1 year since open heart surgery

One year ago from the moment I posted this blog entry I was wheeled into an operating room.  My chest was cut open, and new artificial parts were installed in my heart.  My heart is now made up of my own tissue, bovine tissue, metal, and plastic. 

Living as we do in Leisure World I have met several guys who also have "zippers" in their chests (i.e., the metal piece that was used to stitch up our sternums).  We all agree--the surgery was brutal.  Having your heart stopped for several hours has to create unusual changes in other parts of your body that take a long time to restore.

Jules and Jessica were there with Vicky, and so were, spiritually, Emily, Sean, Kathy, Tonia, and Bill.  It mattered to me, and for her it was crucial.

A lot has happened in the year since this operation.  Besides the obvious (I LIVED THROUGH IT!!!), I also had two procedures to repair an abnormal heart beat that was a risk of the surgery.  The second one worked, so I no longer have to take blood thinners.

This was a big deal because we chose to have a heart valve made of bovine tissue installed, instead of a mechanical one.  A mechanical one will last forever, but requires life-long blood thinners.  The bovine-based one has a 20-year-life span, but no blood thinners are needed.  So if we couldn't get the abnormal heart beat fixed then we would have swung and missed on this one because, in hindsight, it would have been better to take the mechanical valve. 

We chose to take the risk of another (although smaller) operation so we could continue with our outdoor life and not worry about something happening where I would bleed to death because of blood thinners I was taking.

My cardiologist said I had recovered faster than any patient she had ever had.

Our belief is that this is due to three factors.

One factor is that I didn't really have heart disease.  Instead, I had two dysfunctional parts of my heart, perhaps congenital.  I didn't have high cholesterol or high blood pressure. 

The second factor is that we entered this surgery after taking three years preparing for it--by increasing our already very solid exercise level.  We reasoned that people work to get into shape for marathons, so why not work to get into shape for this type of marathon?

The third factor is that Vicky had been and continued feeding me well.  Everything made from scratch--high use of low-fat protein, vegetables, and fruits.  A heart healthy diet.

After surgery it is recommended that one participate in something called "heart rehab."  I called two places that offered this service, told them what I had been doing in the two weeks after surgery, and both of the people we talked to freaked out.  STOP!!!  Sit!!!! We said screw that.  Within a month I was walking 5 miles per day.  We don't need no steeeeenking heart rehab!

Since the surgery this is what we have accomplished together:

475+     miles walking
2450+   miles cycling
200+     miles hiking (meaning off trail, in the desert mountains, with a 20-pound backpack)
65 +      miles swimming (Vicky twice that because she's a swimmer and I'm a dog paddler)

Plus a lot of ballroom dancing and ping pong.  Plus moving from Whidbey Island to Nuestra Casa, (meaning hours and hours of working to fix up our Whidbey Island home, packing and carrying boxes, etc.).

It was an odd experience in many ways.  One way was that I had no symptoms.  I was the picture of health.  I had been doing, with Vicky and Jules, Seattle to Portland 200-mile bike rides, and cycling an average of 2000+ miles/year.  Vicky and I had been doing off-trail hiking to the tune of 500 miles/year.  I had no shortness of breath, no weakness, no nothing.

So I went into the hospital, had an operation, and it took me six months to feel as good as the day I went in.  That's odd.  Usually when you have a big operation it is because you feel bad, and the operation is to make you feel better.

Lesson:  GET PHYSICAL EXAMS.  My heart problem was caught by, of all people, a urology PA at a routine urology exam.

And even though I had no symptoms, it was seriously serious.  Before my surgery I had an angiogram.  This is a procedure where a small camera is inserted into the heart.  The doctor who performed this procedure was quite agitated afterwards, telling us we must do something.  When we told him we had surgery scheduled that week.  He gave an emphatic "Good!"

As one of the doctors said, my first symptom would have been to die. 

We are ready for whatever curve ball life throws at us now.  We all have a bunch of them.  We both just want to go down swinging.  This past year was exactly that.  This time, with my heart surgery, we feel like we connected.  We took a risk so that we could be together for several years, instead of just waiting in fear for the next 2-3 years for the aneurysm in my heart to explode and for me to die on the spot.

I'd say we are going to celebrate today, but, frankly, we celebrate every day. 

Hiking in the Coconino National Forest

We took two hikes in this National Forest.  All of our country's National Forests are different, which is why we enjoy going to different places. 

Some of the time we hiked on old Forest Service roads.   See our Desert Rat on the right side of this photo about half-way up?  It was where we parked for our first hike.  

For our second hike we hiked toward a protected area called the Bull Pen Day Use area.  It had a nice stream running through it.  Much more developed than what we are used to, but because it was off season it was empty.  For other times of the year this area is probably packed......and we would avoid it.

