled when I went into the hospital. The Aug'06 numbers are after 2.5 months on some heavy-duty cholesterol drugs. The Sept-97 numbers were when I was a ridiculously strict vegan, and ran about 40km/week (hard to keep up with the sales manager job I got in 1999). The Apr'04 numbers were when I tried to "experiment" with some cholesterol drugs; I should have kept it up - but I thought I could manage it with lifestyle. Wrong.
Note that my "unique" problem is very low HDL. My liver just doesn't manufacture the stuff. HDL is the "good" cholesterol, and removes the "bad" cholesterol (LDL) from the artery walls. Most people won't have numbers as low as mine (BIG HDL numbers are good, BIG LDL numbers are bad).
As for asking your doctor. Read up on this stuff. Ask your doctor to be aggressive. A small-dose statin and some easy lifestyle modifications (like deep fried Snickers bars only twice/week) could prevent what happened to me.
Q: How do you remain so good looking?
A: Apricot facial scrubs. Twice a day.
Q: When do you and Laura re-start your "adventure"
A: Hopefully, in mid-October. I still have a few more medical hurdles to jump through (stress test, visit with the surgeon), but am hopeful that there are no more surprises ... we've had plenty so far this year, thanks.
Q: What about the food. What about the booze?
A: Everything tastes normal now. One of the great side-effects is that $4 wine now tastes like $95 wine. We're saving thousands. I might take up smoking.
Q: Where are you living?
A: After pissing off every close friend we've got, we moved into the trailer on August 16th. We're at an RV park in Vancouver (it's full of Germans - but nobody wants to talk about the war???), with close access to the SkyTrain. We'll stay in the Vancouver area until we leave in October (with a couple of side-trips to Victoria, Nanaimo, Port Townsend).
Q: When will you stop sending out these updates?
A: Never. I'm a narcisist.
I hope this message finds you well, and that you're having a great summer. Thanks again for all your messages - please keep sending them (especially the chain letters!).
Platonically,
Doug
PS:
Q: What does a dyslexic, agnostic, insomniac do?
A: Lies awake at night wondering if there really is a Dog.
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