Still Kickin'

Time has a way of sneaking up on you. Worse yet........because time has a way of sneaking up on you, you might not realize that your health also can be declining in the process without you really noticing........that is, until you feel like death warmed over. That pretty much sums it up for me lately. Time has been flying by........no stunner there.......and in the past year I have been feeling terrible........worse and worse........tired.....wasted......in a funk........and it had gotten worse and worse and ultimately bad enough that I went to a hospital emergency room to get checked out. Being a person with coronary heart disease, I had to get the heart checked out.......just in case this was a precursor to a heart attack. I was feeling like I had been poisoned......deathly ill......the feeling of impending doom.......I had no explanation for it.

The doctors admitted me to the hospital for some testing and observation. The blood tests all came back good. Urine test......good. EKG.........perfect. Blood pressure......good. Heart rate?...........well...........it was 40..........and for me....that is way too low. They performed a nuclear stress test on me.......I survived it and the results showed nothing alarming. Such a mystery. The cardiologist informed me that he felt that it was not necessary at this time to do an angioplasty....why take the risk?..........and that he thought that one of two things (or both) could be the problem. Could be some sort of virus that will have to run its course on its own........or I am overmedicated. Overmedicated!.........that could explain everything...........about 7 months or more ago, my regular doctor had increased (doubled) my dosage of Metoprolol. The cardiologist at the hospital decided to decrease by half the Metoprolol and the Altace that I take. So there I am.........It has been two days and so far I haven't felt deathly ill........maybe a little tired still........and not as out of breath. Time will tell.....but I think the problem is solved.

More about my hospital stay at the end of this post.



And now for some more dopplegangers:

Remember singer Eddie Money?

For some reason he looks exactly like Suzanne Roberts, the host of a short public interest show on Comcast.


And Orioles owner Peter Angelos.........

.......looks awfully familar to me!........

Yep........looks like Peter.


If you have watched Fox News then you most likely have seen Charles Krauthammer.

Every time I see Charles Krauthammer I think of ..........

.........Madame!............yes indeedy..........

And more Fox News........
You have seen Alan Colmes before............


.........thats right........Alan Colmes used to be the Gatekeeper!


Orioles again............manager Buck Showalter.......


..........looks exactly like actor Sam Neill from Jurassic Park.


Okay....enough of that stuff........

Back to the hospital......

Tests......monitors........IV's..........stabbed in the arms four times............not particularly a comfortable experience..........but the ultimate insult to injury is what occurs right before leaving the hospital.......

As it was......for whatever reason in the 24 hours I was in the hospital........I ended up with no less than SIXTEEN of those round sticky wire connectors stuck to my chest..........a set for the heart monitor........a set for the EKG in the ER.......and yet another set used during the stress test........and it was left for me to remove............and the problem was.......I have hair on my chest.

Jesus God Almighty!




My son almost shit himself laughing as he watched me yank each of the sixteen torture pads. I yelled and winced and hollered and nearly shit my own self silly.

So I ask........is this really a good way to release a heart patient from the hospital?