The Bull Pen is a day use only area because of this stream.  It is incredibly clear, and beautiful as a result.

A field of Ocotillo cacti.

See our Desert Rat in the lower right?  This is where we parked for our hike on the second day.  We can get anywhere in this vehicle without breaking a sweat.

Vermilion Cliffs: Very old structures and possibly ancient ruins

Because of the winds we had to leave our Grand Canyon camping spot.   The weather forecast was for two more days of strong winds (and we subsequently found the forecast to be accurate)  We had enough food and water for a 5-day trip, and had driven about 300 miles to get here.  So we decided to invent a new way of camping.

We are calling it Mamping.  Motel-camping.  We had passed some interesting looking motels/lodges/inns in the area, so drove to one called Cliff Dwellers.  We got a room, for about 2/3 of what we had expected to pay.  And it was a great room. Had a porch in front of our room where we could cook our food on our Coleman Stove (which is a requirement in order to call what we are doing Mamping).

The room itself was all done in old pine, not the new stuff that you can get now.  It was beautiful, with updated features, a good shower, and a quiet, and obviously new, air conditioner.

The next day we hiked in the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument.  We just drove along the road until we saw a gate, and started hiking toward the cliffs, not going anywhere in particular.

Until we saw a bright green area.  We knew, from experience, that this meant there was a natural spring there.  And where there is a natural spring there is often other interesting features.  So we headed there.



And we were right.

There were remnants of a very old fence and a watering trough that was unlike any we had ever seen.  It was very old.






It was made of wood.  Usually when we find these they are rusted metal or made of stone and buried.  We had no way of dating the wood, but it was clearly hand-hewn.

On our way back to the Rat we followed a wash until we hit a dry fall.  We had to get out of the wash to get around it.  When we looked from the top into the small canyon we saw what we believe now to be quite possibly ancient ruins.  There were several walls made of rock.  They could serve no purpose we could discern because they weren't in areas where settlers might have created them to hold water.  

We plan on contacting the Bureau of Land Management and seeing whether these are, in fact, ancient ruins.  They are all over this area so this is a very likely possibility.  If so, it is quite exciting to just discover them on our own.

Camping and hiking on the north side of the Grand Canyon.........life can't get better than this

There are studies that show that the average person spends 8 minutes in the Grand Canyon National Park.  They drive to the overlook, park, take a few photos, and leave.

Eight minutes.

For this trip we took our "Rat" (i.e., Toyota 4Runner) to an area on the north side of the canyon.  This is BLM land, whereas the south side is almost all Indian Reservation (where we can't do our type of camping).

Vicky found a potential spot.  We didn't know what to expect.  But we just drove there because her success/failure ratio is extremely high.  We also knew that to get to the place she identified a 4WD high-clearance vehicle would be needed.

Here is a shot of the road:

At the end of the road we found a camping spot 50 feet from the rim of the canyon.  That isn't a typo--50 feet.

We set up camp, and then took a hike west along the rim.

When we got back the winds had picked up.  And by picked up we mean that they were at least 30-mile-per-hour gusts.  They destroyed two pieces of our camping equipment.

We had to decide, on the spot, what to do.  Drive out?

What we did was take everything down, put rocks and other heavy things (e.g., water) on our equipment, and head to the Rat to sleep for the night.

And the wind was strong.

The next morning, instead of leaving, we went for another hike along the rim--toward the east.  After all, that's why we came there.

The sights were almost un-worldly.  Such incredible beauty.  It was all worth it.  We had planned on staying at this spot for a few days, but through our satellite phone we found that wind gusts would be strong for two more days.  So we went elsewhere.

But we will be back.  The beauty of this place will see to that.  And in the two days we were in this area, we did not see any other living person--just each other (our goal).

Our camping spot on the rim.

Sitting outside our tent and enjoying the view:

Look carefully.  In this photo, in the distance, you can see our rig and campsite.  For real. Can you believe it?  We can't.

Enjoying our morning instant coffee at the rim of the Grand Canyon.  Hey Starbucks!  Beat that!

See Vicky in the distance?

See Dan in the distance?  "Hey Vicky!!   Wait up!!!"    :)

See our camp spot in the next photo?

Life in our own personal New Orleans French Quarter

Right now we are sitting on the couch looking out at the golf course and the patio we fixed up last year with Scabos Travertine pavers.  These pavers are natural limestone, colorful, and all are unique.   Our property goes about 12 feet behind our patio, so we are having the grass there dug up, and Vicky is going to plant more flowering bushes and small trees. 

