Car Buddy Down for the Count

I never knew until I got here, Saf....getting old ain't for sissies!
I've been through a lot and beat most of it but rarely discuss it. Life goes on. I hope it goes on long and happily for your friends. You take care of yourself, too, pal.

 

God Bless your buddy and his speedy recovery. And thank God for good wives. It is a bit ironic if you think about it... we're like our beloved cars. Inactivity is the worst thing out there. Get out and take a walk from time to time Saf, it's good for the old ticker. Thoughts and prayers are with him.

 

Orthmann said it all, as did most of you. As men, we tend to hide how we feel and rarely talk about things we've been through. Good luck to everyone having medical problems and to all their friends.
This forum and the members have been a tremendous help for me during my introduction to surgery and heart conditions. I am one who rarely went to doctors unless forced or for regular physicals, and then only because I couldn't get prescriptions without them.
Our prayers are with everyone for a speedy recovery and everyone else just because we need all the help HE can give us.

 

Update:

We got to see him today. He was sitting in a chair, had obviously had help to get there, but man, what a treat to see him. He looks like he was hit with an airbag during a car accident, face all swollen and bruised from his nose dive when the stroke hit.

Miracle? We think so. Three days ago he had no use of his left side, could barely communicate, blood clot to the brain and possible brain damage, clots in lungs and major breathing issues, it was down to basics. Incredible doctor'ing, nursing, good medicines used properly, and today we had a great visit. He has a long way to go, but he knows he was given a gift, twice now. The first time when he was 55 years younger and from that point to this week he hasn't done very well at treating that gift very well, and the second one the other day. He is hilarious. While they were doing some stuff with him he was going through the health and safety issues with them making suggestions that would be more in line with the health and safety rules and regs. When he was able to really get talking he was discussing the merits of catheters and the preference that they find "some other way" to deal with that problem rather than current procedure. He has the entire medical staff laughing with his comments at times and fellow patients in ICU getting a chuckle out of him. So as I noted to our friends - He's Back!!!!

Health issues can be very personal, yet like Tedy noted, let something slip, someone else picks up on it, and something very good comes from it.

I did learn a major lesson on this one - I need to get a tattoo in a certain place that states "in case of emergency - please do not use a catheter"

Thanks again everyone......the power of group positive thinking wins again.

 

Great news. Let's hope your friend keeps a positive outlook and gets well soon. Sometimes we get things put where we don't want them but it's all for the better. lucky I've never had a catheter...........yet! I'm sure if they ever came close with one I'd tell them where to STICK IT !

 

So glad to hear that he is sitting up in a chair. It is always a VERY positive sign when the patient has been encouraged to get out of bed. I so glad that we haven't lost one of the good guys, they are so hard to find! His DW must be so pleased. Keep an eye on her too, with the extra family around she may easily fall into superwoman mode. Where she feels she has to be with her husband as much as possible and feel she has to play the perfect hostess. It wouldn't take long for her to get run down.

My brother was in the hospital for months following his motorbike accident. We set up a schedule so we didn't all land there at the same time. That way my sister in law got a break and he wasn't overwhelmed with too many visitors. Also he didn't go for long periods with no visitors, it's easy for patients to feel lonely and dejected. The staff at the hospital was a great help making suggestions when to visit and how many vistors should be in the room at a time, etc.

I really hope your friend continue to recover...baby steps though. 55 is way to young to start thinking he's old. Maybe you should get him geared up on here sometime from the hospital, we'll cheer him up and get him motatived to finish his car project...you did say he was working on a car didn't you??? Now I've got to go back and check...

 

Great news, Saf. Here's hoping and praying that he continues to get better. Now, ALL of you in my Wagon family, if you cannot remember when last you had a physical, GET ONE, please, as I don't want to lose any of you! If you cannot remember the last time you had a tetanus shot, get one. We all work on our old cars, and lock jaw is no fun at all! Maybe we should start a new thread in here, where we update each other on what issues we are all facing. Just maybe we can learn from one another, since I am positive that at some point at least one of us has dealt with just about everything that can go wrong with the human body short of death. Let's try to keep THAT experience at bay as long as possible.

 

I hope he's OK. Ask someone the date or day if you want to assess condition.

