Traveling Life’s Highways
New Era of Blog Posts
It has been a while and there have been many things happening during the hiatus of this blog, Traveling Life’s Highways. I will bring you up to speed on all the twists, turns, and hills traveled these last couple of years. Currently I am in recovery from open heart surgery and slowly mending, giving me time to write as I look outside each day not participating in the things I would normally be doing. More on this latest event later.
There were several trips that I haven’t written about that I will catch up on shortly. I came out of retirement to open an ice cream shop in Helen, GA where we make many unique flavors and make adult flavors infusing liquor and moonshine for some fantastic combinations. We also make sugar and dairy free options so everyone can enjoy it like when we were kids.
I will start with the latest news and work my way back to when I stopped writing several years ago when Life happened and there was no time to write.
During the summer of 2024, I was stung by yellow jacket bees which I had an allergic reaction to putting me in the hospital. The previous year I was stung by brown wasps which is when I learned I had allergies as an adult. The first sting in 2023, I spent about 8 hours in the hospital getting the swelling out of my tongue and throat. It was scary as by the time arriving at the First Care Center I had totally closed and had stopped being able to breathe. A shot of Epinephrine and a few hours later was sent home with a new prescription for an Epi pen. I also had to be a little more careful while out mowing grass.
A year later in August 2024, again cutting grass, ran over a yellowjacket nest in the ground which I did not see. This time there were multiple stings (8) so I knew I would need my Epi-pen and probably a trip to the doctor. I put away the lawn mower, came upstairs and had the first shot of Epinephrine. Took a quick shower to cool down and while dressing passed out briefly. The medics came, got me into the ambulance, another shot of Epi, #2, had some oxygen and off to the local hospital emergency room we go.
Arriving shortly at the ER I was wheeled back to an observation room and did all the normal things done in the emergency room, vital signs while being poked and prodded for blood and an IV insertion. Are we having fun yet? The timeline at this point from the sting to the ER is approximately 45 minutes. The oxygen and Epi helped with my breathing, but they wanted to keep me for a couple hours observation. Another shot of Epinephrine was administered (#3), I’m not totally sure what for at this point as I am not in any distress and feeling better.
In the observation room my vital signs were checked about every 20 minutes and things looked like I would be released soon to go back home. Another blood sample was drawn and once the results came back, they found my troponin levels were elevated. A normal troponin level ranges from 0–0.04 ng/ml. Levels that are higher than 0.04 ng/ml can indicate a recent heart attack or other injuries and conditions that affect the heart. Mine were starting to rise upwards of 1200 so they decided to admit me to the hospital for observation and to flush out my system. After 24 hours the level was still rising to over 2,500 so they decided to medivac me to the cardiac unit at the hospital in Gainesville. While in the cardiac care unit (CCU) the troponin level topped out over 5,000 so I was continuously being flushed out to get the levels to come down. It took several days of IV therapy to get to levels below 1,000. I was basically overdosed on Epinephrine which caused some heart damage.
I spent a week in the CCU and before I was allowed to return home, I had to undergo a chemical stress test to map my heart and see what damage was done. It was a very weird sensation with the chemicals and dye injected into me to map the damage. Lying very still in the CT machine your body felt like it was running an uphill foot race. A couple days later I was released to go home but 2 weeks later had to do another stress test on a treadmill. I continued to go to my cardiac doctor every 4 weeks since August to monitor my progress and see if the medications were doing anything to lessen the damage.
In December I was going to Doctor P’s office for follow ups on the 6th, 10th, and the 18th for another stent but after they started the procedure found more blockages and kept me in the hospital to schedule open heart surgery for a quadruple bypass. They performed the operation on December 20, 2024.
Another Christmas time being in the hospital.