The Squamidian Report – Aug. 6 / 05
For the ‘ON LINE’ version of this newsletter, go to:
http://www.thedougsite.ca/2005/aug06.htm
Also in this issue:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Sue and I decided to take a run into Horseshoe Bay on the motorcycle for breakfast last Saturday. It was one of those days when the air is crystal clear and just the right temperature for highway riding. As we worked our way south out the Sound the distant mountains over on Vancouver Island were prominent on the horizon. Gibson’s over on the Sunshine Coast could be seen. The waters were green, blue and silver. Sailboats and powerboats everywhere. One very definite advantage to riding a motorcycle over sitting in a car is that there is no roof, doors or anything else to block the view. Spectacular.
What was not so spectacular was the service in the restaurant. We went into some place called Troll’s, right on the main section of Horseshoe Bay overlooking the marina and ferry docks. It was one of those places where they make you wait to be seated, and then wait before they take your order. They have a breakfast special, the normal eggs, toast, that kind of thing. It took almost ¾ of an hour for them to bring us our food. When it came the eggs were rubbery, the toast was dried out. It had obviously been sitting for who knows how long while the waitresses were just standing around chatting with each other. Another restaurant to put on my black list.
When it comes to the food services industry, they just don’t get it here. We have yet to find any kind of restaurant out here that has the slightest clue as to how to serve customers.
However, having ridden into Horseshoe Bay meant that we had the ride back to look forward to. And it was just as spectacular as the ride south. You see different things riding north, different mountains, different angles of the Sound. Traffic had gotten heavier but that was OK because it meant we would be putting along at a slower pace. So we enjoyed the ride home just as much as the ride out.
Last weekend was also the Logger’s Sports Days event here, which is the world famous lumberjack competitions. We didn’t go. Bin there, done that.
What we did do, Ryan and I plus Warren, Denis and Don was take a run over the Indian Arm Pass out to Indian Arm on the dirt bikes. We had been blocked from that ride by a major land-slide that had come down last winter during the same rains that caused the slides in North Van. Because there is a hydro transmission corridor and gas line running through the pass the road had to be at least passable for emergency purposes. So it has been patched up a bit. What we found once we got started was that there had been dozens of slides that had taken out the road at dozens of locations. Made for an interesting ride.
It is quite a long distance over to the Arm, dirt bike wise. You cover a lot of country as you first climb up and over the pass and then descend down along the Indian River. The section over the Pass puts you right under Sky Pilot Mt on the south side and Mulligan on the north. The jagged peaks tower right above you. As you follow the Indian River down the other side there are placed where it tumbles over polished rock, forming deep blue pools that are so turbulent that nothing would survive if it were to fall in. The last 10 miles or so are through the valley bottom so the riding is easy. The river meets the Arm at the tidal estuary, hemmed in by high mountains. A great place to have some lunch before heading back.
Got home hot, tired and dusty, another great run. Pictures available at:
http://www.thedougsite.ca/Pictures/Indian%20Arm/I-A.htm
I’ve made a small addition to the dirt bike section of my web site. Using the Google Earth program I talked about last week, I’ve created some 3D maps of the areas we bike, hike and play in. There is information on each map picture giving the compass (bottom left) and apparent altitude the view is from (bottom right). Considering these maps are rendered from 2D satellite photos, the detail is quite remarkable.
http://www.thedougsite.ca/Pictures/Maps/maps.htm
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Hello my
fellow Squamidians!
Well,
this has been one helluva week! Last weekend Carole and I were at the Mohawk
Casino in Milton. When we were leaving, we got about 50’ out the door of the
building and I felt a burning pain in the center of my chest. I said to Carole that
I couldn’t walk any further for a minute. We stood there and Carole found a
squirt bottle of Nitro in her purse that she had from 1998 when I had my
blocked artery repaired in London. She handed it to me and although it was past
it’s expiry date, I tried a squirt under my tongue. After a minute the pain was
gone and I was back to normal (As normal as I can be, that is) Hahahahaaaa….! I
drove home and for the rest of the weekend I was just fine. I said to Carole
that I was going to phone my family doctor on Tuesday and get checked out. I
was in the shower on Tuesday morning and when I bent over to wash my legs, I
had another pain. It wasn’t as severe but it still was worrisome. Adam didn’t
have to work that day and was still in bed, it was only 7am. When 9am rolled
around, I phoned Dr Ballantyne’s office and was told that he was on vacation
until next Monday. I told the receptionist the problem I was having and she
asked another doctor what to do. He told her to tell me to go to St Mary’s
hospital and have the emergency Doctor check me out. Adam said he’d drive me to
the hospital and Carole could stay home until I phoned her to let her know what
was happening. She agreed to that and Adam drove me in. Two minutes after we
arrived, they had me in a bed in Emerge and were taking blood for some tests. I
had an EKG and a chest X-ray within an hour. We had arrived at 10am and by
12:30 noon, the doctor told me that he thought I needed an angiogram to tell
