chexmix's 2014 thread-o-dread: post heart attack edition

Hi Friends,

Here I am. Sitting bored in the hospital. The only thing that hurts is my lower back, from lying in this dang bed all day.

The replicants will invade my body with their alien tech tomorrow morning. Then they'll place a stent or decide whatever else is required.

I'm still pretty shell-shocked. :/ But I'm here.

Thanks,

/Glenn

Hey, I didn't delete that message! It was heartfelt and funny in the face of mortality and all!

Oh well.

I'm still alive, friends. Bored with an aching back, in the hospital.

Thanks for your thoughts. :^)

Hurrah! The Netbook has arrived and the sense of humor (cranky version) remains intact...

And the mystery post came back!

Weeeeeirrrrd.

LT/Cyberspace messing with your posts?? Wait -- with your very existence???

Cranky, I think, is appropriate under the circumstances.

So what books did you bring? I see 15 in progress in your previous thread, and they don’t quite strike me as hospital reading...

I have The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr and Galaxies and Galactic Structure.

Haven't done a lot of reading, but ... some.

Oh, Glenn, I'm so sorry that you're stuck in the hospital, and even more sorry for the reason why! But I'm glad you have books with you - and of course you do; who among us *wouldn't* take the time to pack a bag of books before heading to the ER! Thinking of you...

Cranky humor is good - it means you're mending! :)

So I flipped over to the book page for Galaxies and Galactic Structure, 'cause that's my sort of thing too and was surprised to see someone's tagged it with "PG-13". Makes me wonder what sort of science you're really reading, there. Is there a centerfold of a naked black hole in it? :)

What, no Discworld??? Although I suspect it would make you chortle so much that it would throw off some of the tests....

>9 drneutron: hmm, a nekkid black hole. The mind boggles. Geek porn?

>9 drneutron: someone's tagged it with "PG-13"
Well that got me curious, and it seems that's a library with two basic categories: PG-13 and gay sex. Microsoft Office Excel, Federal Jobs, Mysteries of the Bible, The Oxford Companion of Musical Instruments, Simply Delicious Vegetarian, all pretty much the same thing if you filter the world this way.

>11 qebo: The mind boggles. Really, truly it does...

G, my cellphone has died. May have to replace it in NYC; will keep you posted.

The number of coughing, hacking people on this train make me worry that I'll end up in hospital, too...

WTH?? No idea. It's a bit long in the tooth but is a very nice step to "harder stuff."

Update:

So ... the bullet I mostly dodged may have been larger than I thought. But I did come out of it about as well as one can, and can return to a normal life.

I now have a stent, replete with whatever super-powers my insurance covers.

I was slightly worried, when they decided to keep you in for this rather than letting you go with just a stress test. But glad you mostly dodged this bullet and that NOW YOU HAVE SUPER POWERS!

Invisibility? Leaping tall buildings in a single bound? Convincing Cassie that other human beings are not demons from the inner reaches of hell?

The ability to read three books at the same time! Now that's a useful superpower... :)

My insurance does not cover super-powers. :-(

Dunno if this will help give a sense of scale ...

Troponin is an enzyme (a family of them really) that is emitted by dying heart cells -- so it is used as a marker of whether someone has suffered a cardiac "incident."

According to my cardiologist, "normal" troponin levels are on the order of .04 (nanograms/millilitre) or less.

The level they measured in my blood was 155 (roughly 4000 times normal).

Sorry, that came off all dramatic and "duh duh DUHHHNNNN!" :/

Holy caboodles. No wonder they stuck you in a bed and wouldn't let you go home!!

Glenn, I am not the most regular contributor here (although I am a fairly consistent visitor) but I do want to delurk and wish you the speediest of recoveries. Happy reading, whether one book or several at a time.

Thank you, Paul! :^)

>9 drneutron: Jim: *SNORK!!*

Glenn: Yay for the superpowers, but in all seriousness, do take care - we'd like to see you stick around for a long, long time here, friend.

>18 tungsten_peerts: 155
!!!

