News and Views From my kids accomplishments, to my heretical perspective of the world

The doctor said I could start playing basketball on November 1. I figured today is close enough.

I’m a little out of shape, and my shot is off — especially later in the morning as my legs got more tired. But it felt good to get out and run again.

Now if I can just stay healthy for a while and stay out of the way of the big guys…

Prior to my collarbone surgery, I had to get a pre-op authorization that included a blood platelet count. Platelets in the blood help with clotting, so if it’s too low the surgeon will not operate. Mine did turn out to be low; high enough to continue with the surgery, but low enough to merit further investigation.

Possible causes of low platelet count vary from some forms of cancer to problems making the measurement. So off I went to the Ironwood Cancer Center.

After filling 10 test tubes with blood and then a CT scan that included drinking barium and an iodine IV, I went back for a follow-up today to see what’s going on.

Mostly good news. No cancer. Liver, spleen gall bladder, adrenal glands, kidneys and pancreas are normal. The low platelet count was caused by “clumping”: I have a rare antibody (0.1% of the population) that reacts with the solution they mix with the blood to prevent it from clotting. This antibody causes the platelets to clump together so that the automated platelet counting equipment sees several platelets as one, or even doesn’t count them because the clump is too big. So my platelet count is fine.

Incidental to these results, however, I tested positive for the the antibody to Lupus. She assured me that it doesn’t mean I have Lupus, but I now need to follow up on this to make sure. Rheumatology.org indicates that only 11-13% of the people with a positive test actually have Lupus, and about 15% of healthy people test positive for the antibody. So it’s probably nothing to worry about, but worth following up just the same.

I also have only about 2/3 of the minimum level of vitamin B12, so I will begin supplementing with a pill each day. Maybe that will give me more energy!

And by the way, while were talking about my health, the orthopedic surgeon told me last week that I am free to do anything I want except play basketball. I can practice shooting to my heart’s content, but no floor play until November 1. I can live with that, but it won’t be easy.

That’s how much rain we had yesterday in the big “100 year storm” according to my digital rain gauge. That’s almost an inch and a half more than they measured at the airport (3.29″), but less than some areas in Chandler (5.85″). We had about 2 inches in the first hour or so, between 2:00 and 3:00 am, and then it tapered down the rest of the night. I just found out that my neighbor’s gauge read 5.20 inches. Not sure why the discrepancy.

I woke up about 2 am to the roar of very heavy rainfall and the steady “drip drip drip” of water leaking in the house. We had three leaks, two of which I have since fixed, or at least stopped. I can’t figure out where the water comes in at the other leak. Fortunately it’s not something I have to worry about very often, and it has opportunity to dry out between storms. Still, I need to find and fix that leak.

I’m glad our house sits up high, with a low back yard to catch the water. Our neighborhood is well designed for heavy rain, with most of the overflow going into the lake (which was very full) unlike some areas of the city where a foot or more of water flowed through houses.

Here’s the basketball court under a couple of inches of water.

I went back for my 3 week surgery followup today. Doc say’s I’m 3 to 4 weeks ahead of schedule in terms of healing, flexibility and range of motion. He used the word “amazing”. The biggest concern is that I will feel so well that I will try to do too much too soon. But he thinks I should be released to do whatever I want by 12 weeks post-surgery, or about October 15.

I have graduated from being limited to lifting a fork, mouse or TV remote to a coffee cup or bottle of water. I start physical therapy tomorrow to help preserve and improve range of motion. And I get to lose the sling and sleep in a bed again. What a treat!

… it’s another, and the other is a broken clavicle (collar bone).

Playing basketball this morning, my feet got tangled up with the feet of another guy who is bigger than me, I fell on my shoulder and he fell on top. I heard a crunch and got the wind knocked out of me for a few seconds, but didn’t feel a lot of pain. But when I stood up I knew there was something wrong with my right shoulder.

Got in to see the orthopedic surgeon this afternoon and had some x-rays. He said it won’t heal on it’s own. The broken ends that are supposed to be part of one bone are over an inch apart and will never grow back together. So next week I go in to have a plate and screws put in. Hopefully this will happen Tuesday if I can get the pre-op physical done in time, but if not, then Friday.