exactly what was wrong. They suspected, as I did, that I had another blocked
artery on my heart. I had to wait in bed until the Cardiac Surgeon arrived to
check me out. He told me that the tests showed that my heart was just fine but
he suspected a blocked artery as well. He said he was admitting me and would try
to fit me in for a catheterization sometime the next day. I spent that night on
a plywood stretcher in the emergency ward and in the morning they found me a
bed on the 7th floor Cardiac Ward. I waited all day as they poked
and drugged and prodded me in preparation for the angioplasty. The surgeon came
in and told me that they didn’t have time for me Wednesday but would do my
procedure first thing 8am Thursday. He said that once they did the angioplasty
which tells them exactly what is wrong, they would do whatever they had to do
to correct the problem. He said that if they couldn’t fix the blocked artery or
whatever via an angioplasty, they would immediately do a bypass operation to
replace the blocked vessels. That was something I really didn’t want to have to
go through. However, if I had no choice, of course I’d be up for it! Well, as
it turned out, the surgeon that was scheduled to check me out in the morning
was the same lady that assisted with the angioplasty I had done in London in
1998. As I walked into the operating room, I looked at her and she said “Hey
Greg, I remember you from London, I guess we’re at it again eh?” I said “Hi Dr
Renner, I hope your hand is still as steady as it was back then!” We both
laughed and she said “You bet it is!” Once the nurses had me set up on the
table, Dr Renner came in and started the procedure. It only took her about 3
minutes to find the problem. I had a blockage in the main artery that runs down
the front of my heart. It’s called the LAD or “Lower Anterior Descending”
artery. She could see that it was 90% blocked and she would do an immediate
angioplasty to correct the problem. With that, she inserted a catheter with
what is called a “stent” mounted on the end. Once she had it pushed through the
blockage and protruding from either end of said blockage, she inflated a
balloon to expand the “stent”. Once the stent is expanded, it locks open and
creates a “culvert” through the guck blocking the artery. The doctor then
deflates the balloon and pulls the catheter out of the artery leaving the stent
in place reopening the artery. This allows the return of the flow of blood to
that part of the heart. It’s an amazing process to witness and be the recipient
of. I felt a little warmth pass through my body when the dye was introduced to
my chest but that’s all the discomfort one feels during this operation. It’s
dumbfounding to realize that this all takes place while the patient is lying on
the table fully awake and aware of what’s happening. You are even watching what
is going on in your chest and heart on a computer/TV monitor mounted next to
the table. A guide tells you what you are seeing on the screen and the Doctor
gives you a play by play description of her moves. Dr Renner was so proud of
her latest acquisition that we spent most of the time we were together talking
about it. She told me that she just bought a new Porsche Boxter and had driven
it to work for the first time that day. I asked if she would take me for a ride
in it once she was finished working on me and she said I was most certainly
welcome to join her for a ride once she had taken all of her medical staff out
first! She said she promised them first dibs on a toot around town but that I’d
be next if I really wanted to go. I said if I trusted her with my heart, I was
sure I could trust her driving abilities! LOL! The whole room chuckled at that
one. It was about 1 ½ hours from start to finish and I was back up on the 7th
floor and clamped to a bed. They actually place a huge “C” clamp on your leg to
squeeze the spot on the artery where the doctor punctured it for access to your
heart. It takes about 2 hours with that clamp on before they eventually remove
it. Once that happens, you must lay totally still for another 2 hours before
you get the OK to move any part of your body. It’s the most difficult part of
the whole ordeal. Just try lying perfectly still for that long. You can’t even
scratch anything, you have to get the nurse to do it for you. I actually had to
have my eyelids scratched. I have no idea why they were so itchy but they were.
Good thing nothing else started to itch! LOL! Hmmmmmmm…. Brings up all kinds of
crazy thoughts doesn’t it! Hahahaaa…!
Well, I
still can’t believe I’m sitting here one day after heart surgery typing my
Ontarion at home! Amazing to say the least!
Thank you
all for allowing me to share this with you, it’s good to be able to vent all of
these thoughts to a captive audience. I hope that giving you all a little
insight into such an event will make you all more aware of your own health and
will encourage you to pay attention to even the little aches and pains you feel
at times. Don’t ever brush such sudden feelings off as “nothing”! If I hadn’t
gone in to have this burning sensation checked out I may not be sitting here
right now. Please, Look after yourselves and your loved ones. If your kids,
husband, wife or whomever tells you that they feel funny or feel a pain, take
it seriously and see your doctor!
I’ve said
enough for this week. I look forward to talking to you all again next time in
The
Ontarion Report.
Bye for
now and Good Health!
Lotsa Love to all…… GREG.
PS
Something To Think About>
If Canada
can suddenly come up with $800 million to help the Tsunami torn countries, why
can’t we come up with even 10% of that to improve our health care system and
hospitals? Hmmmmmmm?
****
The Family and the Squamidian sites:
http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/ and http://www.thedougsite.ca
Have a good one..
the
doug
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