>18 tungsten_peerts:
>23 qebo:

Yeah, I don't think super troponin powers were quite what any of us had in mind??? Nor will it get you your very own graphic novel series. Sorry about that...

And Why did I miss all of this thread in the previous days!

Glenn, I'm so glad you are in safe hands and are on the way to recovery! Get well soon and out of there!

Big hug!!

I'm home. I'm alive.

The worst, right now, outside of the mammoth task of assimilating all this, is the wretched pain in my left lower back from having been essentially prone for three days. It REALLY FREAKIN' HURTS, and that makes me ... tired.

G

Oh I get that and sympathize; I was in the hospital few several days after Charlie was born (c-section), and that lying around is The Worst. Makes my back complain like nobody's business.

>26 tungsten_peerts: Both of these things are good. I wonder if you could train Oort Cloud to do kitty massages -- kneading with the paws and NOT the claws -- in just the right spot? If not, a more prosaic option are those heating pads that they have in CVS and Walgreens. They're air-activated -- you pull off the strip at the back and they stick to your skin and last about 12/18 hours. Actually do work well (sez the perennial victim of lower back pain...)

Feel better! It must be great to be home, at least, and be able to sleep without someone poking and prodding at you at strange hours....

>28 Chatterbox: without someone poking and prodding at you at strange hours
Isn't that Oort Cloud's job?

How's the back after a night of freedom?

Back is loosening up nicely, thanks!

This should in no way be a surprise, but I find I am easily tired.

Let's see... climb a mountain. Have a heart attack. Spend several days in hospital without a solid night's sleep. How did that happen? Geee...

I know, I know. Glenn = Einstein. :^)

*chortle chortle*

Snagged an ARC about the siege of Leningrad and the writing of Shostakovich's 7th symphony today. Still want to see Gergiev conduct it. Even if he is a buddy of Putin's and a die-hard Russian nationalist...

ARC? Wozzat?

Only arc I know is part of a circle.

How. How. How. How. How.

Can this have happened to me?

>34 tungsten_peerts: ARC= Advance Review Copy.

>35 tungsten_peerts: Because fate is cruel, capricious and unkind. I could trot out other adjectives, but suspect at this point they would just be salt in the proverbial wound.

Am en route home on the train...

How is Ms. Oort Cloud? Is she looking after you well?

With Ms. O.C. at my side, I can do anything. :^)

Mah ghod, I love this cat!

Sweet merciful crap. On May 11, I wrote:

"Jeepers, I'm having chest pains from stress. Eek."

@_@

Clearly, your body was trying to tell you something... (a) That it wasn't just stress and (b) that you need to find a better way to manage stress.

Like curling up with a good book and Ms. O.C. purring beside you.

So the Eco got REALLY FREAKIN' WEIRD at the end. Loved it!

So ... I've definitely slid off whatever "Wa-hoo, I'm alive!" thing I had going on. Am now on "I had a heart attack! Has my whole life been a waste?"

>41 tungsten_peerts:: That's quite a roller coaster to have in your head. Hope you've got a human sounding board, and distractions.

Embarrassing question: how does one make the ">post# nickname" link? Is it a simple HTML construction?

It's just literally a matter of putting in the > sign, and then adding the number of the post you're replying to...

If it were anything more complicated than that, trust me, I wouldn't be doing it!

Hope you are doing a bit better today, and the Cloud-kitten is keeping you entertained & engaged in real life.

Any good reading? I prescribe some Discworld...

>44 Chatterbox: Did I do that right?

Discworld would be good. Another friend prescribed funny movies, but I find myself with little patience for ... viewing. It's weird.

Ms. Cloud, she is insane.

>45 tungsten_peerts: Yes!!

When I'm watching something, I also need to be doing something with my hands -- hence knitting, or quilting, or even, saints preserve us, needlepoint.

Confess that many funny movies aren't always as funny as their creators believe them to be.

Cassie is in love with my new mattress. She believes it is HER property. When I sleep on it and roll over, she squawks loudly enough to wake me up -- repeatedly. Harumph.