To make it worse, I think I slightly fractured a rib on the opposite side which actually hurts more than the shoulder. Coughing is torture, and don’t make me laugh! But that will easily heal on it’s own.

Surgery is getting to be routine for me!

Gisele and I drove up to the Mogollon Rim for a couple of days this week and spent some time with Richard and Dianna. It was a great, though short, trip.

We arrived Sunday evening (after making a couple of wrong turns…), and enjoyed a nice barbecued dinner at R&D’s house. We spent the night in a “cabin” at the Happy Jack Lodge, about 10 miles away from the Ranger Station where R&D are staying. The cabin was very nice, more like a triplex with a kitchen, bedroom and living room. More room than we needed, but that’s OK.

The next day is when the excitement happened. We rented a four-seat ATV and explored over 100 miles of the Rim country, mostly staying on graded dirt roads but a couple of times we ventured onto trails where anything less than an ATV would have gotten stuck. Richard spends his days driving around on the roads, so even though we had an iPad with maps, we didn’t really need it. He knew where we were all the time.

Occasionally we passed Forest Service trucks, and Richard would wave them down and (surprise!) he always knew the driver, and would have a short chat with them. Those are the people he works with.

We enjoyed a picnic lunch in the shade of ponderosa pines on the bank of Knoll lake. A picture taken about 15 minutes later would have shown us all stretched out taking naps.

The last adventure before returning the ATV was a visit to a fire tower. This was appropriate since there were a couple of controlled burns going on while we were there. You can see the smoke in this picture taken from the tower. Seeing this, we thought that maybe the burn was no longer “controlled”, but it turned out it was all intentional. The burns made the air a little smoky, but it wasn’t too bad most of the time.

We got back dusty and tired, but it was a lot of fun.

Tired as she was, Dianna cooked a delicious dinner again that evening.

The drive back down into the record heat the next day was a little unwelcome, but it’s always good to get home.

I saw the cardiologist again today, for a followup after wearing the Holter Monitor for 24 hours, a couple of weeks ago.

Everything looks good, my heart is functioning normally and efficiently. However, just to make sure the block doesn’t extend to the left ventricle, I will go back in 6 months. If there are no changes at that time, we may just make it an annual check.

A heart block is a condition where the normal nerve impulses that cause the heart to contract are blocked or delayed. Yesterday my cardiologist told me that I have a complete block of my right bundle branch (RBBB).

In this condition, both atria contract normally, and then the signal progresses down towards the ventricles to cause them to contract. However, the signal that should go to the right ventricle stops before it gets there. The signal for the left ventricle continues and causes the left ventricle to contract normally. Fortunately, the contraction of the left ventricle then triggers the right ventricle to contract, and the heart functions relatively normally.

My cardiologist told me that when he last saw me 7 years ago, I had a partial block in the right ventricle (some signals were getting through) that has now progressed to complete. If I stay this way there will be no problem. My heart is quite healthy and strong otherwise, and I have none of the symptoms that would cause alarm such as fainting spells or shortness of breath. But the concern is that whatever caused the gradual degradation of the right ventricle bundle branch will also affect the left ventricle bundle branch, and that could be a real problem. In that case the ventricles wouldn’t be getting any kind of organized signal and wouldn’t function efficiently; in some cases it would quickly be fatal.

So I’m wearing a Holter Monitor for 24 hours to get a better picture of how well the left bundle branch is working. If it shows signs of degrading, I may be a candidate for a pacemaker. A pacemaker may be in my future anyway, but hopefully not for a few years.

It turns out that RBBB is pretty common in the elderly. One estimate said that 11% of people over 80 have a RBBB. About.com says that “RBBB is itself a benign condition that requires no treatment“, and the Mayo Clinic says that “Most people with bundle branch block are symptom-free and don’t need treatment“.

So my main concern is that whatever caused the progression from partial to complete block in 7 years isn’t also working on the left bundle branch. I should know more after the Holter results are evaluated.

Derek started working this week for Aetna Insurance company as an Actuarial Analyst. It’s kind of an apprentice Actuary, and he hopes to move up to a full Actuary soon.

After interviewing with companies all over the country he finally found a match at an office about 4 miles from his house; a 5-10 minute drive depending on traffic. How convenient!

Looks like a good job, and the start of a good career for him.