 

geez Saf...give him our regards and tell him to get better or were all coming to visit

I got a call the other day about a wagon for sale....turned out it is a fellow ive sold a wack o parts to for his 68 Ford wagon over the years...we became pals...turns out he had a stroke a few months ago that left him with some dementia.

sad to hear...hes only in his late 60's .

now his wife wants to sell me the wagon.....geez

 

It is sad isn't it to see the people we know finally showing their ages in various ways. Some just look old, some just act old, some disappear, and others get ill and struggle through it.

Sorry to hear about your pal Rev.

I am pretty sure our bud is going to get through this, his sense of humor is back full bore and he will have long lasting repercussions but he's alive, he will at least be able to drive his '57 although may not be able to work on it any longer but that is not an issue, and his life is changing rapidly. I see early retirement on his list given he won't have the energy his job requires. We'll see. Super guy, if you have not met him I will make sure you do.

 

OOH OOH




kinda like birthday wishes. We could put our appointments on a calendar and it would pop up and we could wish each other a good visit with the doc.


Sorry Saf, there goes your thread.

 

No problem Fannie. I just got off the phone with my buddy. They allow him to use his cell in ICU which was a surprise to he and I. He is doing a lot better. These drugs they have now are so much further advanced than even just a few years ago it is amazing. His clots are almost all gone and once they confirm that his lungs are clear they will pop him out to the local hospital for rehab work. Just amazing that in one week they got him from drooling mode to almost, and I say almost with tongue in cheek, back to his normal self. A smaller self by the way. They've been working hard on him already and he will have a team that includes a heart specialist, physiotherapist, dietician, and something else he mentioned that I've already forgotten, to work with and get him on the road to health and productive again.

Yes, one has to be considered productive don't they? I hope he doesn't get in to stress/overload mode as soon as he returns to work down the road a ways. He is in a high stress career and you can get sucked in pretty quickly no matter how hard you try not to.

But I'm simply stunned at the turn around and he is convinced he has had a miracle. As he said this evening, to be aware in the back of your mind that nothing works on the left side of your body and that you are slobbering all over yourself, can't communicate to anyone as the words won't come out right or loud enough, and you are 100% dependant on others for everything, and knowing this is how the rest of your life is going to be and then, a nurse comes in and smiles at you and says we are in agreement that we need to try this, there is some risk but we discussed it with your wife and she says do it, and then she does, and suddenly you can really hear again, and you get all tingly in your left side and over a day you start to get movement back, and you just know that the Big Guy isn't ready for you yet and has a bunch of work for you to do.

Life is very good. Very good indeed. Thank you everyone. I too feel I got an incredible gift of my buddy back.

 

Glad to hear of his progress! I pray it keeps up! Prayers and positive energies flyin' about!

 

EGADS...we'd need a seperate board

 

CS54 as well as another car club buddy, our friends wife and I picked up his trailer at an RV shop on Saturday and hauled it home for him. Now they have a "guest" room for visiting family and friends coming out to see how he is doing, but they still maintain their privacy.

On Sunday while Rev was busy at the car show I headed over to visit my bud in the hospital and he was doing pretty good. Surprisingly good although he still is not out of the woods as they are still struggling to get the clot thing under control. His room was a sweat box as they don't turn the A/C on in the hospital until June and it was 90 degrees out. He's a big man and trapped in the room he was really feeling it, and then knowing the car show was on he was even more depressed. CS54 headed out of the car show early and stopped in to see elsicko which was good for his morale big time. I was there later in the evening and he was doing alright but with the room heat he was still really feeling it. Today he got moved to another room directly across from the nurses station as the doc says he wants him to be under closer supervision (???WTH???) so the room is cooler, lousy view unfortunately, but so be it. He seemed good this evening when we went up but it is apparent that the doctor is concerned about something not readily apparent to us non-medical people. Mentally he is in good shape, but he is just busting to get home and drive his '57 Pontiac, and work on his '53 Airstream, and go fishing, and everything else that goes with being healthy and happy and FREE.

Tomorrow evening we will go spend more time with him, and I so far have been over every morning to kick start his day and keep him updated with pics on my own Airstream project.