I don't want to go to work.

I don't want to do anything.

The thing about work is you have to do it anyway, and sometimes that’s a route out of the morass.

I don't want to go to work either.

Yes. It sort of worked today -- though I'm glad the day is almost done.

Feh. I actually was compelled to purchase a Windows license last night. My gorge rose, of course.

Oh my god. Windows?? What, Linux can't/doesn't do it??

Yes, work is a wonderful displacement activity.

Y'know, when you ask questions, sometimes you get answers you may not like.

I found out yesterday that my Grandpa Becker died of a massive heart attack at age 65.

Yo, Damocles -- are you missing a sword?

I promise to stop talking about my heart soon.

Why stop if it's worrying you? Errrm, news bulletin: lots of people around here are devoting a lot more bandwidth to agonizing about stuff that's significantly less serious and that they are blowing way out of proportion. If anything, you've been calm and restrained. Feel free to over-emote at will.

I've heard of generation-skipping trusts. Too bad you didn't inherit one of those instead of a generation-skipping heart condition. Well, now you know. Which means you're forewarned. Which is something.

Yeah, Damocles gets to get his sword back and shuffle off elsewhere now. You, meanwhile, get to read some Discworld this weekend, methinks.

>52 tungsten_peerts: I promise to stop talking about my heart soon.
I doubt anyone expects a heart attack to fade away immediately.

You are presumably getting followup medical attention?

>50 tungsten_peerts: Feh. I actually was compelled to purchase a Windows license last night.
Work forced you into it?

>54 qebo:

I start cardiac PT today and have an appt with my cardiologist coming up soon.

In re: Windows, I purchased an HP Prime calculator, which is an upgradeable model; however, the connectivity kit is Windows only and apparently won't work under Wine. Also ... although I had music management under Linux down pretty well, the software has changed and I've lost track and consequently that whole realm is a mess. So ... I'll keep a small Windows partition around, much as it galls me.

I trimmed 3 books off my in-progress list. I wasn't really reading them.

Hmm, somehow having one's very own cardiologist strikes me as the kind of rite of passage that isn't terribly fun... :-(

Are you reading anything amusing? Picked up Unseen Academicals at the library today. I think I need Pratchett to deal with my own sturm und drang. I actually found myself having major chest pains at one point last week, though I'm pretty sure it was just situational stress and trying not to flip out; trying to stay calm and professional on a phone call when I wanted to scream and holler.

Basically, life is crap. Luckily, there are cats.

Cats help one heck of a lot.

I was by no means prepared for how excellent a writer John Updike was.

Is it just me, or did the Internet get really, really boring somewhere along the way?

The Internet got really cluttered. With stuff that people inexplicably find entertaining but that largely isn't. With the exception, of course, of cut cat pics.

Sigh, OK, I gotta read Updike.

And you've gotta come to the Boston meetup on the 5th, if I come the whole long way to Boston that day...

>59 tungsten_peerts: I would not have been so prepared either. Why'd you pick him up?
>60 tungsten_peerts: I'm guessing some is the mood you bring to it, but yeah, much of it is been there done that...

>62 qebo: I picked up Rabbit, Run because my psycho-pharmacologist (who has great books on his shelves) recommended him.

Oh, I've got the Rabbit books coming up on one of my lists - I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying Updike, then.

Can anyone recommend a good book on the stock market?

I never thought I'd ask that question.

For instance, there's this one: The Intelligent Investor

Not on the stock market only, but still a very good book on investing as a whole: Straight Talk on Investing by Jack Brennan He is (or maybe was) the CEO of the company that runs the Vanguard mutual funds, and is pretty well respected in the field. The book is targeted toward long-term investors building a portfolio for retirement or kids' college or some other big life event instead of other aspects of investing in the stock market such as derivatives or active trading, etc.

Great -- I just requested from the local library system. Thanks!

In case any of you were wondering whether my cat had the biggest eyes this side of Precious Moments, here you go ...

