AND THE GOOD NEWS IS....

Thank you all for your prayers and good wishes following my recent coronary episode so far from home, but so close to excellent care! I'm feeling quite a bit better than I was.

We made it back to Benson with only one stop, at Saddle Mountain RV Park in Tonopah, AZ. Nice park, Passport America so it's half price, full hookups, large sites. It's primarily a long-term stay park, with overnight sites in a separate section. We'll definitely go back there!

Back at home to try to follow doctor's orders: "Get a followup visit with your regular doctor within seven days." Have you ever tried to get a doctor's appointment during the Christmas / New Year holidays? In this area all the medical offices (except the hospital) are closed for two weeks! We finally got through to my regular doctor's office: someone was in and answered the phone, but no way could I see the doc for several days, and when I finally got an appointment, he subsequently postponed it!

In the meantime, I visited my podiatrist (finally out of the phony shoe after more than two months following surgery) who recommended a cardiologist in the same area. We visited Dr. Gladding yesterday morning. His office had already received the report from the LaPaz Regional Hospital, and Dr. Gladding studied it, reciting the usual "unh-huhns" and "aha's." Finally he looked at me and said, "You don't need me." Left us feeling somewhat speechless.

Dr. Gladding explained that the report disclosed not only clean arteries, but extraordinarily large arteries, so large, in fact, that the blood flows slowly though them instead of coursing along like it does in your arteries. And that's where and why "soft blood clots" can form. So what I had was declared a "clean coronary heart attack." I should come back and see him annually.

Oh yes, I do have a heart murmur, but I've had it for a very long time and it is, in Dr. Gladding's words, an "everyday, run-of-the-mill" murmur that I should know about but not worry about.

And as far as taking Plavix, he told me that Plavix does a good job as a blood thinner, but that if we find it too expensive, I should simply take baby aspirin, alternating between one and two tablets daily. Aspirin will do a pretty good job, just not as good a job as Plavix. I'll review all this with my regular doctor next week, and please do not take it as competent medical guidance for yourself. You gotta have big arteries like I do!

And that's the word for today from ... Our Life on Wheels.