We will be able to sit inside our home, like we are doing now, or on the back patio when the weather is cooler, look across the flowering bushes to the space of the golf course and, for a few months of the year, be able to see the duffers out there whacking away at the ball as if it is evil and needs to be killed.  We like watching them—we are on the 3-par course, not the big one that was behind my parents' house in Leisure World, so we tend to not get the pro golfers.  That’s what makes it fun for us.  It's because they are having so much fun.  Always smiling and then waving when they ride past us.  Or the occasional guy who stops his golf cart and throws an old man joke at us (as if he can do old man jokes better than I can——sheesh!).

Our “vision” for this home has been, first and foremost, the New Orleans French Quarter (which as you may know, is of Spanish design since the original French Quarter burned to the ground just before the Spanish acquired it for a few years).  In addition, our vision includes Mexican/Spanish courtyards (we bought tons of books with photos), and Delgado’s--a Mexican restaurant in Normal IL (along with other Mexican restaurants we have enjoyed over the past several years).

Important components of the French Quarter design are heavy use of bright colors, overgrown outdoor sitting areas, and cast scroll work.  Along with vibrant colors, the scroll work gives a sense of motion and movement, and therefore, life.

So these flowering bushes for the back of our home will be part of that design. Vicky did the front yard that way, and it is simply beautiful.  I think it would be surprising to most people (it was to us) that in the desert you can have flowering bushes not only in the winter, but also all summer long even though the temperatures frequently reach 110 degrees.

We are sitting here today because we just got done with a 19-mile bike ride and a 3-mile walk.  We didn’t swim today because yesterday Vicky had a couple of shots in her lower back.  One of the considerations regarding moving from Whidbey Island was that her back was giving her more trouble, and we realized last year that we could no longer do the bike rides we wanted (we had really wanted to do the RSVP in 2018 with Jules, but the STP 2018 we did with him crossed the line from hard to being uncomfortable for both of us, so we knew there were no more RSVPs or STPs in our future—a major loss).  

Another piece of this procedure, important to our mental health, is that instead of taking the entire day with two trips on the ferry and a long car ride to get to a doctor's appointment, this is Vicky’s third appointment in the past three weeks and they have all been a 10-minute drive (in the winter, one of them would have been a walk).  

We are hopeful about this procedure.  But because of the shots the Dr. said no swimming today.

Unless there is something unusual happening, our typical day begins at 2:30 a.m.  We have plenty of time for coffee and breakfast without being rushed, and are on Daisy (our tandem bike) by 4:45 a.m.  We ride for an hour, all in the dark, lit up like an ambulance, so very safe.  We may see, at most, half a dozen cars in that entire time (including security, another plus about living here).  It is like Leisure World is our own private Burke-Gilman Trail (a wonderful multi-use trail in Seattle).

Then we walk to the pool, swim (if you call my dog-paddling “swimming.”) for an hour.  About half the time we have the pool all to ourselves, and for the other half with one or two other people—so it’s like having our own private pool, too.

By 7:30 we are back home, eating “lunch” at 8:00 (which consists of a plate full of veggies and fruit that Vicky lovingly prepares each day so we can remain healthy).  Here is my “lunch."

When we thought about moving here we reasoned that we would probably leave for the summers, to cooler climes. After 6 weeks our opinion has changed—we prefer the summer here!

Being retired is the key, though, because we can do so much of our life before the heat of the day, and then we are in bed by 6:00.  And there’s nobody around—it’s quieter, fewer people at grocery stores, that kind of thing.

We are really pleased with the decisions we made about which furniture to keep.  We have a nice combination of 25-year-old, 50-year-old, 10-year-old (couch and slider), 100-year-old and 150-year-old stuff.  Plus, we can’t forget the 70-year-old statue of Cantinflas we bought last fall (Cantinflas is a revered figure in this area, sort of being the Bob Hope/Steve Martin of Mexico).
  

All of our stuff looks better in this house than it did in Whidbey Island, for reasons we don’t quite understand. Although the house is small, we have made excellent use of space so nothing feels crowded.  The lack of crowding also reflects the fact that we surprisingly did a better job downsizing than we had originally thought.  Overall, we are extremely happy with this part of things. We really like a smaller house.  And we REALLY like a less expensive house so we can spend our money on experiences instead of things, just like all of that research shows you should do.

Here is the guest bedroom.  On the wall can be seen one of the “keepers” from our downsizing, which was my parents’ picture of Echo Lake.  I remember mom, dad, Kathy and me driving about an hour to another town in 1950s Oklahoma to the S&H Green Stamps store to cash in their Green Stamps and getting it.  It hung in our living room in Oklahoma—very special to me.  And then it hung in our bedroom on Whidbey Island.  This is Vicky’s antique bedroom furniture which looks just right in our French Quarter home.