The Little Book of Common-Sense Investing by John Bogle. A devotee of index investing, obviously, since he's the Vanguard founder, but it's still good. Investing for Dummies is pretty good on the basics, too. Avoid, at all costs, any book that suggests that you can or should try to select individual stocks. You shouldn't.

>68 tungsten_peerts: Ha! Look at that face! Hilarious and adorable.

>70 scaifea: right? She is so good for me -- I laugh every day!

Grrr. Some jackass got hold of my debit card info. Some of the fraudulent charges were caught, some not. Have to go to the bank this morning.

EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED.

Oh, no! What a nightmare! I hope it's an easy and quick fix for you.

Seems to be pretty straightforward ... whew. I've got the jerk's name, address, phone -- I'll be giving it to the Arlington police tonight. Monday I'll give the Credit Union a form disputing the charge.

Would that be before or after you hire the hit man?

Just don't pay him with the debit card...

>72 tungsten_peerts: EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED.
What a nuisance.

Some years ago I got a credit card bill with unexpected charges... unexpected because I hadn’t been using that credit card. Assume I’d passed info into the trash by mistake instead of the shredder. A teenager, who purchased CDs and clothes, incompetently; some of the items were shipped to my address. Police said they knew who, but didn’t tell me.

Funny as hell. Apparently Guy forgot to register this domain:

http://guysamericankitchenandbar.com/

Outside, it is beautiful; inside, I am horrible.

I love those big eyes! Adorable.

>80 connie53: She is my love!

Now that I am reading The Little Book of Common Sense Investing one of my chief thoughts, of course, is "why didn't I read this 30 years ago?"

Not that I would have paid attention if I had read it then.

Sigh.

I have a book-counting question.

I was reading a science fiction trilogy (Alastor, by Jack Vance) recently. I enjoyed the first two books but found the third (an unbelievably ham-handed satire on collectivism) excruciating and insulting, so I didn't finish it.

The three books were originally published separately as standalone novels ... does it seem kosher for me to count the first two as two books?

Thanks.

>83 tungsten_peerts: Completely kosher, IMO. Besides which there are no book count police here; you set your own rules.

Of course -- 2 books were read.

A hearty (ha!) thanks to Jim and Suzanne for recommending some excellent investing books. :^)

Tomorrow I meet my new genius coworker, e.g. the guy who will make me look even worse by comparison, henceforth -- for as long as he stays or until I get fired.

Yeah, my moods are ... well hidden.

I turned a ripe old 53 on Saturday the 19th. The day passed without significant 'events'.

Today I am heading to the Stellafane Convention in Vermont. I am ostensibly a member of the hosting organization -- 'ostensibly' because I haven't been up there in ... months? ... and have become and been seriously un-involved because ... because, well, I have a problem with people. Although there are individuals I like and trust, I dislike and deeply mistrust humanity in the large -- especially where outsize egos are involved. I have self-ejected from every organization I've ever been a member of, which is part of the background to my current hermit-ry.

So -- no, I'm not looking forward to being there. This (the 'social anxiety' thing) is a hot-button area for me, and the odds of my becoming abjectly miserable in the next four days are very high, near 100%.

Happy Birthday, Glenn!! And here's hoping that the convention will be surprisingly un-miserable for you...

I realized I hadn't put up an Oort Cloud picture in a while.

I am still in Vermont. O how I miss my cat!

Woke up with a fresh loathing for Amazon.com.

Obviously, this makes me a gigantic Commie -- but it's okay: Jeff Bezos does not need my help accruing enough capital to be able to buy Liechtenstein.

If you are in the mood for something sordid, ghoulish, and hysterically funny, I highly recommend Lynda Barry's Cruddy. Just jaw-droppingly disgusting and wonderful.

Just waving: HI Glenn.

Happy belated birthday!

:^)

I'm reading one of those infamous late Henry James novels (The Ambassadors) ... y'know, the ones with the endless circumlocutions and subtleties ... and I'm finding I actually like it a lot! Once you sort of get the hang of the prose, it has its own fascination.

