Once More Into The Breach!

 We've had our first snowfall of the year (last Saturday into Sunday--only about 1-1/2 inches that melted swiftly) and also our first fire in the fireplace. We needed the latter because the temperature in the house fell to 57 degrees overnight when the power went out just long enough on Saturday to send the furnace off the deep end. A quick "Reset" was all that was needed to get the old heater working properly again. Seriously, I turned the thing off then on again and pushed the reset button and voila! Hot water was soon being produced and pumped through the pex piping to warm the floors and the air above. Still, I needed some quick boost in the form of fires in the livingroom and basement to take the edge off.

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I had a follow-up appointment with the vascular team over at Robert-Packer Hospital today. I've not been experiencing any severe pains or anything else since I went to the ER several weeks ago so I expected a fairly routine check-up and an in-and-out visit.

The tech doing the pressure testing on my legs seemed moderately optimistic but ended her stint with a "We shall see." that produced some little concern.

Then it was Dr. B's turn. He and his physician's assistant declared my right leg A-Okay, but my left.... The left is a problem child. 

The left leg is the leg that started the whole mess. First the foot was pronounced DEAD at the Troy ER back in June of 2019.  Then, as the last staple and stitch was removed from the emergency bypass, an infection developed that had me back in the OR. That was followed by several weeks on an open wound vac. Then came a series of angioplasties (3? 4? I forget) because the vein used to bypass the blockage of June 1 was too thin. Then I had terrible pains in the quad muscle just above the knee the source of which could not be determined. Finally I had so much pain one morning I just couldn't put any weight on the left leg at all so it was back to the ER for a CAT Scan and other tests which showed deep bruising, a lump of tissue--perhaps dead or dying because of the lack of circulation--or some such.Then for two months--nothing! Things seemed to be back to a new normal.

Well, Dr. B didn't like what he saw from the tests today and declared I should have another angioplasty. This time, instead of just stretching things out with balloons and calling it a day, he will try to insert a stent in the upper portion of the bypass to keep it from narrowing down--again. 

Surgery is scheduled for bright and early Monday December 13. I'll have to go get tested for Covid the Thursday before that. The surgery itself will be a couple of hours long but they will keep me overnight.

Dr. B wanted to do the surgery earlier but that would mean no heavy lifting for a couple of weeks or so and deer season runs until December 11th and I wasn't going to give that up. As it is, if I can fill out a tag or two (three?) early the week before, I can relax after the Covid testing is done.