THE REASONS...

 

Our poor crepe myrtle tree

 blooming after last winter's storm.

 It is a shadow of its former self.

Hello everyone. 

 I hope you are all well and have a little time to spend with me today. 

 It seems like I have been away for a long time but, 

on the other hand, 

it seems like just yesterday that we last spoke. 

 I will try to bring you up to speed and explain why I have been absent for awhile.

The trees that we had cut down are coming back like crazy. 

One day they were gone and the next they were back.  

They look so pretty and innocent with their soft green leaves,

 but we will have to put something on the roots to get rid of them for good.

As far as we know this story started sometime last summer. 

 The Captain and I had just finished dinner after a day of working in the garden. 

 He went in the kitchen and called out to me.  He was hanging onto the counter for dear life

 and said he felt like he was going to pass out. 

 It lasted a couple of seconds and then he was fine.  The next morning we called his doctor 

and because it was so hot and he had been working out too long, 

we just thought it was dehydration and a dose of too much hot sunshine. 

 He seemed fine after and for the few months that followed.  

However, earlier this summer it happened again.  This time the doc ordered further tests: 

 #1: Lots of blood tests which all came back totally normal.

  #2:  An ultra sound of the carotid arteries, which also came back good.

  #3: A CT scan of the brain (which was a long scary wait for results) 

but that also didn't show anything out of the ordinary. 

#4:  A stress test which was normal. 

 He had a doctor appointment and was checked over pretty well and seemed fine.

  In the interim, he had episodes off and on.  Each time I threatened calling 911,

 he was adamant that he felt good right after and his blood pressure was also good each time. 

 The doctor had also ordered him to be seen by a cardiologist

 and I made the appointment but the docs were so backed up that I couldn't get one until two weeks later.  

 A week ago Saturday, he had another spell

 and I put my arms around him, patting his back and telling him to relax. 

This was what I did each time as there seemed nothing else that I could do. 

 He fell backwards to the floor, hitting his head on the way down on one of the cupboard knobs, 

blood was all over the floor and I fell on top of him.  It took awhile for us to untangle and get up

 and we then walked into the sitting room. 

We sat down on the couch and he had another one

 and he said to me that if he had one more we would go to the ER.

 He did have one more after a few minutes and we went in the car 

which I thought would be faster than calling an ambulance.

They took him in immediately and started hooking him up with more wires than I had ever seen. 

 Two of the technicians consulted and immediately called the cardiologist on duty 

and they took him to the ICU 

and scheduled him for a pace maker

 the following morning. 

 On Sunday morning they performed the operation 

and he was up and walking in a few hours and came home that night.

He is doing really well although complaining about the things he can't do.  

He still gets pretty tired and lays down a few times during the day. 

 He can't get the wound wet for awhile and he can't drive for five weeks. 

 He hasn't had to take anything for the pain more than Tylenol up to this point.  

He says he is feeling better

 as each day passes. 

 He is disappointed that we had to cancel his appointment to pick up his new hearing aids 

but just had to postpone it another month.

Tami came up immediately and was such a big help. 

 Without her, I don't think we could have coped completely. 

 She and Tim are coming up again next week and plan on doing yard work 

and driving me to my eye appointment, which is another story in itself.

  After his appointment on Thursday, 

we may have a few more answers

 as to how and what has happened 

to someone who was always so healthy 

and any heart problems were the furthest thing from our minds.

There won't be anything special going on around here for awhile 

so I won't be having anything new to show for it.  

I am looking forward to autumn, if only to get out of this hot weather,

 so I probably will still be AWOL in blogland for awhile longer anyway. 

 I will be keeping you updated every so often on his progress.

  Take care everyone and I apologize

 that I haven't always been good lately when answering your comments

 but I appreciate them all so much.

...xxooJudy...

Tami cut his hair. 

I have been cutting butchering it since Covid.

 He says he has been de-Goliathed but we all like it. 

If you are familiar with the TV show Breaking Bad, 

you will understand why I have been calling him Walter White 

(shown here with Nurse Ratchett Robin).

Sharing today at: 

Love Your Creativity at Life and Linda