Aw, man: Robin Williams. :(

>96 tungsten_peerts: Yeah.

I wonder what being good at one's job feels like.

It's been quiet hereabouts. I've been laying low. I hope that, if you are someone who has occasionally checked in on me, you and yours are well.

I'm terrible at this social networking thing: I don't often surf over to other folks' threads, etc., and for that I apologize.

I've been awfully cranky -- I've just been trying to keep it to myself. If anyone was ever interested in hearing this kind of thing from me (which I, erm, doubt) that day is long past.

>99 tungsten_peerts: It's been quiet in general on LT this summer. Or maybe I’m just out of the loop. I've been overwhelmed with caterpillars and other RL demands, haven’t been visiting threads much, expect to be more active when fall hits and inside becomes more appealing than outside.

Yep, it's been relatively quiet in the group this summer - and really, all year long once the first pulse died down.

I assayed a hike in the Whites yesterday -- first since the 'health event.' It was not an awfully strenuous one, but wow am I creaky today.

It was also a chance to meet my ex-gf's new man. Went okay, I think, though he is quieter than I am, so it's hard to tell! ;^)

You know, I hadn't thought of it this way before, but: I had a heart attack in the middle of the woods and WALKED OUT.

I'm a bad-ass! :)

>103 tungsten_peerts: _That's_ the attitude to cultivate!

>103 tungsten_peerts: Ha! You are awesome! Also, no worries about visiting other threads. I'm perfectly content to lurk - uh, visit - you here!

So there I lay, pretending to read (or rather, understand) Julian Havil's Gamma (which I had actually requested my local library purchase -- thus, I got first dibs) when I thought "the math here, which is copious, is way over my head. Why am I wasting my time pretending to understand it, and for what audience?"

And so I put it down. Maybe one day ...

Not giving up on the math, but some of my more blatant idiocy has to stop. There are only so many hours in the day.

Do you ever look up people you used to know, and find things like this?

http://www.thecapistranodispatch.com/authorities-identify-woman-who-ran-in-front...

What a weird day.

POSTSCRYPT: I should mention that I'm reading a bio of Henry James, and I just read a passage describing his feelings upon the suicide of a long-time friend. I'm not suggesting that the universe has more structure than it does ... it's just a weird coincidence.

>107 tungsten_peerts: Do you ever look up people you used to know,
Occasionally.

and find things like this?
Never. Yeesh.

Although I am sure I could have screwed up my life more fully, I think I did a pretty good job.

>107 tungsten_peerts: that is a very strange story!

So this is not book-related, really, but as of my Monday Weight Watchers meeting I have dipped below 185 lbs. for the first time in ... well, I don't rightly know. 31 lbs. down!

Oh, that's great news! Congrats!

Thanks! 29 lbs. to go! :^)

>112 tungsten_peerts: Congratulations!

Thanks, folks.

On the other hand ... had my last cardiac rehab session yesterday. And with the end of that, somehow, came the pounding realization that -- no, I will never be as I was before. Not quite.

Ow.

Yes, but you still *are* and that's pretty great, no?

What are my alternatives?

Kidding, kidding!

Ah, BOSTON.

Whenever I leave the house, I come home with fresh reasons to hate humankind. Particularly if I drive.

I know exactly what you mean.

I just got back from some errands. One was to the pet store to get cases of cat food for my ravenous threesome. Just leaving the store was a woman with her three cute Pomeranian puppies. I stopped to tell her how cute they were (and they were, just the essense of cuteness - white and fluffy) when someone behind us started yelling and screaming that we were blocking her egress from the parking lot.

I could have spent the next minutes/hours stewing about the rude woman but instead, I've chosen to think for the rest of the day about those three cute puppies. Have I said how cute they were, and so well behaved?

Congrats on the weight loss. That's really awsome.

What a bloody horrific week.

And this week? Worse!

I will be the last person standing without his face buried in a phone.

It can only get better? Right? Here's hoping...