  

Last week we had outside roller shades installed on the three back sliding glass doors.  They weren’t cheap, but over time will help with utility bills.   They are also great for security and privacy. 

We took down all of the interior curtains.  To keep with the theme of our home, we installed very old pieces of tin somethings as borders, and then left the top corners for our cast iron gargoyles (for real).    The tin pieces were clearly very old, and we have no idea of their original purpose.  They were unused (no nail holes), enough rust to look just right, and weren’t shaped for being crown moldings.  And the gargoyles are really something—very old.  Again, unclear as to their original purpose.    

Both of the eBay sellers for the tin and gargoyles said something to the effect of “we have no idea what they are….maybe they were (and then they made up something)."

Here is how things look so far:

Overall we are quite pleased.  The colors sort of blast us, as designed.    As we said, all of our antiques fit in really well.  

This week we had a guy come over to install tile around the doors that go from the kitchen to the dining room and from the kitchen to the living room.  The tiles are from behind a wood burning stove set-up, quite common 125 years ago. 

Here is a photo of the tiles before they were removed and sold to us.  Got them from eBay.

Here is what they look like here.  Cool!

There is a lot to do to officially move.  We are now Arizona residents, so are looking forward to voting against Joe Arapiao, who says he is running for sheriff again.  Our votes will count more here.  There is a seemingly endless number of details to officially moving one's state of residence, but we knock something off every day.  

In sum, we made the right decision.   The losses are hard. But we’re old.   Everything is easier here.  In addition to all doctor/dentist etc. appointments being within walking distance (instead of having to frequently devote an entire day to them), we are within 10 minutes of a Walmart, Costco, Trader Joe’s, grocery stores, Home Depot, and Lowes.  Today somebody else trimmed our walks and mowed our lawn.  And somebody else drives around all night making sure everything is safe.  They probably drive by our home 25 times a night......and most of us don't even know they are there (we know only because we ride our bike at night).

OK, so our plans:  

plans?  plans?  We don’t need no stinkeeen plans!

But old habits die hard, so we have plans.  If you can call them that.

This past week we have been working on getting the “Rat” (4Runner) and “Turtle” (camper) cleaned up and ready.  

We are heading out in the next few days for (drum roll) the Grand Canyon (where else when you are in Arizona?).  We are going to the area north of it (there is a place called the “North Rim” but it is a designated spot where there will be too many pesky and bothersome touri-people so we aren’t going there).  We are taking the Rat because we want to see what kinds of places we can get to in the BLM and National Forest areas.
  

Vicky has been in her element studying maps, so we’re pretty confident that we can get what we want.  And the elevation is high, so the temperatures will be pretty good (we have learned that temperatures are about 5 degrees cooler for every 1000 feet of elevation).  Part of our search will be for places where we can take the Turtle for later trips with grandchildren.
  

Our dream is that when we have any combination of the grandsons and granddaughters here that we will take both vehicles to these areas.  Our lives with the boys, in particular, have been centered around camping—it is what we feel we can give to them.  And we hope to do so for more years.

There should be a lot of great hiking to the canyon from where we camp.  We have no idea about how many other people will be around—just have to learn.  But virtually everywhere we go we have been able to find the isolation and hiking we seek.  That’s part of the adventure.

We aren’t worried about the quality of the roads.  Not only is the Rat equipped to handle anything that a fully decked out Jeep can handle (but constructed much better of course), but three weeks ago we got an upgrade on it—a winch.  As long as we can find a rock or a tree we can pull ourselves out of anywhere.

This winch is powerful and, of course, because of our new age, is “digital.”  We have a remote control for it.  We can actually sit in the Rat, drink coffee, and have the winch pull ourselves out of virtually any kind of situation.  We are also thinking that this winch will make it easier for us for all of those times (there have been more than a few) where we had to dig other people out.

The guys at the shop who installed this winch were dying with envy about our rig.

And when we got our first oil change the guy at the Toyota dealer said something to the effect of how our filters were really filled up with dirt, unlike most of them that they see.  He said we must be going out into the desert in it.  We said “a few times!”  😀   And this reaction comes from someone who services cars IN THE DESERT, not in New York City. 

Our impression is that 90% of people who buy these and similar rigs don’t use these the way they are meant to be used.  

We can’t wait.

Our plan for the next several years is to be in Leisure World for 2 or so weeks, out in the desert in the Rat or Turtle for 1-2 weeks, back to the French Quarter (i.e., our Leisure World home) for 2 weeks, etc. For as long as we can do it. Along with that, we have plans to be in New England next September to see the fall colors, and Vicky has a cycling trip in Costa Rica that we are wanting to do.  

We are planning on going going going until we drop.  And when we do drop we want it to be in our own personal French Quarter.  Together.