Likely no one is interested, but I set up this:

https://www.librarything.com/groups/longtermchallengeloe

... so far I'm the only member, but I'm going to keep posting to keep it alive.

>126 tungsten_peerts: Oh, I'm so there. I've read a few already, and I'm super-duper-slowly making my way through (so slowly because I'm reading the left-hand sides of the pages).

>126 tungsten_peerts: Give it some tags so people find it.

>127 scaifea: Amber, I'm assuming the left side is Greek or Latin?

>129 drneutron: Jim: Yep!

FYI if you're not aware, the American Author Challenge is featuring John Updike for November.

>131 qebo: ooo, I was not!

How I wish I could say that I am not utterly exhausted -- emotionally, spiritually, however you want to phrase it.

I set a goal of 100 books this year and I'm at 97 as of tonight. I think I've got this, unless some other dire health event intervenes.

Only three more!!! You can do that, Glenn!

But stay healthy in the first place!

Hi Connie --

I'll do my best. I do need to become more physically active, I know that. I've been a slug since my cardiac rehab program ended. But I've been depressed (mostly about work stuff) and that always slows me down.

However, my cardiologist told me Thursday that everything looks good -- that I am doing as well as someone who had an 'event' like mine can be expected to do. And I should not be limited in any way.

So that's good, too.

Congratulations on nearing the 100 mark. I am way far behind.
That is great news from the cardiologist.
I understand being depressed over work stuff. I retired in Feb from my very boring and highly stressful job. I know how depressing that can be. But try to remember the "work is just work", its not what your life should be. Just remember what the cardiologist said. And you are almost to 100!!!

>136 tungsten_peerts: Hmm, maybe next year you could devote some of your reading time to walks with audio books. Chosen wisely. I’d guess that An Elementary Survey of Celestial Mechanics would be among the less suitable.

>138 qebo: but but but it's elementary and stuff!

>137 catarina1: my only explanation is that I cut down on the number of doorstops I attempted. :^) Poetry books are good for that. Unless, of course, they're poetry doorstops.

Congrats on approaching 100!

>136 tungsten_peerts: that's some good news you have gotten from the cardiologist! Hurrah!!

Now go and do some exercise. Audio books sounds good.

1 book to go! and the rest for 2014 will be gravy.

And then we shall step out of the Year of the Heart Attack, into the Year of ... who the hell knows what?

So, I am really unhappy at work, and am looking around. I'd like to stay at the PLACE I work, just ... perhaps another department. On the other hand, if I can have the difficult conversation I need to have with ... someone, maybe I could stay on where I am. But changes would need to be made.

Best of luck on the job front - here's hoping things get better for you one way or another...

>145 scaifea: Thanks. It's scary to think about being 53, a shy person with no particular aptitude for anything, out in the job market. Gives me the willies. :(

100 down! I moved my goal out to 110.

So my ex-wife/best friend Stacy finally got to meet her favorite living novelist, Richard Powers, last night. It went really well:



I love love love seeing her this purely happy. :^)

And here is a picture of The Powers signing Stacy's leg (underneath the quote from his work she has tattooed on her shin). This will be inked in by Denise de la Cerda:

What a nice thought to sign beneath the quote and having that inked in!
you have a lovely ex-wife, Glenn.

I hope the job thing settles down and you have that difficult talk with the someone!

Getting old stinks.

Ladies and Gentlemen --

Behold ... my desktop background at work.

She's real.

/Glenn

>148 tungsten_peerts: What’s the quote? Cool that he signed it!
>151 tungsten_peerts: Not sure what that expression would motivate me to do...

>152 qebo:: Quote: "You make what you think might be a vase for the blooms you are carrying."

It's from his novel Galatea 2.2, which may be my own favorite of the Powers novels I have read. That or Echo Maker.

The only conceivable response to the weather today is pure, unbridled loathing.

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I give up on my job. I will never, ever be good at it. Any of it.

I was trying to figure out what to celebrate this year on December 25. So I went and found this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_25#Births

... looks like I will have enough to last the rest of my life!